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
Barbie fever has taken over the world. I was more of a tomboy and never really got into Barbie, but it did give the chance to make something cute and pretty.
These may look “rustic”, but if you can be bothered with the faff of a piping bag, you can make the meringue nests a little more uniform, and the cream in top look fancier. They can be kept undecorated in an airtight container for 3-4 days. If you’re entertaining this is useful so that you can make these on advance and assemble at the last minute.
I used the tiniest amount of rose water in the cream (less is definitely more with this stuff), but if it’s not your thing it’s fine to leave it out. Just to be whimsical I used some pink food colouring in the meringue and some dried rose petals just be fancy, but these will still taste great with out the girly touches.
Makes 6-8 meringue nests
150 Grams Sugar
3 Egg whites
Pink food colouring (optional, ideally use a gel food colouring, I added a tiny bit but can add according to how strong you want the colour to be)
For topping
300 ml Double or whipping cream
50 Grams Icing sugar
1/4 Tsp Rose water (optional)
200 Grams Raspberries
1 Tbsp Dried rose petals (optional)
Method
Preheat your oven to 110 degree (Celsius)
Line a baking sheet with baking parchment, and draw 6cm circles as a guide for your meringue nests . I have a silicon baking sheet with circles already drawn on which is really handy
Using a stand mixer or electric whisk, whip your egg whites into soft peaks
Continue whisking (if you’re using food colouring add it now) and gradually add the sugar to the egg whites until the meringue is stiff and glossy
Using the circles on your baking sheet as a guide, spoon or pipe the meringue into the circles
Bake for 1 hour 45 minutes and then switch the oven off and leave the meringues on the oven while it cools down
When the meringues are completely cold, whip the cream, icing sugar and rose water together until it forms stiff peaks
Spoon or pipe on top of the meringues and then top with fresh raspberries and sprinkle with rose petals for a little bit of fanciness
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 