Baklava Uncovered, Gulluoglu – Istanbul

Posted by Ozlem on Jul 28, 2011 in Cakes and Desserts, Uncategorized | 3 comments

This whole post deserves to be dedicated to our Baklava Masterclass with the baklava experts at Gulluoglu. We have been looking forward to our baklava class for months to reveal how the genuine article is made – and here it is!

Gulluoglu Baklava is a family owned store and they have been making “hand made” baklava for 6 generations – the daily production ranges from 2-5 tons, all hand made!
They use organic butter, pure cane sugar – no honey!-, and it is a result of their mastership for 150 years, very impressive.

Here is the baklava making master class

The dough is being pushed thru a special machine (similar for making pasta) to stretch. This is the only step that involves machinery.

Once the pastry is paper thin (2mm width), we start layering on a buttered tray.

The hand rolled pastry is so thin that you can see through my logo,

as well as the flags behind it!

Our baklava master layered 20 sheets of pastry ( and sprinkled melted butter on every 4 sheets) than generously spread finely crushed pistachios (or at some cases walnuts)on the 20th layer.

He cut the sheets first horizontally and poured melted butter over them – cutting helps the butter to penetrate every level. Then he cut vertically and splashed another dose of butter all around. The baklava is now ready to be baked in the oven at 165 C.

In the meantime, the syrup is prepared, consisting of pure cane sugar, lemon juice and water – no honey in it!

Once cooked, hot syrup is poured over the hot baklava, and then let it rested at the cool area.


And here is the real thing; wonderful, melt in the mouth delicious baklava. It is so light that you feel like eating the whole tray! I hope you get a chance to try the real baklava in Turkey:)

Orange Crisps

Posted by Ozlem on Jul 18, 2011 in Cakes and Desserts, Uncategorized | 2 comments

It is the end of school year coming up in England and we thought to bake some biscuits to say thank you to our teachers with the children. Baking for school requires a nut free recipe, and I found this lovely Orange Crisps recipe at the National Trust Tea Time Baking Book by Jane Pettigrew. They are very easy to make and the children really enjoy preparing and cutting out different shapes.

The citrus tang of the juice and zest makes these biscuits irresistible; a lovely treat for yourself or someone you’d like to share with. Apparently, they are also excellent made with lemon juice and rind, instead of orange. We are already looking forward to that one too!

Makes approximately 20-24 biscuits
Preparation time: 20 minutes Baking time: 10 minutes

100gr/5oz butter, softened
150gr/5oz caster or granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
225gr/8oz plain flour, sifted
10ml/2 teaspoons baking powder
Grated rind and juice of half an orange
1 egg white, beaten
100gr/4oz caster sugar for dredging

Preheat the oven to 190 C/375F/Gas Mark 5

Grease two or three baking trays. Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk, flour, baking powder, orange rind and juice. Mix thoroughly to a stiff paste and knead until smooth. On a lightly floured board, roll out to a thickness of 0.5cm (1/4in) and cut into rounds using a 6cm (2 1/2in) cutter.

Place on the prepared trays, leaving room for the biscuits to spread. Brush the top of each with beaten egg white, dredge with caster sugar.

Bake for 10 minutes, until pale golden. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes on the trays before lifting on to a wire rack to cool completely.

Afiyet Olsun!

Victoria Sponge Cake with Whipped Cream and Strawberry Jam

Posted by Ozlem on Jun 15, 2011 in Cakes and Desserts, Uncategorized | 5 comments

This is a very special and wonderful Victoria Sponge Cake recipe coming from a dear friend. My friend Gillian is a pro on this treat and she very kindly shared it. It is very easy to make and truly delicious, moist and perfect with a cup of tea or coffee.

One of the joys of life – at least for me – is to share a delicious bite with a good friend; we baked this cake with the children and shared with a dear friend visiting us. A special moment to treasure, pause and enjoy. I hope you can have a chance to make and enjoy this treat, a staple of the classic English afternoon tea:) This cake is best eaten the same day. It can be refrigerated over night- if there are any leftovers!

Serves 6-8
Preparation time: 20 minutes Baking time:20 minutes

Cake batter for the 1st sponge cake (please make one more batch for the 2nd sponge cake)
4oz/ half cup self-raising flour
4oz/ half cup sugar
4oz/half cup unsalted butter
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Raspberry or strawberry jam
Whipped double (heavy) cream
Powdered (Icing) sugar

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F

Bring butter and eggs to room temperature for about 1 hour ahead of time. In food processor cream butter and sugar together until light yellow and combined.

Slowly mix in beaten eggs (beat eggs well before including – the key to this recipe is beating in as much air as possible to make the sponge light and fluffy). Move butter, sugar and egg mixture to a bowl. Stir in vanilla.

Sift flour (adds more air!) and slowly and gently fold into the batter mixture. Pour batter into a 8″ cake tin.

Then, make a 2nd batch of cake batter and pour into a 2nd 8″ cake tin. Bake about 20 minutes – until light brown on top and knife comes out clean when inserted in the middle.

Leave the sponge cakes to cool on wire track. Transfer to plates. Spread jam on the bottom (flat part) of each cake. With an electric hand whisk, whip the double (heavy) cream really well. Place the whipped cream on top of the jam on the bottom cake. Put on the 2nd cake on top. Sieve powdered(icing) sugar on top of cake.

Slice and enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee.

Afiyet Olsun!

Note: You may be asking – why don’t I make one big batch and divide between 2 tins? Good question. My friend says for some reason, the cake doesn’t turn out the same. So the cake is better when cooked in 2 separate batches!

Pistachio Cake with Lemon Glaze – Fistikli, limonlu kek

Posted by Ozlem on May 8, 2011 in Cakes and Desserts, Uncategorized | 3 comments

Merhaba:)
It has been a while since I last posted and a lot happened – the Royal Wedding, a wonderful trip to Paris – my 40th birthday treat:), my parent’s visit to England; I look forward to sharing all. First, a wonderful cake that came to my way, thanks to Tori Ritchie and her wonderful website/blog www.tuesdayrecipe.com, where she shares simple, delicious, wonderful recipes. This cake is originally from the River Cafe cookbook, and the authors run the wonderful Italian restaurant, River Cafe in London. The cake combines my favorite ingredients; pistachio, lemon, vanilla bean and almonds, which are commonly used in Turkish cooking too. It is a wonderfully rich cake, a real treat with tea or coffee. I made this cake for our “Royal Wedding Tea” at my sister-in-law’s, Judith’s party. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did and Happy Mother’s Day to All!:).

serves 8
prep time: 25 minutes bake time: 50 minutes

100 gr/2 sticks unsalted butter, plus additional for greasing pan, at room temperature
1 lemon, preferably Meyer lemon
1 vanilla bean
6 1/2oz/1 cup sugar
60gr/2oz slivered almonds
90gr/3oz shelled unsalted pistachios
4 large eggs, at room temperature
60gr/2oz all-purpose flour
Glaze
50gr/1 3/4oz shelled unsalted pistachios
45gr/1 1/2oz sugar
Juice of 1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 170C/325F. Grease bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan with some butter and line bottom with a circle of parchment paper.

With a zester, grate the lemon peel (reserve lemon). With the tip of a sharp paring knife, split the vanilla bean down the center and scrape out the seeds. In a food processor, pulse the sugar with the peel and vanilla bean. Transfer to a bowl. In the same processor bowl, pulse the almonds and pistachios until finely ground, but do not let go to paste.

With an electric mixer, beat the butter and lemon-vanilla sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides the bowl between each addition. Beat in the lemon-vanilla sugar, then with a spatula fold in the flour and the nuts. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and shake to even it, but do not worry about smoothing the top. Bake until a skewer comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Set on a rack to cool for 10 minutes, then loosen edges of cake with a kitchen knife and remove sides of pan. Invert cake and remove bottom of pan and peel off parchment paper, then invert right side up on a serving plate.

For glaze, squeeze juice from reserved lemon. Roughly chop pistachios by hand. In a very small pot, bring the lemon juice to a boil with the sugar and cook until syrupy. Stir in the pistachios and pour over the cake. Cut into wedges to serve.

Afiyet Olsun!

Sticky Rhubarb and Ginger Cake

Posted by Ozlem on Apr 12, 2011 in Cakes and Desserts, Uncategorized | 2 comments

Well, this is not a Turkish recipe, but something I couldn’t resist to share. Living in England, I get to enjoy the wonderful English cakes and puddings, which I absolutely adore. And this rhubarb and ginger cake is no exception. I love the tartness of rhubarb and its combination with ginger and brown sugar is divine. Fresh rhubarb is widely available now in the UK and I hope, even if you can’t get the fresh version, you may get them frozen.

This wonderful, moist cake is an adaptation from a Jamie Oliver recipe. I used a little less ginger than the recipe asked for; feel free to add more, if you are a ginger fan. This lovely cake is wonderful with custard, crème fraiche or with some fresh strawberries and blueberries.

Serves 8-10
Preparation time: 20 minutes Cooking time: 1 hour and 20 minutes

200gr/7oz butter, plus extra for greasing the flour
250gr/8 1/2oz rhubarb
100gr/3 1/2oz caster sugar
30ml/2 tablespoons stem ginger syrup
150gr/5 1/4oz dark brown sugar
30ml/2 tablespoons golden syrup
150ml/7fl oz full-fat milk
2 large eggs, preferably free-range or organic
300gr/10 1/2 oz self-raising flour
5ml/1 teaspoon ground ginger
2-3 balls stem ginger, finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 180 C/350 F/ Gas 4

Line the base of a 20cm (8″) round cake tin with greaseproof paper, then butter and dust the sides with flour.

Slice the rhubarb into 4cm (a little less than 2′) lengths and place in a pan with caster sugar, 3 tablespoons of water and the stem ginger syrup. Bring to the boil then poach over a low heat for 5 minutes, until the rhubarb is soft but still holding its shape.

Meanwhile, melt the butter, brown sugar and golden syrup in a pan over a low heat. Once melted and combined, set aside to cool. Whisk the milk and eggs together, and then add the cooled butter mixture. Stir in the flour and the ground and chopped ginger.

Pour the cake mix into the prepared tin. Carefully arrange the rhubarb slices on top of the mixture, reserving the remaining syrup for later. Bake in the middle of the oven for 1 hour and 20 minutes until risen and golden. If it looks as if it might catch, cover the top of the cake with tin foil for the last 15 minutes of cooking. To check it is cooked, insert a skewer into the center of the cake – if it comes clean, you’ll know it’s done.

Remove from the oven, spoon over the reserved rhubarb syrup and leave to cool completely in the tin before serving. Delicious with a dollop of custard, crème fraiche and some fresh fruit.

Afiyet Olsun!

Vanilla Sponge Birthday Cake with Icing – Dogum Gunu Pastasi

Posted by Ozlem on Feb 2, 2011 in Cakes and Desserts, Uncategorized | 0 comments

I love making cakes but I must admit, never really felt confident enough to make birthday cakes with the fancy icing – somehow I feared I could never be able deliver those amazingly decorated cakes with the children’s favorite characters. Until I saw the birthday cake recipe at Rose Prince’s brilliant cookery book, Kitchenella. I gave it a try to her Vanilla sponge and was inspired by her Smarties studded icing. The result was impressive and the birthday boy was very happy Indeed a love letter to your children, as Rose says.

Vanilla Sponge (from Rose Prince’s Kitchenella)

A great basic recipe, ideal for a base birthday cake or fairy cakes.

Makes enough to serve 12-14

280gr/10oz unsalted butter, softened
280gr/10oz caster sugar
5 eggs
5ml/1 teaspoon vanilla essence
280gr/10 oz self-raising flour
30ml/2 tablespoons ground almonds

Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4

Prepare your cake tins – two shallow sandwich tins or a 12 hole muffin/fairy cake tin – greasing with butter and dusting with plain flour or lining with paper cases.

Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy-textured (an electric beater is helpful). Beat in the eggs, one by one, each with a teaspoon of the flour, then the vanilla essence. Fold in the remaining flour with the ground almonds.

Put into the tin(s) or cake cases and bake. Shallow sandwich tins will need 30-40 minutes; loaf tins about 1 hour and 5-15 minutes; fairy cakes about 15 minutes. Test the cake near to the end of cooking time by sticking a skewer into it. If the cake feels firm and the skewer comes clean, it is done.

Sandwich the cake together with raspberry or strawberry jam, and then decorate with the icing.

Butter Icing

140gr/5oz butter, softened
280gr/10oz icing sugar
1-2tablespoons milk

Beat the butter in a large bowl until soft. Add half the icing sugar and beat until smooth. Add remaining icing sugar and 1 tablespoon of milk. Beat again until creamy and smooth. Beat in more milk to loosen if necessary. Spread the icing over the cake. You can add sparkles or Smarties as decoration over the top.