Powdered green tea, or matcha (the tea used for the Japanese tea ceremony), makes an excellent flavouring for cakes and fillings and is becoming increasingly popular in the West at the top end of the market. It transforms batter into a gorgeous moss green colour – I could make this cake for that alone – and produces an equally delightful flavour. A word of warning, though: the tea has an extremely high caffeine content. Not for nothing was it drunk at regular intervals by Japanese monks who wanted to stay alert during rituals. Serving it with sweetened whipped cream will soften the kick a little. My friend Pia has been baking this cake ever since I shared the recipe with her several years ago and she sometimes sandwiches it with a layer of lemon curd.
Japanese shops and some specialist tea shops sell matcha. Make sure that you buy a very finely ground kind that has not been sweetened. Some matcha is sold sweetened, for making ice tea, and will not give a good result since it will be difficult to adjust the recipe accordingly.
5 eggs, separated
150 g/5½ oz/¾ cup caster (superfine) sugar
75 g/2¾ oz/½ cup plain (all-purpose) flour
25 g/1 oz cornflour (cornstarch)
1 tbsp unsweetened green tea powder (matcha)
20-cm/8-in square tin
Whisk the egg whites until frothy. Still whisking, add 50 g/1¾ oz/¼ cup sugar and continue to whisk until stiff peaks hold their shape.
Preheat the oven to 180˚C/350˚F/Gas Mark 4. Grease the tin and dust with flour.
In another bowl, whisk the yolks with the remaining sugar until thick and pale.
Sift the flour with the cornflour and green tea powder.
Carefully fold the whites into the yolks in three batches and add the flour mixture in two batches.
Transfer the mixture to the prepared tin and bake for 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
This lemon-flavoured sponge, which is baked in Greece and Turkey, is the plainer but lighter cousin of the basbousa and namura of neighbouring countries. This version has very little sugar in the batter, as it is steeped in syrup after baking. Use all the syrup because the cake needs it for moistness. This is simple and quick to make, especially if the syrup has been made beforehand.
125 g/4½ oz/scant 1 cup plain (all-purpose) flour
125 g/4½ oz/⅔ cup fine semolina
1½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
4 eggs
100 g/3½ oz/½ cup caster (superfine) sugar
pinch of lemon zest
75 g/2¾ oz/scant ¾ stick butter, melted and cooled slightly
250 ml/9 fl oz/1 cup prepared cold syrup (see p. 273)
24-cm/9-in round springform tin
Preheat the oven to 180˚C/350˚F/Gas Mark 4. Grease the tin, then line the base with baking parchment and dust with flour.
Mix the flour, semolina, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. Set aside.
Whisk the eggs, sugar and lemon zest together until thick and light in colour. Fold in the dry ingredients, then the butter, and mix well.
Transfer the mixture to the tin and bake for 30–35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean and the cake is golden brown in colour.
Remove from the oven, but do not turn the oven off. Use a sharp spatula or knife to cut the sponge into 6 parallel strips. Turn the tin slightly and cut a further 6 times so that you have diamond-shaped pieces. Pour the cold syrup over the hot cake and put it back in the oven for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to stand for a few minutes.
Eat lukewarm or cold.
Having secured the island of Curaçao off the coast of Venezuela, the Spaniards gamely decided to try growing a few crops on the obviously arid land. They planted Valencia oranges, but instead of producing the delicious sweet fruit they anticipated, climatic conditions conspired to produce a bitter, inedible fruit, and the trees were left to run wild. Centuries later, a curious soul discovered that the oils in the skin made an excellent flavouring, and recipes were developed for the liqueur known as Curaçao. The first liqueurs were distilled on the island but European companies, Dutch ones in particular, began to make their own versions and still remain significant producers of Curaçaos. The most popular type is perhaps the deadly-looking blue one that is such a prized component of many cocktails.
The once despised bitter oranges, known locally as lahara, have now been dignified with the botanical name Citreus aurantium currassuviensis, and their juice and peel are a welcome flavouring in Curaçao cuisine. This recipe is loosely based on a local cake recipe that calls for both those things, neither of which are available outside the region. This is my own version, using orange zest and orange-based liqueur instead of the original bitter orange peel, juice and rum. I have chosen Triple Sec instead of Curaçao purely on the grounds of its colour. Triple Sec is also made from bitter oranges, among other things, and is clear so it won’t make the batter muddy-looking. You could also use Grand Marnier or Cointreau if that’s what you happen to have in your drinks cabinet.
The batter fills the tin three-quarters full and will rise beautifully all the way to the top of the tin. The tin height should be at least 6.5 cm/2½ in. If you lack a suitable tin, or if such a close fit makes you nervous, use a 24 cm/9 in tin and start checking that it is done after 45 minutes. The cake has a slightly crunchy texture and is good eaten fresh, but is even better if wrapped in clingfilm (plastic wrap) and left to mature for a day or two. It will keep for several days.
This is quick to make, but is best left to mature for a day.
125 g/4½ oz/generous ⅔ cup fine cornmeal
125 g/4½ oz/scant 1 cup plain (all-purpose) flour
¼ tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
225 g/8 oz/generous 1 cup caster (superfine) sugar
3 eggs
zest of 1 orange, preferably organic
175 g/6 oz/1½ sticks butter, melted
7–8 tbsp Triple Sec
20-cm/8-in springform tin
Preheat the oven to 160˚C/325˚F/Gas Mark 3. Grease the tin and dust with flour.
Mix the cornmeal, flour, salt and baking powder together and set aside.
Use an electric mixer to whisk the eggs and sugar with the orange zest until the mixture falls off the whisk in a thick ribbon as opposed to a thin stream. Remove any zest clinging to the whisk and return it to the eggs.
Gently fold in the cornmeal mixture with a balloon whisk. Add the butter and 5 tbsp Triple Sec and mix gently to incorporate.
Transfer the batter to the tin and bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Remove from the oven, then brush the top with half of the remaining Triple Sec. Let it stand for about 5 minutes, then loosen the sides and release the clip. Invert the cake onto a wire rack and brush the bottom with the remaining Triple Sec. Leave to cool completely on a wire rack.
Caramel spread is popular in Latin America, where it is called by a number of different names: manjar in Chile, dulce de leche in Argentina, arequipe in Colombia and cajeta in Mexico. It is made from milk and sugar, boiled until the sugar caramelizes and the whole mixture is golden brown and thick. It tastes like cream toffee and is, as you would expect, very sweet. Chileans are extremely fond of it and its uses vary from spreading on bread to simply spooning it up like a pudding or using it in cakes such as this one. All kinds of cakes and pastries are filled with it, even prepackaged little cupcakes, and so highly do people rate it that the local Swiss Roll filled with manjar is known as Brazo de Reina, Queen’s Arm – in contrast to a similar Spanish cake that goes by the name of Brazo de Gitano, or Gypsy’s Arm.
Hardly anyone bothers to prepare caramel spread at home because it is very time-consuming to make and readily available in plastic sachets, jars and cans. It is also becoming increasingly popular outside Latin America and is sold in supermarkets and delicatessens in many countries, most often as dulce de leche (literally ‘milk sweet’). Two recipes follow for those who wish to try making it at home.
The following recipe offers one way to use caramel spread, but use your imagination and add extras, such as dark chocolate chips. Or sandwich the biscuits for Chocolate and Pistachio Sandwich Biscuits (see p. 232) with the caramel.
This is very easy, but the base cake must be made in advance. Homemade dulce de leche takes a few hours to make.
Use the base cake from Three-Milk Cake (p. 211) or Lamington Slices (p. 165)
1 x 450 g/1 lb jar dulce de leche (to make your own, see recipes overleaf)
50 g/1¾ oz/½ cup walnuts, finely chopped
Cut the base cake in half vertically or horizontally and spread the dulce de leche on one half. Sprinkle the walnuts over this and top with the second half. It’s that easy! If you have a very sweet tooth, you could use more caramel to coat the top, or you might also like to top it with one of the glazes from the Chocolate section.
Finished cake pictured on pp.112–13.
Recipe 1
1½ x 400 g/14 oz cans condensed milk
Pour the condensed milk into the top of a double boiler. The water in the bottom should be just simmering. If you haven’t got a double boiler, improvise one with a pot, a heatproof bowl that fits snugly over it and a cover that will stay in place on top of the bowl. Aluminium foil, in multiple thickness, can always be substituted for the cover. It is more important that no steam escapes from the pot. Cover and cook for about 1¼–1½ hours. The colour darkens to a lovely golden brown. Stir from time to time to prevent the outer edge from cooking too quickly. To test for doneness, treat the dulce de leche much as you would jam: pour a little of the dulce de leche onto a cold plate. Hold the plate up. If the dulce de leche moves very slowly, it is finished. If it runs out easily, it needs further cooking.
As soon as the dulce de leche is ready, plunge the bottom of the pot or bowl into a large bowl of water and beat the dulce de leche well. It is essential to cool it in this way because hot caramel mixtures continue cooking for some time as they retain heat.
Transfer the dulce de leche to a bowl and leave to cool. You can keep it in an airtight jar in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Recipe 2
300 g/10½ oz/1½ cups granulated sugar
500 ml/17 fl oz/generous 2 cups milk
½ vanilla pod (bean)
Put the sugar and milk in a large pot. Scrape out the insides of the vanilla pod and add both pod and scrapings to the milk. The mixture seethes quite a bit while boiling, so make sure the pot is at least four times larger than the contents.
Bring to the boil slowly, stirring continuously to dissolve the sugar. Let it simmer, uncovered, until it is golden brown. Test that it is done as described in Recipe 1. Then finish off as described. This method requires much more attention than the previous one because the mixture is exposed to direct heat. It is enough to stir the mixture from time to time in the beginning, but as soon as it starts to colour, it must be stirred continuously. It should take about 1 hour to cook, but start testing early.
If you do accidentally overcook this, it won’t be suitable as a filling, but you can mix in the nuts and pour it into a tin to cool for a kind of fudge.
This is another of those Dutch specialities that defy precise translation. You can readily buy whole rounds or small squares of this delicious, buttery shortcake or shortbread in any bakery or supermarket, but the homemade version beats them all hollow. It is usually baked in a shallow round tin with a built-in cutter at the bottom, known as a sandwich tin in most English-speaking countries; in Holland it is called a boterkoekvorm, or butter shortbread tin. The flavours are pure and simple, intensified by the overnight ripening of the unbaked dough, and as its name suggests, butter is one of the principal ingredients. The plain version, sometimes topped with blanched almonds, is the most popular. Preserved ginger used to be a popular flavouring, particularly in the Jewish community, but seems to have fallen from grace in recent years. I ran the cake stall at the village school’s annual bring-and-buy sale for several years and boterkoek, offered in five variants, was my bestseller. Older villagers preferred the plain ones, but younger generations were easily convinced to try something new, and my own favourite walnut version soon ran a close second.
This is quick and simple, but the dough must ripen overnight.
150 g/5½ oz/¾ cup caster (superfine) sugar
250 g/9 oz/1⅔ cups plain (all-purpose) flour
¼ tsp salt
zest of ¼ lemon
200 g/7 oz/1⅞ sticks butter, softened
1 egg yolk
a little beaten egg, for glazing
55 g/2 oz/½ cup walnuts, finely chopped
100 g/3½ oz stem (preserved) ginger, drained and chopped
75 g/2¾ oz/generous ¾ cup fine desiccated (dry, unsweetened) coconut
55 g/2 oz/⅓ cup blanched whole almonds
55 g/2 oz/⅓ cup skinned hazelnuts
24-cm/9-in round tin
Mix the caster sugar, flour, salt and lemon zest together in a large bowl. Add the softened butter and egg yolk and knead until everything is well mixed in. If you are using walnuts, ginger or coconut, knead them in now. Shape the dough into a ball and put it in a sealed plastic bag in the refrigerator overnight.
Next day, remove the dough from the refrigerator and leave to come to room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 180˚C/350˚F/Gas Mark 4. Grease the tin and dust with flour.
Knead the dough very briefly, then shape it into a large disc and put it in the tin. Use your hand to flatten it as evenly as possible to fit the tin. Brush with beaten egg. If you are using almonds or hazelnuts, press them into the surface. Otherwise, score a plaid pattern onto the surface with a fork.
Bake in the oven for 20–25 minutes. Boterkoek should never be hard or crisp, so this should be baked only until just done. It will be soft when it comes out of the oven. Leave to cool until lukewarm in the tin, then carefully turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Store in an airtight container in a cool place so that the butter doesn’t go rancid. It will keep for at least 1 week but is at its best after 24 hours. Serve in small squares.
Turkish Yogurtlu kek and its Greek counterpart Yaourtopita are homely cakes with an appealing tang. The cake browns quickly, so test carefully that it is done because it is easy to remove it from the oven too soon, leaving a stodgy, wet bit at the bottom. Greeks like to top it with a generous dusting of icing (confectioner’s) sugar. In Turkey, it is either eaten as it is, or honey or a sugar syrup is poured over the hot cake. This cake may be eaten as soon as it is cool, but the flavour improves after a day or two.
This is quick to make, and it benefits from maturation.
250 g/9 oz/1⅔ cups plain (all-purpose) flour
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
¼ tsp salt
200 g/7 oz/1⅞ sticks butter, softened
250 g/9 oz/1¼ cups caster (superfine) sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
200 g/7 oz/scant 1 cup Greek-style (strained plain) yoghurt, at room temperature
24-cm/9-in springform tin
Preheat the oven to 160˚C/325˚F/Gas Mark 3. Grease the tin, then line the base with baking parchment and dust with flour.
Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt together, and set aside.
Cream the butter and sugar until lightened in colour and fluffy. Lightly beat the eggs with the vanilla extract, then add in three batches, whisking well and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Add the yoghurt with the last batch and don’t worry if it goes slightly grainy at this stage.
Fold in the flour and transfer to the prepared tin. Bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out quite clean. Leave in the tin for 5 minutes, then loosen the sides, release the clip and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Wrap it well in clingfilm (plastic wrap) as soon as it is cool.
This cake is immensely popular in Latin America, where each country claims to have ‘invented’ it. The eponymous milks come in varying combinations of condensed milk, evaporated milk, cow’s milk, goat’s milk, sour cream and whipping cream. Mexican variants also feature cajeta, the popular milk caramel spread known in various regions of Latin America as dulce de leche, manjar and arequipe.
For this cake, everyone has their favourite degree of saturation: some prefer it to be just moistened, others are not satisfied unless the cut cake oozes generous amounts of milky goodness. This recipe uses a whipped cream topping, but a popular alternative is an egg white and sugar mixture whisked au bain-marie to a meringue.
3 eggs
150 g/5½ oz/¾ cup caster (superfine) sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
150 g/5½ oz/1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
3 tbsp milk
200 g/7 oz condensed milk
125 ml/4 fl oz/½ cup sour cream
150 ml/5 fl oz/⅔ cup evaporated milk
125 ml/4½ fl oz/½ cup full-cream (whole) milk
250 ml/9 fl oz/1 cup whipping cream
2–3 tsp granulated sugar
20-cm/8-in square tin, with sides at least 4 cm/1½ in high
Preheat the oven to 180˚C/350˚F/Gas Mark 4. Line the tin with baking parchment.
Use an electric mixer to whisk the eggs, caster sugar and vanilla extract until thick and pale.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together, then fold into the mixture. Next, gently but thoroughly mix in the milk. Scrape the batter into the baking tin and level the top. Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes, or until dark golden brown. It will be cooked through before that, but the extra browning – slight overbaking – adds to the flavour in this case.
While the cake is baking, combine the condensed milk and sour cream thoroughly. Add the other two milks and set aside.
Turn the baked cake out onto a cooling rack and immediately cover the bottom and sides generously with tinfoil. Re-invert into the baking tin so that the tinfoil lines the tin. Prick several holes in the cake with a skewer and slowly pour the milk mixture over the warm cake, from the centre outwards. Do this in three batches, allowing the previous additions to be absorbed. It will look like too much liquid, but don’t be alarmed: the cake will soak it all up. Leave to cool. Chill until ready to serve.
Serve in squares at room temperature with sweetened whipped cream.
The Ancient Greeks appear to have been quite fond of cheesecakes, which they made with the curd cheeses at their disposal. When the Romans conquered Greece, they enjoyed the cakes to such an extent that they took them home and experimented with them, developing a variety of sweet and savoury kinds, which later spread to their possessions across Europe. The cakes were baked or fried. Based on curd cheese, they were mixed with eggs and rye or wheat flour, and honey was used in sweet variants. Various flavourings were added, such as in the sweet cakes ascribed to Apicius: these contained aniseed, cumin, grated laurel bark and wine must, and were baked on bay leaves. It may sound like a very strange combination, but I have eaten cakes made from a similar recipe at a Roman banquet hosted by the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery, and they were delicious, aromatized by the bay leaf and with a subtle sweetness.
By the seventeenth century, recipes had begun to resemble those we would recognize today. In addition to the traditional flavours of rose water, saffron and other spices, almond, orange and lemon cheesecakes were also popular. In Britain at least, the mixture was now being baked in ‘coffyns’, substantial pastry cases. Sugar, still a luxury product at that time, was used sparingly, but gradually took a more prominent place, pushing honey into the background. Nowadays, though most baked cheesecakes use sugar as a sweetener, curd cheeses and honey still form a delicious fresh dessert combination in many European countries.
On the Continent, many cheesecakes continue to be made with local curd cheeses, ranging from German quark to Italian ricotta, with several Eastern European variants in between. In the English-speaking world, American-style cream cheesecakes have now ousted their ancestors. In 1872, two Americans trying to make French Neufchâtel cheese accidentally created another product that was soon marketed as cream cheese, and recipes showed people how to use it. Even the European immigrants who had been making their traditional cakes with curd cheeses soon found this a delicious alternative and the American-style cheesecakes set out to conquer the world.
Traditional Italian baking uses ricotta to create wonderfully light but succulent cheesecakes and tarts. I use a fairly flat tin to make mine because I like to serve it as a base for berries and tropical fruit. If you prefer a higher cheesecake, use a springform tin with higher sides and use one-and-a-half times the quantity of filling.
This is quick and easy to make. It keeps well but must be chilled if not served immediately.
75 g/2¾ oz/½ cup plain (all-purpose) flour
75 g/2¾ oz/generous ¾ cup finely ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp caster (superfine) sugar
¼ tsp salt
75 g/2¾ oz/scant ¾ stick butter, chilled and cubed
1 egg, well beaten (as needed)
500 g/1 lb 2 oz/2½ cups ricotta
150 g/5½ oz/¾ cup caster (superfine) sugar
2 tbsp plain (all-purpose) flour
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
24-cm/9-in fluted flan tin, 2.5 cm/1 in deep
For the crust, put all ingredients except for the egg in a food processor and pulse until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. Transfer to a large bowl. If you have to do this by hand, mix together the dry ingredients, then rub in the butter with your fingertips until you get the same texture. Add enough egg to moisten the dry ingredients (you may not need the whole egg) and knead lightly to form a dough. Shape the dough into a ball, then cover with clingfilm (plastic wrap) and put it in the refrigerator to rest for about 10 minutes while you make the filling.
Put all of the filling ingredients in a large bowl and mix until you get a homogenous mass. Better yet, put everything in a food processor and whiz until homogenous.
Preheat the oven to 160˚C/325˚F/Gas Mark 3. Grease the tin, then dust with flour and place on a baking sheet.
Roll the dough out between two sheets of clingfilm to about 30 cm/12 in and use it to line the baking tin. Neaten the edges if necessary.
Pour the filling into the prepared tin and bake for 50–60 minutes, or until set and golden brown. If you give the tin a slight shake, there should be no movement in the centre of the cheesecake. Place the tin on a wire rack and leave to cool until lukewarm, then loosen the edges carefully and transfer to a serving plate.
Serve at room temperature with a generous helping of berries or other soft fruit, or with a sweetened fruit purée or coulis.
This recipe is simplicity itself and is put together in a matter of minutes. Although food snobs around the world look down on condensed milk, it helps to give a lovely texture in cheesecakes. If you can get really ripe and flavourful mangoes, use them. If you use canned mangoes, try to get an Oriental brand, as the mangoes generally seem riper and sweeter. However, do not expect a blast of mango flavour. This is more of a subtle fruity background tang that cuts the richness of the cream cheese. My crust is slightly cakelike, but if you prefer a firmer crust, omit the baking powder. For a special occasion, serve it with a chocolate sauce made from equal quantities of dark chocolate and cream and left to cool a little to thicken. For a slightly more virtuous special dessert, serve with lightly sweetened passion fruit pulp.
150 g/5½ oz/1 cup plain (all-purpose) flour
1 tsp baking powder (optional)
¼ tsp salt
75 g/2¾ oz/¾ stick butter, chilled and cubed
1 egg, well beaten
400 g/14 oz/2 cups cream cheese, softened
300 g/10½ oz sweetened condensed milk
3 tbsp plain (all-purpose) flour
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
250 g/9 oz mango pulp
20-cm/8-in round springform tin, greased and floured
For the crust, put all ingredients except for the egg in a food processor and pulse until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. Transfer to a large bowl. If you have to do this by hand, mix the dry ingredients, then rub in the butter with your fingertips until you get the same texture. Add the beaten egg and knead lightly to form a dough. Shape it into a ball, then cover with clingfilm (plastic wrap) and put it in the refrigerator to rest while you make the filling.
Put all of the filling ingredients in a large bowl and mix until you get a homogenous mass. Better yet, put everything in a food processor and whiz until homogenous.
Preheat the oven to 160˚C/325˚F/Gas Mark 3. Grease the tin and dust with flour.
Roll out the dough between two sheets of clingfilm to about 28 cm/11 in and use it to line the baking tin.
Pour the filling into the prepared tin and bake for 50–60 minutes, or until set and golden brown. If you give the tin a slight shake, there should be no movement in the centre of the cheesecake. Loosen the sides with a spatula and leave to cool in the tin in the oven with the door ajar.
Chill for at least 4 hours before serving. Bring individual portions to room temperature before serving. The cheesecake will keep for up to four days in the refrigerator. Keep well covered and away from strong-smelling products, as it will absorb any unpleasant odours.
