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CHRISTOPHER KIMBALL'S MILK STREET TELEVISION: Best Romanian Desserts

Meringue-Topped Cake with Cherries
MILK STREET
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APT
Meringue-Topped Cake with Cherries

Watch Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025 at 1:30 p.m. on KPBS TV / Stream with KPBS+

On this episode, Christopher Kimball travels to the Saxon villages of Transylvania with author Irina Georgescu to learn the secrets of Romanian baking. Back at Milk Street, we make Romanian Creme Fraiche Cake (Lichiu), a sweet yeasted dough with a lemony filling and a custard topping.

The Best Recipe You’ve Never Heard of is...Romanian Crème Fraîche Cake! Or, lichiu, the best dessert Chris tried on his trip to Romania. Imagine a delicate, lightly-sweet cheesecake with the flavor of a mild lemon bar, atop a yeasted brioche-like dough.

Next up is a new spin on apple pie, Romanian Apple Pie with Cinnamon and Walnuts.

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Romanian Apple Pie with Cinnamon and Walnuts
Joe Murphyhb
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APT
Romanian Apple Pie with Cinnamon and Walnuts

Last but not least, Meringue-Topped Cake with Cherries!

The best recipe you’d never heard of is...Romanian meringue-topped cake! This is our riff on the ethereal, parchment-wrapped cake prăjitură cu rubarbă, which Chris first encountered in Transylvania, at the culinary mini-farm HOF Hărman. There, Corina Bozgali and Ioana Gherghel blanketed a meringue-studded sheet cake in a layer of snowy meringue, creating the opposite of the dark, heavy, booze-soaked brick that comes to mind when you read or hear “fruit cake”—it was just a simple yellow cake that was topped with pieces of rhubarb before baking.

Season 9: CHRISTOPHER KIMBALL'S MILK STREET TELEVISION explores the world in search of techniques and ingredients that can transform your home cooking, producing bolder dishes with less time and effort. Season nine features gorgeous on-location travel segments, and mouth-watering dishes and recipes, from over a dozen countries — including Italy, Mexico, Romania, Austria, South Korea, and Malaysia — along with segments filmed at their headquarters at 177 Milk Street in downtown Boston. Each episode introduces viewers to cooks from around the world, showcasing how their inspiration results in faster, easier, and bolder recipes.

Tune in for a new season 9 of Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Television! From the original spaghetti and meatballs to bright Malaysian curries to Mexican street food, the ninth season brings culinary inspiration from more than 20 countries around the world.

Watch On Your Schedule: CHRISTOPHER KIMBALL'S MILK STREET TELEVISION "The Real Spaghetti and Meatballs" will be available to stream with with KPBS+ a new free streaming video app designed for ease and enjoyment everywhere you watch including Roku, smart TVs and mobile devices. It’s locally curated for San Diego by the KPBS programming team. With a clean and intuitive design, discovering and enjoying KPBS and PBS content on-demand has never been easier.

You can also tune in live to watch our four TV channels in real time: KPBS, KPBS 2, Create, KPBS Kids 24/7. We also added a new channel - FNX (First Nation Experience).

Your KPBS Passport member benefit works on KPBS+ too! You’ll have access to even more great shows when you simply log in with your KPBS Passport account. (09/06/2025 | Expires 11/20/2025)

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