Baklava Cake Food

CHEF JOHN'S BAKLAVA

Steps:

• Place walnuts, pistachios, and cinnamon in bowl of a food processor. Pulse on and off until mixture is chopped but not too fine.
• Brush bottom of 9-inch round baking pan with melted butter. Place one round of phyllo dough in the pan; add a second round of dough. Drip about 1 tablespoon of melted butter over the top. Add 2 more sheets and drizzle with butter. Add 2 more sheets and drip with butter creating 6 layers for the bottom. (While you work keep the phyllo sheets covered with a damp, nearly dry, cotton towel to keep dough from drying out.)
• Sprinkle with 1/3 of the nut mixture. Top with a sheet of phyllo and drip with melted butter; repeat with 1 more sheet of filo. Add another 1/3 of the nut mixture.
• Place another sheet of phyllo on the nuts; drip with butter. Top with another sheet and drip with butter. Add the remaining nut mixture.
• Top with 2 sheets of phyllo; drip with butter. Add 2 more sheets; drip with butter. Top with the last 2 sheets and drizzle generously with the remaining butter. Cover pan with plastic and refrigerate until completely chilled, about 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Cut baklava into about 12 diamond-shaped pieces approximately the same size.
• Bake in preheated oven until browned and crisp, about an hour.
• Place sugar, honey, and cloves in a saucepan. Pour in water. Place pan over medium-high heat and whisk to combine. Bring to a boil; remove from heat. Whisk in vanilla and orange blossom water.
• After baklava has rested 5 minutes, ladle syrup over the top. Cool down to room temperature before serving.

BAKLAVA CHEESECAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425°. Place 1 sheet of phyllo dough in a greased 9-in. springform pan, pressing phyllo onto bottom and up sides of pan; brush with butter. Layer with remaining phyllo sheets, brushing each layer and rotating sheets slightly to stagger the corners. (While working, keep unused phyllo covered with a damp towel to prevent it from drying out.) Place on a 15x10x1-in. baking pan., In a small bowl, mix walnuts, sugar and spices; sprinkle over bottom of phyllo. Bake 5-7 minutes or until edges are lightly browned (sides will puff). Cool in springform pan on a wire rack. Reduce oven setting to 325°., In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and mascarpone cheese on low speed until smooth. Beat in honey, milk and flour. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until blended. Pour into crust. Return pan to baking pan. , Bake 50-60 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight, covering when completely cooled. Remove rim from pan., For garnish, place corn syrup in a small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave, uncovered, 10 seconds or until warm. Brush corn syrup lightly over both sides of rosemary. Place on waxed paper; sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar., If needed, reheat remaining corn syrup until warm; gently toss cranberries in syrup. Place remaining sugar in a small bowl; add cranberries and toss to coat. Place on waxed paper and let stand until set, about 1 hour. , Just before serving, top cheesecake with sugared rosemary and cranberries.

GREEK BAKLAVA

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F(175 degrees C). Butter the bottoms and sides of a 9x13 inch pan.
• Chop nuts and toss with cinnamon. Set aside. Unroll phyllo dough. Cut whole stack in half to fit pan. Cover phyllo with a dampened cloth to keep from drying out as you work. Place two sheets of dough in pan, butter thoroughly. Repeat until you have 8 sheets layered. Sprinkle 2 - 3 tablespoons of nut mixture on top. Top with two sheets of dough, butter, nuts, layering as you go. The top layer should be about 6 - 8 sheets deep.
• Using a sharp knife cut into diamond or square shapes all the way to the bottom of the pan. You may cut into 4 long rows the make diagonal cuts. Bake for about 50 minutes until baklava is golden and crisp.
• Make sauce while baklava is baking. Boil sugar and water until sugar is melted. Add vanilla and honey. Simmer for about 20 minutes.
• Remove baklava from oven and immediately spoon sauce over it. Let cool. Serve in cupcake papers. This freezes well. Leave it uncovered as it gets soggy if it is wrapped up.

PASSOVER BAKLAVA CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F; spray a round cake pan with cooking spray.
• Add sugars, oil, eggs and egg whites to a large mixing bowl.
• Beat at medium until blended.
• Stir in matzoh cake meal and next 5 ingredients and beat until well blended.
• Pour into cake pan and bake for 35 minutes.
• Cool completely on a wire rack.
• Combine syrup ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
• Lower to simmer and cook 25 minutes until thick.
• Cool completely.
• Pierce top of cake with a fork, pour syrup on top.
• Cover and chill overnight.

BAKLAVA

Steps:

• Position a rack in the lower third of the oven; preheat to 350 degrees F. Combine the nuts, cinnamon and ground crackers in a bowl.
• Brush a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with some of the butter. Layer 10 pieces of phyllo in the dish, brushing each piece with butter before adding the next (keep the remaining dough covered with a damp towel). Sprinkle a quarter of the nut mixture over the dough. Layer 4 pieces of phyllo on top, brushing each with butter before adding the next; sprinkle with another quarter of the nut mixture. Add 4 more phyllo pieces on top, brushing each with butter, then add another quarter of the nut mixture, 4 more pieces of phyllo with butter, and the remaining nuts.
• Layer the remaining 10 pieces of phyllo on top of the nuts, brushing each with butter; brush the top piece with extra butter. Cut into the baklava to make strips, about 1 1/2 inches wide. Then make diagonal slices, about 1 1/2 inches apart, to create a diamond pattern. Bake until golden, about 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, make the syrup: Bring the sugar, honey and 1 1/2 cups water to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat and cook, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the lemon juice and boil 2 more minutes, then let cool slightly.
• Pour the syrup over the warm baklava; let soak, uncovered, at least 6 hours or overnight. Garnish with nuts.

BAKLAVA

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 390 degrees F then reduce heat to 300 degrees F before adding the baklava.
• Combine walnuts, cinnamon, ground cloves, sugar and bread crumbs together in a large bowl.
• Grease a baking pan with the melted butter. It should be the same size as the sheets of pastry. Trim the pastry to fit, if needed.
• Brush 1 sheet of pastry with melted butter and place in the bottom of the pan. Repeat this until you have a layer about 5 or 6 sheets deep. Cover with some of the nut filling. Place 2 more buttered pastry sheets on top and cover with more of the nut filling. Continue the layers until all of the filling is used. Use the last 4 or 5 of the buttered pastry sheets as the top layer.
• Using a small sharp knife cut a diamond shaped pattern into the baklava, cutting through the layers to the bottom of the pan. Stud the top of the baklava with the whole cloves.
• Bake in the center of the pre-heated oven for 1 1/2 hours. For fan-forced ovens it may be necessary to cover the baklava with aluminum foil to prevent it becoming too dark.
• When baked through remove and cool to room temperature.
• To make the syrup:
• Place the sugar, honey, water, cloves, butter and cinnamon in a saucepan and stir to combine. Boil for 7 to 10 minutes, then remove the cloves and cinnamon, with a slotted spoon and add the lemon juice.
• Pour the boiling syrup over the room temperature baklava. Allow to cool to the touch and serve.

ROSIE'S BAKLAVA ICE-CREAM CAKE

Steps:

• With a sharp knife finely chop almonds and walnuts separately. (Resist the temptation to use a food processor; chopping by hand is the key to the texture of baklava.) In a bowl stir together nuts, sugar, and spices. Put stack of phyllo sheets on a work surface and cover with 2 overlapping sheets of plastic wrap and then a damp kitchen towel. Melt butter and keep warm. (If butter cools, it will be too thick to brush.)
• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• With a pastry brush brush a 17 1/2- x 12 1/2- x 1-inch baking pan with some butter. Cover bottom of pan with a phyllo sheet, keeping remaining sheets covered with plastic wrap and towel, and lightly brush with butter. Layer 7 more phyllo sheets, brushing each sheet with butter, in same manner. Sprinkle nut mixture over buttered phyllo and with your fingers gently spread evenly.
• On a work surface (not on top of nut layer) lightly butter and stack remaining 8 phyllo sheets, making sure top sheet is well-buttered. Transfer phyllo stack to baking pan, putting it on nut layer and pressing to help it adhere to nuts. With a fork prick top phyllo stack all over at 1/4-inch intervals going through to nut layer, to keep it from puffing unevenly. With sharp knife halve baklava crosswise and bake in middle of oven until golden brown, about 30 minutes.
• Make syrup while baklava is baking:
• Halve lemon half. In a 1 1/2-quart saucepan boil water, sugar, and lemon over moderate heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved and liquid is reduced to about 1 1/3 cups, about 10 minutes. Remove pan from heat and stir in honey. Discard lemon and cool syrup to warm.
• Pour warm syrup over hot baklava and cool in pan on a rack 15 to 30 minutes. (Baklava will absorb syrup.) Do not let baklava cool more than 30 minutes before assembling cake or phyllo layers will become too soft to transfer.
• While baklava is cooling, soften ice cream. (We softened ours in a microwave set on defrost, 30% power, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Alternatively, you can leave it in the refrigerator - not on the counter -30 minutes).
• Assemble cake:
• Using two 30-inch-long sheets of foil, line a 13- x 9- x 2-inch baking pan, arranging 1 sheet lengthwise and 1 sheet crosswise. With a large metal spatula carefully slide 1 baklava half into pan and top with ice cream, spreading evenly. Slide remaining baklava half over ice cream and wrap cake snugly in foil. Freeze cake at least 6 hours and up to 1 week.
• Just before serving, cut cake into pieces.

GREEK "BAKLAVA" WALNUT HONEY-GLAZED CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (second-lowest oven rack).
• Butter a 9-inch square glass baking pan.
• In a bowl combine flour with baking powder, salt, cinnamon and orange zest; set aside.
• In a large bowl cream butter together with 1 cup sugar until fluffy (about 3-4 minutes, no sugar granules should remain).
• Add in eggs and vanilla and beat well to combine.
• Add in flour mixture alternately with milk mixing until just combined.
• Stir in walnuts.
• Transfer to prepared baking pan.
• Bake for about 40-45 minutes or until cake tests done.
• Cool for about 20 minutes then slice into diamond shapes.
• Drizzle the honey glaze over the slices.
• For the honey glaze; in a saucepan combine honey, 1 cup sugar and water; bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes stirring with a wooden spoon.
• Add in lemon juice and continue to boil for 2 minutes.
• Drizzle over cake.

BAKLAVA

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and grease a 21cm x 21cm square cake tin with butter. Chop the nuts into small pieces using a food processor, taking care not to blitz them to a paste. Put them into a bowl, stir in the honey and a pinch of salt and set aside.
• Melt the butter in a pan over a low heat. Cut the first pack of filo pastry sheets in half (so that they fit the tin). Put one sheet in the tin and brush with the melted butter. Lay another sheet on top and brush with butter again, keep layering like this until the whole pack is used up.
• Spread the honey and nut mixture over the pastry and press it down lightly with the back of a spoon. Open the other pack of filo, cut in half and continue the layering and buttering process. When you reach the last sheet pour any remaining butter over the top to finish. Use a sharp knife to cut deep lines into the pastry to create either squares or diamond shapes then bake in the oven for 20 mins.
• Reduce the heat to 150C/130C fan/gas 2 and bake for a further 45 mins. While the baklava cooks put all the syrup ingredients into a saucepan and add 200ml water. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved then boil the mixture for 8-10 mins or until it has reduced to the consistency of runny honey.
• When the baklava comes out of the oven, pour the warm syrup over the top, allowing it to run into the lines you have cut. Leave it to soak in and serve when it's completely cold.

BAKLAVA CAKE

Steps:

• Tip the flour, baking powder, semolina and cinnamon into a large bowl. Put the nuts in a food processor and blitz until coarsely chopped.
• Beat the egg whites using an electric whisk or stand mixer on a high speed until stiff and slowly add half of the sugar. Reduce the speed to medium and beat for about 5 mins until the meringue is nice and firm, then set aside. Beat the egg yolks on a high speed, gradually adding the remaining 50g of sugar. When all the sugar is incorporated, beat for about 10 mins on a high speed until pale in colour and doubled in volume.
• Gently fold the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture, then add the nut and flour mixtures and carefully fold in. Set aside. Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6.
• For the filo layers, use some of the melted butter to brush the inside of a 23cm bundt tin. Lay the sheets of filo on a board and cut them in half down the middle to give you 16 strips. Take eight strips, keeping the rest covered, and brush one at a time with more butter. Arrange in the tin, making sure the inside of the ring is covered, with overhang. Repeat with the remaining filo.
• Dollop the cake batter evenly into the tin. Fold the overhanging filo strips inwards to cover the cake mixture, trimming off the excess. Brush the top of the filo with more butter, then prick all over using the point of a sharp knife. Bake for 25 mins or until golden. When a skewer is inserted it should come out clean with no sticky crumbs.
• Meanwhile, make the syrup. Put the sugar, honey, rosewater, cinnamon stick and 300ml water in a saucepan. Bring to the boil over a high heat, then reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 5 mins. Do not stir.
• Pour half of the hot syrup over the baklava cake as soon as it comes out of the oven. Leave the cake to cool completely before removing it from the tin, carefully turning it out onto a lined baking sheet. Poke the top of the cake with a skewer. Return it to the oven for approximately 15 mins or until the filo is crispy and golden. Meanwhile, reheat the remaining syrup, then pour over the cake when it comes out of the oven. Leave to cool or come to room temperature before serving.
• Pipe rosettes of rosewater cream on top and sprinkle with chopped walnuts, pistachios and edible rose petals, if you like. Will keep for three days in the fridge.