Yevhen Kozhukhar — Former Chef Baking Easter Cakes for Comrades

Yevhen Kozhukhar, a well-known Ukrainian chef who previously led the kitchen at the Odessa bistro Lou Lou, is now serving in the military forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' drone systems. This year, he has once again taken up the tradition of baking Easter cakes, but with a new twist — he announced the opening of pre-orders for his signature cakes via the social media network Threads.

On March 29, Yevhen made a post on Threads, stating that he was starting to accept orders for his cakes. In a conversation with journalist Marina Lavrenchuk for the War Cookbook Ukraine project, he noted that his post quickly gained immense popularity that same evening. "The post went out of control. I am grateful to everyone, I promise — it will be delicious," he wrote, as the post garnered over 400 orders within just a few hours, continuing to receive requests in direct messages. As Yevhen mentioned, he capped the orders at 515 cakes, although this number may not be final.

This year is not the first time Kozhukhar has prepared cakes for Easter. He has been doing this for the past 3-4 years. Last year, along with his sous-chef Pavlo Veresovych, they baked over 400 cakes in three nights. "We baked at night because that was the only time the kitchen wasn't busy: during the day we worked on processes, and at night we baked cakes. We relied on filter coffee, cigarettes, and sheer enthusiasm. So this year, I decided that service would not be a barrier to tradition," he shared in an interview.

This year, finding a suitable space for baking the cakes proved to be quite a challenge for Yevhen. "The power of networking is great. For example, through acquaintances, we managed to find a workshop for a whole four days, and also enlisted helpers. However, just a few days later, the workshop canceled the reservation and even deleted all correspondence, but fortunately, we managed to book another one," he noted, demonstrating the importance of having support during difficult times.

Currently, Yevhen is renting a workshop where he, along with a few assistants, will bake and package the cakes. It is known that he is granted leave from service on weekends for a few days so he can focus on this project. He plans to start working on the orders on April 7, but preparations for baking have been underway for quite some time. For his cakes, which are similar to Italian panettone, he uses Lievito Madre sourdough, which he has been nurturing for a year along with "one responsible trusted person." Although the recipe is classic, Yevhen has made some modifications, which he did not disclose, but emphasized that the key factor is temperature.

Among the various types of cakes he bakes, the first is a cream caramel cake, covered with caramel glaze and decorated with a mix of nuts: pecans, hazelnuts, and almonds, as well as dark chocolate inside. The second variation is a lemon cake, which is topped with burnt meringue and contains homemade candied oranges. This version resembles the chef's favorite dessert — lemon tart.

Each cake weighs 600-650 grams and costs 500 hryvnias. All cakes are fully adapted for delivery via Nova Poshta. A portion of them will be sent to Yevhen's comrades at their permanent station, while another portion will go directly to the front lines. In this way, Kozhukhar not only upholds traditions but also makes an important contribution to the lives of his comrades who are in combat zones.