Making ice-cream without an ice cream maker is a pain, but this recipe is super easy and doesn’t need one (who needs another appliance you’ll only use a couple of times a year clogging up your kitchen).
Ingredients
400 mil Condensed Milk
200 Mil Double (heavy) cream
1 Tsp Rose Water (don’t be tempted add more, trust me this is enough)
50 Grams Pistachios
Pink food colouring (optional)
Method
Add the condensed milk and cream to a large bowl and whisk with an electric whisk (or use a stand mixer) until thick and nearly doubled in size
Mix the rose water and food colouring if you’re using it, together and whisk in the cream mix
With a spatula gently fold in 2/3 of the pistachios
Line a 1lb loaf tin with cling film, leaving 6-7cm hanging over each end
Pour the ice cream mix into the loaf tin and sprinkle the top with remaining pistachios (I had some rose petals and sprinkled these across too, because i was feeling fancy)
Cover the ice cream with the extra cling film hanging over the ends of the tin. Freeze for at least 6 hours
Yasmin Khan’s (The Saffron Tales), recipe marries zesty lemon, the warmth of cardamom and gentle fragrance of rose water in a cake rich with ground almonds. You’ll need 2-3 lemons in total, and a word of warning about rose water, don’t be tempted to add more than stated in the recipe.
While there are a couple of steps to this cake its worth the effort, I decorated this with chopped pistachios and dried rose petals (you find these and rose water in most bigger Asian grocers (or you could use fresh petals if you’re lucky enough to have them in your garden). I don’t have an especially delicate touch when decorating cakes and my piping skills are questionable, so this is a good way to make your cake look beautiful with very little effort.
Legend has it that women in Persia would bake this cake to try and win the heart of men who caught their eye. So if you’re currently trying to get someone’s attention, it might be worth a try (and let me know if it works).
Serves 8
For the Cake
200 Grams Butter
150 Grams Caster sugar
4 Eggs
1 level tsp of Ground cardamom
100 Grams Plain flour
275 Grams Ground almonds
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 Tbsp Baking powder
1 Tbsp Rose Water
For the Drizzle
2 Tbsp Caster Sugar
1/2 Tsp rose water
Juice of 1 lemon
For the icing
150 Grams Icing Sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
Top with chopped pistachios and dried rose petals (optional, but it will make your cake look really pretty)
Preheat your oven to 160 degrees (Celsius). Line a 9 inch cake tin with baking parchment (ideally one with a removable base)
In a large mixing bowl, cream your butter and sugar together thoroughly and then beat in the eggs one at a time, (using a stand mixer if you have one is a quick way to save yourself a lot of work)
Gradually add the rest of the ingredients and mix until well combined. Transfer to your lined cake tin and bake for 45 minutes, (test the centre of the cake with a tooth pick, it should come out clean, but if it doesn’t then bake for another 5-10 minutes and test again). Cool in the tin for 10-15 minutes, before transferring to a wire wrack to cool
In a small saucepan heat the ingredients for the drizzle, until the sugar has melted. Remove from the heat and allow to cool
When the cake has cooled poke random holes in the cake with a toothpick, sprinkle over the cooled drizzle as evenly as possible, I allowed the cake to sit for about an hour to allow the cake to absorb the drizzle and it’s yummy flavours)
To make the icing just add lemon juice to the icing sugar and mix well to ensure there are no lumps before spreading it evenly across the cake
Sprinkle with chopped pistachios and rose petals
This cake will live for 3-4 days in an airtight tin, but will probably not survive that long
Seaneen's Sunnyside Kitchen 