Sometimes I find myself having conversations with Baa and Bapuji, Nanabapu and Nanima in my head. Call me crazy but I’m quite sure that my Nanima (who passed away when my mum was just seven) is my spirit guide. She pushes me to get stuff done, tells me not to overthink when I’m stressed and that I should always strive to be like my mum… resilient. I update them all on my ambitions and like most grandparents, they’re supportive, practical and full of sound advice. To me they’re here, even though the things I hear back when I share my thoughts with them is “all me”, if you know what I mean.

In six weeks I get to see my oldest friend from school get married. We grew up in the same town, went to the same college and did everything together. She used to make me the most gorgeous birthday cards and presents and today she’s an incredibly talented, award-winning artist. Back in the day I used to cook during school holidays so I could get her opinion on my latest edible creations and now I produce content at Food Network. Today, some 20 years later I get to bake her a wedding cake, as well as be her bridesmaid and that lights up my heart. Nanima will be with me at every step, of course. The night before she’ll tell me to get it together and do my friend proud. It’ll be a kick ass cake.

If I was baking this cake for my grandparents, I’d describe it as Gajar Halwa cake. It’s got all the flavours of the traditional Indian dessert made with carrots, cardamom and nuts. It’s an ultra-moist (my work colleague and friend Jo’s Clothes says it’s okay to use that word in reference to cake), four layer beauty. Lauren wants an elegant naked cake with very little icing on the outside so I saw this as the perfect opportunity to practice my decorating skills for this kind of cake. Decorated with fresh tulips (which I grew in my garden, btw!) this is one of my more refined creations. The flavours are just as spellbinding as the presentation, and by god is this look easy to achieve! Follow my recipe below and you’ll have your very own wedding-inspired naked cake to devour.

This makes enough to fill 2 8-inch cake tins. Once the sponges have cooled, I split each one into two layers and fill with fluffy orange blossom cream cheese icing. The fragrance is unbelievable and is so good against the slightly sharp tang of cream cheese.

So it’s a short one today but I think bawling on the train once is enough for me this week and anyhow, it’s all about the cake. Bake it for someone you love.

Eggless Cardamom Carrot Cake with Orange Blossom Frosting
Serves 12-14

Ingredients:
450g flour, sifted
30g ground pistachios
1 tbsp coarse semolina
2 tsp ground cardamom
1 heaped tbsp ground cinnamon + 2 tsp
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
Zest of 1 large orange
Water from 1 can chickpeas
100g milk powder
140g sour cream
480ml sunflower oil
1 tbsp vanilla extract
420g grated carrots
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
300g caster sugar
120g brown sugar

For the frosting:

250g unsalted butter, softened

300g cream cheese, room temperature

550g icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp orange blossom water

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 160C/gas mark 4. Grease and line two deep 8-inch wide cake tins and set aside.

2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ground ginger.

3. Add the ground cardamom (at this stage because it needs to be coarsely ground unlike the other spices.

4. Add the semolina and ground pistachios.

5. Peel and grate the carrots on the large side of a grater.

6. In a stand mixer briefly combine the chickpea water and milk powder. Add the oil, brown sugar, caster sugar, orange zest, sour cream and vanilla extract. Beat for 2 minutes.

7. Add the flour mixture in two stages, still beating the mixture slowly. The batter should be relatively smooth but take care not to over beat.

8. Stop beating. Squeeze the juice from the carrots into the batter and fold. Finally, fold in all of the grated carrots.

9. Divide the batter between the two pans and slam the base of the pan onto the work surface to remove any unwanted air bubbles which may cause the cake to rise unevenly.

10. Bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

11. To make the icing: Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment affixed. Beat at high speed until pale. Gradually add the icing sugar in batches until it’s all incorporated. Add the vanilla, orange blossom water and a pinch of fine salt. Beat until very light and pale, about 6 minutes.

12. Add the cream cheese and whip until just combined. The frosting should be off white, thick and creamy.

13. Trim the tops of the sponges if they’re not totally flat and split each one through the middle. I use a cake wire like this one for even layers. You could also use a large serrated knife.

14. Place the first sponge on a cake board and fill with 2 ice cream scoops worth of icing (this is an easy way to ensure your layers have the same amount of icing in between). Spread it evenly.

15. Top with another sponge and repeat for the next layers.

16. Once your cakes are stacked, top with the remaining icing and cover the cake. You don’t have to be neat.

17. Use an offset spatula to scrape the icing from the sides of the cake to create a “naked” effect.

18. Decorate with swirls of icing using a regular piping bag and large swirl tip. Decorate with your favourite flowers.

Love Sanjana

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I’m snowed in. There’s a party to get to and I’m snowed in. Thankfully the International Incident Colours Party hosted by Penny a.k.a Jeroxie is a kind of party immune to catastrophic weather.

The final month of 2010 should be filled with bright colours and big smiles – my recipe for Orange and Cardamom Scented Seeroh (pronounced how it’s spelt) guarantees to make that happen. It’s not too sweet, not too rich and is incredibly addictive. That’s not to say you can chuck a whole load of them in your mouth one after another.

Just in case you do decide you want to finish off the whole lot in one go, I thoughtfully substituted a significant amount of sugar in this recipe with friendly agave nectar. You can thank me later.

Seeroh is essentially sweetened semolina (don’t gag, it’s nothing like ‘school dinner’ semolina). It can be flavoured anything you like – I try to stick to a couple of complimentary flavours that won’t clash or overpower one another like orange and cardamom. You could also try lemon and saffron, rose and pistachio, or cinnamon and chocolate chip.

Note: It is with regret I believe one of the only times glace cherries are appropriate in cooking is during seeroh and burfi-making. If you disagree, please enlighten me.

Seeroh can be served loose, whilst warm or set in a tray and cut into cubes. It will set when cool anyway, so if you want to serve it loose at a later time you will need to reheat it and stir again. I prefer setting it straight away for the purpose of presentation but of course, this makes no difference to the taste.

You should always store seeroh in the fridge because it can spoil quickly at room temperature. This seeroh should keep well in the fridge for 2-4 days – whether it will last that long is another story.

These make gorgeous edible gifts (like my recipe for Eggless Christmas Cupcakes), especially when they’re wrapped up tightly in clear plastic bags and tied with festive ribbons. Pack the bite-sized cubes into a pretty box, present to loved ones and bask in the glory of doing a fine deed.

Orange and Cardamom Scented Seeroh

Ingredients

500ml hot milk
140ml hot water
150ml agave nectar
60g sugar
140g butter
260g coarse semolina
Zest of 1 medium orange
½ tsp cardamom powder
2 tbsp glace cherries, quartered

Slivered almonds and pistachios to decorate
Sunflower oil to grease the tray for setting (if setting)

Method

1. Heat the butter in a large non-stick pan and add the semolina. Sauté on a low/medium heat for around 3 minutes or until golden and toasted.

2. Slowly add the hot milk and water, whisking all the time. The mixture should thicken as you whisk. Add the sugar and agave nectar.

3. Cook on a medium heat for around 8-10 minutes or until a buttery sheen becomes visible on the top and sides of the mixture. Keep stirring all the time.

4. Remove from the heat, add the orange zest, cardamom powder and glace cherries.

5. Grease a 6inchX8inch square tray with sunflower oil and pour in your seeroh mixture. Flatten the top, sprinkle with slivered nuts and allow to cool at room temperature. When cool, refrigerate for at least an hour, until you’re ready to cut into cubes. Store in the fridge.

Serve as it is or hot with a colossal scoop of good vanilla ice cream.

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Kataifi (also known as konafi, kanafeh, kunafah and a whole range of other names in various languages) is a Middle-Eastern and Mediterranean shredded filo pastry. It is a little fiddly to work with but worth every second of the time it makes to create luxurious pastries, whether they are sweet or savoury. With this one, patience is most certainly a virtue.

Middle-Eastern and Mediterranean pastries are famously known for their use of nuts, spices and syrups, but the varieties of these ingredients differ from country to country, and region to region. Some of these ingredients include almonds, pistachios, rose, cinnamon, honey, fruits and sugar syrups. The list of possible combinations for pastries is endless, and they can be every bit as indulgent as your imagination dares to allow.

The fine threads of kataifi are massively delicate and resemble angel hair pasta which, when drizzled with golden streams of butter crisp up divinely in the heat of your oven. Syrup is poured on once the kataifi has finished baking and is still warm and able to glug up all of its sweetness and moisture.

Indeed, kataifi is very versatile and provides an amazing crunch to lots of dishes. It can also be filled with savoury ingredients such as cheeses like sharp fetas or also fruits like spiced mashed avocado. It can be baked and deep fried, although when you bake it, you must agree to add lots of butter. It’s wholly necessary.

You’ll have never tasted anything crispier. That’s a promise. And I always keep my promises.

Fun Fact: Palestinians made the largest kanafeh [kataifi] in an attempt to get into the book of Guinness World Records. The plate of the Palestinian delicacy measured 75 meters in length and two meters in width with a weight of 1,350 kilograms.*

Sadly, they never saved a piece for me.

*Source: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanafeh

Cinnamon & Orange Blossom Kataifi Rolls
(Yields 35-45 pieces depending on their size)

Ingredients

500g kataifi pastry (I used a Syrian brand of frozen pastry, defrosted)
250g salted butter, melted

For the filling

240g ground nuts (I used a combination of equal amounts of pistachios, almonds and walnuts)
2 tsp cinnamon powder
60g granulated sugar

For the syrup

400g sugar
360ml water
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp orange blossom water

Method

1. Combine all of the ingredients for the filling and set aside.

2. On a large, clean surface separate the kataifi pastry carefully until it is as thin as it will go without having large gaps in it. Make sure the strands are left whole.

3. Cut the pastry into 6X10inch rectangles and working quickly on the longest edge, butter the pastry all over with a pastry brush. Then place 2-3 tbsp of the filling in a horizontal line across the pastry an inch from the bottom.

4. Carefully and tightly roll the long edge of the pastry from the bottom, making sure the filling doesn’t fall out. Place in a buttered baking tray and brush the top all over with more butter. (Note: Next time I roll the kataifi I will be using a sushi mat to get a perfect roll as the method of rolling kataifi is very similar to rolling sushi maki).

5. Repeat the above process for the rest of the pastry. Tightly pack each roll into the baking tray, one next to the other.

6. Bake the kataifi at 140 degress Celsius for around an hour. If you find it is burning then brush on more butter and bake at a lower temperature for longer.

8. Once the kataifi is golden brown all over, remove from the heat and gently ladle on the warm sugar syrup. Cover the tray with a piece of foil and allow to rest and absorb for a minimum of 8-12 hours, although 24 hours would be ideal.

9. When rested and cooled, cut the pastry logs into 1 inch pieces and place on greaseproof paper. Serve with Arabic coffee (qawah) or espresso.

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