Šampita

The story

Šampita takes its name from the German Schaum, foam, joined to the Serbian pita, and foam is a fair description: a tall layer of egg whites whipped with hot sugar syrup, set on a crisp base and served chilled or at room temperature in squares. Serbian recipes vary mainly in the base. Some use two sheets of store-bought puff pastry, the bottom one whole and the top one cut into squares before it goes on, while others bake a thin sponge of egg yolks and flour. The filling stays the same: sugar and water boiled until a drop forms a ball in cold water, then poured in a thin stream into stiffly beaten whites.

In Belgrade, it is a fixture of the city's oldest pastry shop. Pelivan, opened in 1851 by Mustafa Pelivanović, who paid for it with his prize money as an oil wrestler, still sells it beside krempita, baklava, kadaif and tulumbe, and says its recipes have not changed. Customers still queue there, and a long-told anecdote has the actor Bata Stojković sending line-cutters to the back. At home, šampita belongs to Sunday lunches and childhood memories.

Make it the day before your dinner so it sets, and serve small squares with strong coffee.