Date Cake with Orange Blossom Ice Cream and Fig Topping

Our fridge was packed to its capacity with dates from my parents' trip to Tunisia a couple of weeks ago. We ate a lot while still fresh but there were still two kilos of them left. And honestly, we had more than enough. We couldn't even think of eating one more date unless it was transformed into something more appealing. It's not that dates are not appealing but after devouring a certain quantity you really won't want to see them any more.

So when I found the recipe for this cake I thought it's the ideal opportunity to get rid of some of the dates and set free some place in the fridge. And I knew exactly what to pair it with.

Six years ago we were in Tunisia with my sister. Ivan had a lot of work and couldn't take a leave, so unfortunately he didn't manage to come with me, but there was my sister to replace him. For seven days there we spent half of our money for orange juice. We were drinking it all the time. Often we were taking double juices which were served in huge glasses. No ice added in order not to water down the divine nectar full of sunny light and summer spirit. Sometimes the cleanliness of the glasses was questionable but who cares. As long as they were filled with the golden liquid we were the happiest girls in the world.

This is why I wanted an orange related pairing for the cake. And the orange blossoms water came in handy here for making an ice cream. Thus the dessert was fully packed with seductive tunisian memories.

And the fig topping – I've made it on another occasion, but it happened to match very well here.

Date Cake Recipe:
Adapted from Evan's Kitchen Ramblings Makes 20 cm round cake

• 200 gr pitted and chopped dates;
• 300 ml water;
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda;
• 60 gr butter, at room temperature;
• 90 gr sugar;
• 2 eggs;
• 100 gr all purpose flour;
• 50 gr rice flour;
• 1 Tbsp baking powder.

In a saucepan bring the water and the dates to a boil, then add bicarbonate of soda and stir. It'll start to bubble since the bicarbonate of soda is an alkali and neutralize the acids of the dates. Remove from heat. Let cool then blend until smooth.

Preheat the oven to 180º C. Grease and line with paper a 20cm round cake pan.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs and beat well. Fold in the flours, baking powder and the date puree until just combined.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake for about 30 minutes.

Notes: the cake here isn't as sticky as in Evan's recipe, but we aren't great fans of sticky cakes, so I baked it for a little more time – around 40 - 45 minutes. 

Orange Blossom Ice cream Recipe:

• 300 gr whole milk;
• 4 egg yolks;
• 120 gr sugar;
• 8 gr orange blossoms water;
• 260 gr heavy cream.

In a sauce pan bring the milk to a simmer.

In a large bowl beat the yolks and sugar until light and fluffy. Pour a small part of the hot milk over the yolks to temper, then pour over the rest of the milk. Whisk well.

Cook over medium-low heat till the mixture reaches 85º C. (If making without a thermometer – the mixture should be thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon and the foamy layer on top should disappear). Remove from heat and let cool then add the orange blossoms water and mix well.

Whip the cream and add to the custard. Mix well with a spoon. Place in the freezer to set.

Notes: We are making the ice cream without an ice cream machine, so adding whipped cream at the end makes it more airy and fluffier.

Fig Topping Recipe:

• 300 gr small figs;
• 125 gr sugar;
• 25 ml water;
• juice of half lemon.

Combine the sugar and the water in a saucepan over medium heat. As soon as the sugar is liquefied and dissolved add the figs. If the figs are not very small, cut them in quarters. Let simmer for half an hour. Skim if any foam floats on top. Add the lemon juice and simmer for additional 5 minutes.

Nectarine Galettes and Plum Rosettes

This week I made this recipe twice. The first time I made the whole recipe with the eggy part, but the second time I halved the recipe to make a quick breakfast for two. And as I was in a hurry I skipped the egg and replaced the yolk with milk. There was no significant difference, so it could be done this way too.

We had our galettes on the balcony while I was trying to find the little creature that was eating my marjoram plant. It was a little caterpillar. How could this little thing eat so much?! It was thrown away as soon as it was found. But the next day there was another one. Arghh.

Nectarine Galettes and Plum Rosettes Recipe:
Makes 4 galettes and 4 rosettes

• 180 gr all purpose flour;
• 60 gr rice flour (could be replaced with all purpose flour);
• 80 gr butter;
• 90 gr sugar;
• 1 egg yolk (could be replaced with 20 – 25 gr of milk);
• 50 gr cold milk;
• pinch of salt;
• 1 egg white for glazing (optional);
• jam for glazing (optional). 

• 2 small nectarines;
• 3 plums;
• 2 Tbsp sugar;
• 1 Tbsp freshly chopped marjoram.

Mix the flours, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Blend in the butter with a fork or just rub it with your fingertips till small crumbs form. Add in the egg yolk and the milk and knead just until combined. Don't overwork. Gather the dough together. Form it to a brick and wrap tightly in plastic wrap or put it in a well closed bowl and then in the fridge for an hour to set.

Meanwhile cut the nectarines in 1cm cubes and place in a bowl together with the sugar and the fresh marjoram. Mix well and leave to macerate.

Cut the plums in half, remove the pits and then cut crosswise to 0.5-1cm strips. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 180º C and position a rack in the center. Prepare a silpad or line the baking pan with paper.

Flour the counter and roll the dough out to about 3 mm thick. Cut four 8cm rounds for the plum rosettes and four 15cm rounds for the galettes. Gather the scraps of the dough and roll them out again till you cut all to rounds.
Brush the rounds with the egg whites(optional).

Arrange the plum strips onto the 8cm rounds as rosettes.
If there are any plums left cut them to smaller pieces and mix with the nectarines.

Put a couple of tablespoons of the nectarines mixture in the center of the 15cm rounds. Gather the edges of the rounds and pleat them with your fingertips. Glaze the visible dough part of the galettes with the egg white. I forgot to do so here but when glazed the galettes are shiny and glossy.

Bake approximately 25 minutes for the rosettes and 35 minutes for the galettes. While still warm brush the fruits with the liquid part of a jam with translucent colour (I used fig jam) in order to be more shiny.

Salted Caramel Ice Cream

We've been living on the sea coast for more than 12 years but have never gone to the beach during daytime. Burning sun, crowds of tourists making fuss, sweat and sand sticking on your body – it's just not for us. The comfort of the kitchen, the hot oven, simmering sauce pans, the sweet odour of vanilla filling out the whole apartment – this is our world and we love it!

No, you can't find us on the beach during the day, but when the night falls the beach is our place. Lying on my pareo and watching the stars carries us away from the day fuss, makes us dream and relax under the sound of the breaking waves. The breeze is cool and refreshing and often I even fall asleep huddled up in Ivan's arms. Oh, those beach nights are really gonna miss me :(

Salted caramel ice cream is my way to say “Goodbye” to the summer. I'm not much of a summer person. I hate the heat, the burning sun, the sweltering days and the stifling nights. But I love it as a season of all those berries and stone fruits, ice cream and frozen threats, and of course the breezy nights on the beach, drinking mojito at dusk, looking for falling stars...

Oh... Bye bye summer! Welcome salted caramel ice cream!

Salted Caramel Ice Cream Recipe:

• 300 gr sugar;
• 10 gr mild sea salt;
• 500 ml whole milk;
• 400 ml heavy cream (divided 150 + 250 ml);
• 5 egg yolks.

Place the sugar in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and caramelize it over moderate heat. When brown and smelling yummy add the sea salt and stir. Bring the 150ml of cream to a simmer and pour it over the caramel. Take the needed precautions as it's very very hot and when pouring the cream the caramel starts to bubble. Usually I do this on the counter out of the heat since I said the sugar is very hot and the hot-plate is ceramic and if caramel falls on it while it's turned on, it will get ugly.

In another sauce pan bring the milk to a simmer.

In a large bowl beat the egg yolks until light and fluffy. Pour a small part of the hot milk over the yolks to temper, then pour over the rest of the milk. Whisk well.

Pour the yolks-milk mixture over the caramel mixture. Cook over medium-low heat till the mixture reaches 85º C. (If making without a thermometer – the mixture should be thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon and the foamy layer on top should disappear). Remove from the heat and let cool.

Whip the remaining 250 ml of the cream and add to the cooled caramel mixture. Mix well with a spoon. Place in the freezer to set.

Notes:
We are making the ice cream without an ice cream machine, so adding whipped cream at the end makes it more airy and fluffier. If you are using an ice cream maker you can add all the cream to the caramel at the beginning.

This ice cream doesn't freeze so hard and actually is quite soft, because of the added salt and caramel, so it could be easily made without machine.

Mini Cheese Cakes

This is one of my favourite deserts. But this winter I used to make it so often that at the end I wasn't able to love it anymore. There's been several months since I haven't even thought of making cheese cake, but when my sister was here she asked me to make it as it's one of her favorites too.

And... my old love for this cheese cake came back. I'm totally addicted again, but this time I'm trying to make it in moderation. Really, I'm trying... really hard.

Oh, who am I trying to lie to...

Mini Cheese Cakes Recipe:

• 120 gr graham crackers;
• 25 gr butter;

• 250 gr cream cheese;
• 70 gr sugar;
• 70 gr heavy cream;
• 2 eggs;

• jam of your choice – we are using home made blueberry jam here.

Prepare 6 oven proof glasses or jars.

Using a kitchen robot (or a mortar) make the graham crackers to crumbles. Add the butter and combine well. Pulsing a couple of times in the robot works fine.

In a large bowl beat the cream cheese and the sugar using electric mixer. Beat in the eggs and at last add the heavy cream and combine well.

Preheat the oven to 160º C.

Divide the graham cracker crumbs amongst the 6 jars and pour over the cream cheese mixture. Place the jars in a hot water bath and bake for 30 minutes.

When the baked cheese cakes are cool put some jam on top of each one.

Cheesy Peachy Cracker Bites

After putting the fourth batch of the graham crackers in the oven I decided to break the monotony of the rectangular shape with some little rounds having in mind to use them for a multi layered dessert. Lately I enjoy making multi layered desserts with a cookie base. Besides when they are bite size small you can eat them directly with your hands.

Cheesy Peachy Cracker Bites Recipe:

For the Graham Crackers – see the recipe here

For the Cheesy Layer:

• 125 gr cream cheese;
• 35 gr butter;
• 50 gr confectioners' sugar.

In a medium bowl whisk together the cream cheese and the butter until creamy, then whisk in the sifted confectioners' sugar.

For the Peachy Layer:

• 3 peaches;
• 1 tsp agar agar in powder;
• 100 gr sugar (or to taste).

Note: You can substitute the agar agar for a gelatine, but since Silvia is a vegetarian we stick to the agar agar.
Peel and pit the peaches, then puree them in a food blender. In a small bowl mix well the sugar and the agar agar (to prevent forming of jellied lumps later). Put all the ingredients in a sauce pan over a medium heat. Let simmer for 5 to 10 minutes till all the sugar and agar agar are dissolved and the peach puree is well cooked. The temperature must be above 85ºC in order to melt the agar agar. Stir all the time. When ready transfer the peach jelly to a paper lined shallow pan. Make smooth with an offset spatula. Wait until cool then put the plate in the fridge to set.

To assemble:

Fill a pastry bag fitted with the tip you prefer (we used closed star tip) with the cheesy mixture and pipe nice swirls onto the graham crackers.
Using a cookie cutter with the form of the crackers cut rounds of the peach jelly and mount them on top of the cheesy layer. Then pipe again some of the cheesy mixture on top of the jelly.

Graham Crackers

Me: It smells like the end of the summer.

Ivan: How does the end of the summer smell like?

Me: I don't know but you can feel it in the air. There is not a specific aroma but there are many fast changing odours. The wind is colder but pleasant. Thus all the flavours are somehow cleaner and deeper, and more distinctive. Unlike at the height of the summer when it's hot and all the odours are mixed and carried away in the thick air like a haze. Unlike the winter when your nose is chilled to the bone and all you can smell is the cold and the smoke from the chimneys.

It just smells like the end of the summer. And all my olfactive sensors are in anticipation.

We are having an early dinner then we set off for a walk at nightfall. When wandering about through the streets at dinner time you can literally taste the city. It's like a secret peek in other people's kitchens.

The neighbours from the left are grilling red peppers. Two metres away you can smell french fries. A step further someone is frying fish and from the next balcony you can hear the sizzling of the steaks on the grill. A couple of doors ahead there is another classic for this time of the year in Bulgaria – fried eggplant and one could really taste the tangy tomato sauce that accompanies it.

Hey, we've just had dinner and we are hungry again with all these odours in the air.

Back home, it's baking time...Graham crackers in the oven. Sweet aroma fills the apartment and like a tiny thread it's slipping out to complement the olfactive scenery.

Graham Crackers Recipe:
Makes around 7 dozens of 3x7cm rectangular crackers.

• 400 gr all purpose flour (half of the flour could be substituted with graham flour);
• 150 gr Muscovado sugar;
• 100 gr honey;
• 5 gr salt;
• 7 gr baking powder;
• 100 gr butter;
• 75 gr milk;
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract.

In the bowl of a food processor combine the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder and pulse a couple of times to mix well.

In a small bowl mix the milk, vanilla and the honey, then add them along with the butter cut in small pieces to the dry ingredients. Give it a couple of pulses to combine. Don't overwork it in order not to develop too much gluten. Bring the dough together and wrap tightly with plastic wrap or put it in a well closed bowl and then in the fridge to rest overnight (or at least 4 hours).

Preheat the oven to 180º C. Prepare a silpat or a paper sheet.

To roll the dough, lightly dust the counter and the rolling pin with flour. Roll the dough out to about 3-4 mm thick. Using a rolling cutter or a knife cut out 3x7cm rectangles, punch them with a fork or a skewer and transfer them to the silicon pad. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown in colour. Cool on a wire rack. Then store in an air tight container.

Brioche - Fresh from the Oven

Yesterday I realised that the month has passed and we hadn't yet fulfilled the August's Fresh from the Oven Challenge. Ivan was lying in the bed with fever, besides it was his birthday. It was 35ºC outdoors (and nearly 30 indoors) but he was shivering, his nose was running, he was sneezing, coughing and maybe this was the worst birthday he has ever had. He wasn't in a mood neither for party nor for baking. Not even for baking! Normally this cheers him up, but not this time. Meaning he was feeling extremely bad.

I made him drink some Reishi mushroom pills and Samahan, made him milk with ginger and jaggery, put a towel soaked with vinegar on his head and filled the oil lamp with anti-flu essential oils.

Gosh, what a birthday :(

And since there was nothing more that I could have done I got down to baking to distract myself.

August's FFO challenge was hosted by Chele from Chocolate Teapot who chose a recipe for Brioche from the River Cottage Handbook No.3 – Bread.

Brioche is very similar to the Bulgarian Easter bread, named Kozunak, but our kozunak is sweeter than the brioche. So when I saw the recipe I thought it's a little bit flat to my taste. So I called the best kozunak maker ever – my mom – to discuss the recipe with her.

I haven't eaten a better kozunak than the one mom makes. She makes it only for Easter and when she makes it, its in huge amounts because all her friends are waiting on a queue for a loaf. She improves the recipe every year to obtain the ultimate indulging result. And it's quite indulging indeed. But back to this recipe.

After a brief conversation with mom I knew how to make the recipe more pleasing to my palate. I've put less salt, slightly more sugar and of course the indispensable ingredient for mom's kozunak – lemon zest. I know it's brioche not kozunak after all, so it's not as sweet as mom's kozunak but it's just the perfect salty-sweet bread. Here is the original recipe and in the brackets in italics you'll find my changes.

At the end of the day Ivan got a bit better and we indulged ourselves with a good brioche loaf with some green walnuts preserve and goat cheese.

Don't forget to check how other members' brioches turned out at Fresh from the Oven site.

Brioche Recipe:

Makes 2 small loaves (like this on the photo)
Adapted from River Cottage Handbook No.3 – Bread

• 400gr strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting (since we live on the sea coast and the humidity is very high here I had to add 80 more grams of flour);
• 5gr powdered dried yeast;
• 10gr fine sea salt (I've put 8 gr);
• 90ml warm milk;
• 2 Tbsp caster sugar(I've put 50 gr of sugar and the result was very well balanced loaves);
• 100gr butter, softened;
• 4 medium free range eggs, beaten;
• zest of 2 lemons.

To Glaze

• 1 medium free range egg;
• 2 Tbsp milk;
• sugar for finishing.

To knead by hand: mix all the ingredients in a large bowl, and bring it all together to form a dough. Knead for about 10 mins, until smooth and shiny.

Or, to use a food mixer: fit the dough hook and add all the dough ingredients to the mixer bowl. Mix on low speed until combined, and leave to knead for about 10 mins, until smooth and shiny.

Shape the dough into a round, place in a bowl and cover tightly. Leave in the fridge overnight.

The next day, divide the dough in two and form into the shape of your choice. Lightly flour the loaves, lay them on a wooden board or linen cloth and cover with a plastic bag. Leave them somewhere nice and warm to prove until almost doubled in size; this could take 3 or 4 hours, as the dough is cold.

(I made it in one day and the whole proofing process took me a couple of hours. And I chose to form the loaves in plaits. Also I baked the loaves in a ceramic baking pan.)

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. For the glaze, beat the egg and milk together. Transfer the risen loaves to a baking tray and brush all over with the glaze. Sprinkle with sugar on top. Bake for about 10 mins, then lower the oven setting to 180C/gas mark 4 and bake for a further 20 mins or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.