Serbians Love Their Tortes

Ask any Serbian to describe a typical holiday dinner and, invariably, it will end with "tortes." Yes, that's plural. Drum tortes, better known as Hungarian Dobosh Torte, log tortes, meringue tortes, nut tortes, fruit tortes, they all make an appearance at fancy spreads and slavas.

Radmila Milivojevic of Chesterton, Ind., is a cook and baker extraordinaire. As a member of the Serbian Sister's Circle or Kolo of St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church in Merrillville, Ind., she was the palachinke chairman for many years and recently headed the hand-stretched nutroll committee.

She shares her recipe for log torte or panj torta and directions for assembling the log torte, as well as memories of Christmas in Serbia as a child.