March 2012 COTM: The Olive and the Caper: Fruit as Finale; Sweets

[L.Nightshade]

Please use this thread to discuss the recipes in the chapters on Fruit as Finale; and Sweets (pages 488 - 563)

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[smtucker]

Baklava with mixed nuts and Mahlepi Syrup [page 503]

I had a bunch of extra phyllo in the fridge and had used all the spinach last night making the spanikopitas. So why not make baklava, my eating companions favorite dessert; one he has not eaten in at least 6 years.

This was simple to assemble if you have already gotten past your fear of phyllo. Nuts are finely chopped, and layered with buttered phyllo. I did, however, take some liberties with the recipe. My walnuts and sliced almonds are already bagged into 1 1/2 cup bags in the freezer since that is the amount I use for our granola, so I increased the amount of nuts from 2 cups to 3. Though not specified, I decided to toast my nuts for 11 minutes before chopping them in the food processor.

The nuts are mixed with some cinnamon, two tablespoons of melted butter, and set to the side.

The baklava is assembled in four layers of phyllo and three layers of nuts. Cut the baklava into 12-15 pieces. Again, I cut it into 30 pieces since I know that I don't want that big a piece. The other eater can just eat two at a time! It goes into the oven at 350º for 20 minutes. Then the remaining butter is poured over the dish, and put back into the oven for 25 minutes. Mine needed almost 50 minutes to get crispy and browned.

Meanwhile, you make the syrup with sugar, water, honey and Mahlepi. I didn't have the Mahlepi and instead simmered the syrup with a stick of cinnamon and some cloves. This is strained.

When the baklava has finished baking, pour the syrup down the cracks left by the cracks. Let the baklava cool and absorb the syrup.

In the future, I will not make as much syrup since the results are just a bit too sweet. I would stay with the same amount of nuts but I love nuts. There will be a future for this recipe. But next time, I need to have about 10 people to dinner so we aren't staring at a 9x13 pan filled with goodness.

[Caitlin McGrath]

Just me making dessert from this COTM, eh?

Yogurt Cake with Ouzo-Lemon Syrup, p. 520

Aha! I thought, something to do with ouzo! I bought a small (200 ml) bottle, but it's for cooking use as I don't really care for the anise-flavored liquors for drinking.

Anyway, this is a fairly standard sort of cake recipe, wherein butter and sugar are creamed and egg yolks, yogurt, flour, and baking powder are beaten in, along with lemon zest, and the stiffly beaten egg whites are folded in. This is baked in a 10-inch springform pan and then, when cool enough to handle, inverted onto a plate. A syrup of ouzo, lemon juice, and sugar is simmered and left to cool and then spooned over the inverted cake by thirds, allowing it soak in a bit between each.

I made a couple of small changes: I used 2/3 cup sugar in the cake instead of 3/4, and because I was using sweeter, less-acidic Meyer lemons, I elected to use 1/2 cup lemon juice in the syrup instead of 1/4 cup each juice and water to help offset the sugar. I may have used a bit more zest than called for as well (she calls for "coarsely chopped" for the cake and "finely chopped" for the syrup; I used coarse and fine microplanes).

The cake is moist and very lemony (my extra juice obviously didn't hurt on that count), with the ouzo flavor more subtle, and very good. She says it should stand at least an hour to absorb the syrup, and though it stood a couple hours before serving, the syrup was mostly near the surface. The next day, however, the syrup had more thoroughly saturated the cake, making it seem even more lemony.

[nomadchowwoman]

I would like to try this, But I don't want to buy ouzo. Any ideas for a good substitution?

[Caitlin McGrath]

I apologize for taking a while to respond, but I have been thinking about the question. I assume that you don't have one of the other anise-flavored liquors around (Pernod, etc.), because that would be the obvious substitute. The lemon was really the dominant flavor, with the anise more subtle, but of course I used more lemon juice than she called for. Since the syrup is simmered for 10 minutes, the effect isn't particularly "boozy," so I think you make a lemon syrup with the juice, water, and sugar and maybe add a few anise seeds that you later strain out if you want to include that flavor. Or if you want something with the composition of her syrup, you could use white rum in place of the ouzo, with or without the anise seeds. That might not be particularly Greek, but I bet it would be good, and it would fit with the cake's flavors.

[nomadchowwoman]

Thanks for taking the time to respond, Caitlin--and. yrs, I do have Pernod (and a couple of absinthes from my husband's short-lived absinthe romance), but I didn'teven think of those. But that's what I'll use as I love the sound of this cake.

[Caitlin McGrath]

Walnut Cake with Coffee Syrup, p. 516

If you are a fan of baklava and related nutty sweets and of coffee, you will love this cake. And it's much simpler to make than baklava.

First a note about the cake pan. She calls for a 9x7-inch pan (which size I've never seen), and says in a note that an 8- or 9-inch round pan will work. Well, given that a 9x7 pan would be 63 square inches, it seemed to me that the most logical alternative is an 8x8-inch square pan, at 64 square inches, so that's what I used.

Now for the cake. Butter is creamed with a bit of sugar and egg yolks are beaten in, then finely chopped walnuts are stirred in, along with crumbled Paximadia, zwieback, or melba toast (I used panko), baking powder, cinnamon and cloves, and brandy (I also added a pinch of salt). The stiffly beaten egg whites are folded in, and the batter goes into the pan and is baked. A syrup of honey, sugar, strong brewed coffee, and water is cooked and cooled. When the cake has cooled, it is cut into 12 pieces in the pan, and the coffee syrup is slowly spooned over and allowed to seep into the cuts. The cake stands a few hours so it can absorb the syrup.

Wow, is this good! It's a bit crumbly, dense with walnuts, very moist and saturated with syrup. The syrup tastes of honey, and the coffee is in the background, so that you don't immediately think "coffee!" but it adds a lot of depth to the syrup. I think even those who aren't wild about coffee would enjoy this. As one who doesn't care for super-sweet sweets, I like that she doesn't call for a lot of sugar in the cake, so the whole isn't as sugar-shock-sweet as baklava frequently is. Highly recommended.

[The Dairy Queen]

Caitlin, I think I want to just follow you around and make every dish you've made from this book. This cake sounds amazing. I do love baklava and know that, even under the best of circumstances, it would be a huge undertaking. Certainly beyond my reach right now. But, maybe I can try this walnut cake! Thanks for the tip about the panko crumbs!

~TDQ

[Caitlin McGrath]

TDQ, this is quite doable. I chopped the walnuts (in the food processor) and made the syrup the day before I baked the cake, so it came together pretty quickly. It also keeps very well on the counter.

[nomadchowwoman]

Walnut Cake with Coffee Syrup, p. 516

I made this for dessert last night, after a little Greek feast, but, alas, I didn't like it. I had a bad feeling from the get-go as it looked like rice krispie treat in the pan before baking.

It could hardly have been easier. Caitlin has covered it, and I followed the instructions and also used panko for the crumbs. I do happen to own a 9X7 pan so used it. I had also made the syrup a couple of days prior so had it ready.

Now, I'm not sure what the problem really was, but the cake was leaden and tasted bitter. I love walnuts, love coffee, love dense cakes, really enjoy a small piece of baklava every now and then. The walnuts were fresh, according to the date on the bag, and had been stored in the fridge. Maybe I didn't get them fine enough--or maybe too fine. I wonder if the baking powder was the culprit: I opened a brand new tin, but noticed later it said "best if used by March 2012." Also, it was extremely humid here, and the egg whites, though they got stiff, weren't ideally stiff and fluffy, still kind of wet.

At any rate, the cake didn't rise at all. (Did yours, Caitlin?) My first impression was 'heavy" (bad) rather than "dense" (good). I served it w/sweetened yogurt, hoping for counter balance.

My guests assured me it was good, but I'm sure they were being polite; still, I sent most of it home with them.

[Caitlin McGrath]

Oh dear, I'm sorry to hear you had such a different experience with this than I did (in a bad way), NCW! I sort of know what you mean about rice krispies treat in the pan, as the batter was somewhat crumbly and dense even after incorporating the beaten egg whites. Mine did rise - not a ton, mind you, but it did rise in the pan. I even suspected, when I was typing up the recipe for someone on the What are you baking? thread, that I might have only used 1/2 tsp. baking powder by mistake, but I'm not sure.

How disappointing for your Greek feast. The people I served it to were all unreservedly enthusiastic, so I don't think it was just me. Have you tested the baking powder in warm water to see if it bubbles up? That at least will tell you if it is dead.

[nomadchowwoman]

Well, I learn something every day indeed. I did not know that baking powder test--so glad to have that tip--but I will try it at home this evening. There is nothing about that recipe that sounds like it would be anything but delicious, just the sort of thing I'd like to have with a good, strong cup of coffee.

[The Dairy Queen]

HAHA! It does look like rice crispies, sort of. Sorry it didn't work out. That's a neat trick about the baking powder test! Let us know what you discover.

~TDQ

[nomadchowwoman]

The whole cake failure was worth getting that baking powder test tip, which I will use from here on out. (Thanks Caitlin!)

And it turns out, it wasn't the baking powder--mine fizzed energetically in water. I'm beginning to think maybe the walnuts weren't fresh despite the bag date (one never knows, in our warm climate, how long they might have sat in warm temperatures somewhere before I bought them. I also think they may not have been chopped finely enough. (I was worried about "grinding" them, which the recipe warns against.)

But I have a lot of almonds on hand, andI'm going to try this cake again this weekend with almonds and see how it goes.

[The Dairy Queen]

Would love to hear back, of course. My library has recalled this book, so I'm returning it. BUt not before I scribble down a copy of this recipe first. I'm hoping you have better success on your second attempt because this cake sounds very appealing to me!

~TDQ

[herby]

DQ, do you have Claudia Roden Food of Spain? I made walnut cake from that book last night to take to tonight's dinner with my women-friends. It smelled good and had sugar syrup with cognac, no coffee. Definitely simpler and I hope that it turns out well. Sitting in a cooler in my car along with some whipping cream and a bag of ice - it is a pretty warm day around here:)

[The Dairy Queen]

I do have that book. I'll have to have a peek at that recipe, thank you! I wqnder how it compares?

~TDQ

[herby]

Don't know but will let you know how Roden's cake turned out tomorrow or later tonight. I'll compare ingredients in both recipes. So far the only dish that I like in O&C book is the one for kebabs with spinach. Everything else has benn meh for me. Truly regret buying it and Pepin book as well:(

[Caitlin McGrath]

I compared the recipes. The ingredients are similar (Roden's has a greater proportion of walnuts than Hofman's - 1 lb. vs. 1/2 lb. - but no crumbs or other dry ingredients to same or similar amount of eggs, butter, brandy, and no additional leavening), but the method differs. Both recipes will produce dense, nutty cakes but I think Hofman's is probably more syrupy; Roden's cake is bigger but has a thinner, less-sweetened syrup. The coffee in Hofman's recipe really works well with the flavors here.

[nomadchowwoman]

The main difference, except for the syrup, seems to be that in O & C the egg whites are whipped separately and folded in (and there are 4 eggs/2 c walnuts/1/3 c sugar vs 4/4/1 c in Roden book, but that cake is obviously bigger). The Roden cake looks beautiful.

[herby]

This is about Roden's walnut cake.

Well, I got 10% cream thinking that it is a whipping one - a minor disaster that was mighty embarrasing at a friend's house with others looking on as I tried to whip it... it did not, of course:(

On to the cake: it was not as good as I was expecting and this could well be because I halved it - we all know that baking is not as forgiving as cooking. Everyone but me liked it and cleared their plates; all loved the strong taste of cognac - the only substance to add flavour to the walnuts, I loved it too! I think I need to make the cake again, the way it was written, before passing on the judgment. No cake was left over to try the next day - just in case you are wondering:)

[nomadchowwoman]

Walnut Cake Update: my husband pulled it out of the fridge this morning and ate what was left. He says it was MUCH better today than it was on Sunday. So maybe it was just me--or the extended rest really improved it.