Monthly Archives: February 2022

Ottolenghi’s Beet and Ginger cake

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My Ottolenghi fandom has been well documented. All his recipes have worked for me – every single time. But this one from his book Sweet is spectacular. The frosting with its hint of ginger, the color of cake, and the taste (slightly earthy with a pop of ginger). As I said- spectacular.

As with any Ottolenghi recipe , this one begins by collecting the ingredients and prepping them. I suggest weighing them (Ottolenghi’s recipes all have weird cup measures because his recipes are devised by weight)- sugar is added to the dry ingredients here. No mixer needed except for the frosting

Preheat oven to 350 and prep an 8 inch round tin with parchment

Dry: 1 2/3c (200 g )All purpose flour, 3/4c (150g) sugar , 2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt- whisk all together or sift

Wet ingredients: 1/4c (60g) sour cream, 2 large eggs, 1/2 cup sunflower oil- whisk till well combined. Ottolenghi suggests adding 1500 mg of vitamin C crushed to a powder for color. I did this and it worked

Other: 260 g coarsely peeled and grated beets ( I needed about 3 small ones), 1/2 c (100g) finely chopped crystallized ginger (steeped in boiling water for 15 min and drained), 1 tbsp finely grated orange zest ( 2 medium oranges), 2/3 c (75g) finely chopped and toasted walnuts- mix all well

Add all ingredients together and mix till it all comes together without any dry flour with a large silicone spatula

Bake at 350 F for 50-55 min. Cool to room temp (about 30 min)

Frosting- 160 g cream cheese , 1/2 c confectioners sugar, 1/3 c heavy cream and juice from finely grated 2 inch ginger piece- add all together to a stand mixer with a paddle attachment and beat on medium for 4-5 minutes till light and fluffy. Spread on cake

Eat copious amounts of cake

Jeni’s star anise ice cream with candied fennel seeds

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Before Jeni’s was everywhere – I loved it in Lexington KY where the Whole Foods would stock pints with hand written labels. Their goat cheese with cognac figs rocked my ice cream belief system. Naturally I bought her cook book as soon as it was released. Her genius is to use cream cheese in her ice cream -no eggs , no fussy thermometer readings- just the creamiest gelato style ice cream you will ever eat. Her recipe is precise, it is designed for home ice cream makers and gives results every single time.

This one is my favorite recipe from her book and is a show stopper at dinner parties. The candied fennel seeds (which every Indian adores and are the end to every Indian meal) are from Amazon or your neighborhood Indian grocery – they dissolve into gorgeous rainbow puddles.

I have modified her recipe a tiny bit since I only use 2% milk. In a saucepan – measure out 1.5 cups 2% milk, 1.5 cups heavy whipping cream, 2/3 cup sugar, 2 tbsp light corn syrup and a pinch of salt and 5 star anise pods. Separately in 1/4 cup of milk- make a cornstarch slurry with 1 tbsp and 1tsp of cornstarch and measure out about 3-4 tbsp of cream cheese.

Heat the milk mixture over medium heat till it comes to a rolling boil and then boil for 4 minutes. Remove from heat, whisk in the corn starch slurry. Heat again till mixture boils and then time the boil for 1 minute till the mixture thickens. Remove from heat – whisk in the cream cheese till it melts completely and is homogenous and creamy. Let the mixture steep in the refrigerator for 4-8 hours. Strain out the star anise and make ice cream in your favorite ice cream maker. My kitchen aid attachment takes about 20 minutes and ends up as soft serve consistency. Remove into container and layer with 1/2 cup of candied fennel seeds. Add parchment paper on top and freeze for at least 3-4 hours.

This is delicious with a cheese course and wine after dinner or just as an afternoon treat with tea.

Dulce de Leche Chocoflan

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A combination flan and chocolate cake and the layers flip during baking – no wonder this cake is called “il pastel impossible”. This cake has been on my to-do list for a while and it was quite delightful. The flan was creamy and milky and the cake was dark and dense but not dry. This recipe was from the NYT and is by Esteban Castillo.

This cake needs some prep work. First buy a can each of Dulce de leche and one can of evaporated milk. If you can’t find Dulce de leche – you can make it from condensed milk as I did (link here). Also this cake takes 1.5-2 hours to cook and 2-3 hours to chill before it can be unmolded – so plan accordingly or else your family will be disappointed during dinner and have the cake for breakfast the next day (like mine did).

Flan: in a blender – 1 can (13 oz) dulce de leche. 1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk, 4 oz cream cheese, 1.5 tsp vanilla, pinch of salt and 5 large eggs- Blend for about a minute

Cake: measure the dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer (160g all purpose flour, 200 g granulated sugar, 50 gm unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon , 1/2 tsp kosher salt.)

Add 6 tbsp of softened room temp butter and mix for about 4-5 min using the paddle attachment till the mixture appears as wet sand

Add the wet ingredients (1/2 cup brewed coffee , 1/2 cup buttermilk, 1 large egg and 1 tsp vanilla) and beat on slow till combined. Then beat mixture on high for 2 minutes till the color lightens and the cake batter becomes fluffy.

Now the fun part – liberally spray a 10 cup Bundt pan with bakers spray – add the cake mixture and flatten it. Then very gently add the flan mixture on top. Cover with greased aluminum foil and place it in a large roasting pan. Add tap water to the roasting pan – about 2 inches or so. Bake at 350 for 1.5- 2 hours till a skewer comes out almost clean. This is where the instructions become a little iffy – my skewer came out almost clean at 90 minutes but my flan was a lighter color. But it tasted good

Cool on counter top for 30 minutes and then chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours till the flan sets. Next – loosen the edges a little bit using a thin flat palette knife and invert on a plate and hope for the best. Mine came out after 2-3 minutes of worrying.

Enjoy the flan-cake with some coffee

Dulce de Leche

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Dulce de Leche is a taste extremely familiar to Indians who grew up on a plethora of milk deserts. I needed it for a chocoflan recipe and didn’t find any at my local grocery store. I do live in Atlanta and the nearest mercado is just a few miles away but it’s easy to make dulce de leche at home if you have several hours.

To a pressure cooker – add a can of condensed milk (remove the labels or the glue makes a mess). Cover with at least 2 inches of water over the can. Cook on high pressure for 30 min. Let it cool all the way down without jostling the cooker. Open can and the pale white condensed milk has transformed into a dense complex caramelized jelly. Caveat – the internet warns of exploding cans but honestly if the water covers the can and you don’t open the can till it’s cool- the risk seems minimal. But you’ve been warned !

For the Indians – the closest approximation I have is Dharwad cha pedha. That slightly burnt milk taste – it tastes like home.

Strawberry jello cake

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Many years ago, when the food network had actual recipes – I saw this recipe on Trisha Yearwood’s show. It was so intriguing – the dry jello mix gets added to a box cake mix and it has real strawberries in it – so it’s practically a salad. This recipe has been a family staple ever since, it’s the only recipe I use boxed cake mix in but nothing else seems to work as well.

Step 1- buy a white box cake mix, 3 oz strawberry jello packet and some frozen strawberries in syrup (not the regular frozen kind) -defrost the strawberries

Step 2: Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or a wooden spoon – beat together the cake mix, jello , 2/3 cup of oil, 4 eggs, 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of the strawberries

Step 3: Divide batter into 24 cupcakes and bake at 350 for 20 min

Step 4: Make frosting- In a blender – make an emulsion of 4 tbsp butter, 1/2 cup of the frozen strawberries and 1/2 cup of confectioners sugar. This takes a while – at least 3-5 minutes.

Cool cakes, frost and eat many of them. They are tart and spongy and irresistible