Armenian Nutmeg Cake

The aroma that emanates from your kitchen while baking the nutmeg cake, guarantees to bring back the happy memories of festivities and celebrations. In India, fresh grated nutmeg is widely used in almost all the sweets and during festivals like Diwali, Holi and during the  auspicious "Shravan" month, our kitchens and homes are filled with this aromatic fragrance.

My last post was about Nazook , another sweet delicacy from Armenia and I m really thankful to Jason for sharing these family recipes with us at Daring Bakers'.

The cake's bottom layer is very buttery, biscuity, dense, crumbly and a little too sweet for my liking but you can reduce the sugar. Then comes the soft and moist textured cake with crispy nuts on top.  It's a very flavourful and festive cake. Not a fancy one but with a rustic charm that can be achieved only by family hand-me-downs recipes. And the best part is, this cake is very easy to put together!

 Armenian Nutmeg Cake
Check out the video instructions by Jason here. 
Ingredients:
1 cup (240 ml) milk
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups (280 gm) all-purpose (plain) flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups (400 gm) brown sugar, firmly packed
3/4 cup (170 gm) butter, preferably unsalted, cubed
1/2 cup (55 gm) walnut pieces, may need a little more (I used pistachios)
1 to 1-1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg (try to grate it fresh yourself; the aroma is enchanting)
1 egg

Method:
Preheat your oven to moderate 175°C.

Mix the baking soda (not baking powder; that's for the next step) into the milk. Set it aside.
Sift together the flour and the baking powder into a large bowl. One sift is fine.
Add the brown sugar. Go ahead and mix the flour and brown sugar together.
Toss in the cubed butter. Mash the butter with a fork into the dry ingredients (you can also use your fingers if you want). You'll want to achieve a more-or-less uniform, tan-colored crumbly mixture. Take HALF of this resulting crumbly mixture into your springform (9”/23cm) pan. Press a crust out of it using your fingers and knuckles. It will be easy.
Crack an egg into a mixer or bowl. Toss the nutmeg in with the egg. Start mixing slowly with a whisk attachment and then increase to medium speed, or mix with a hand whisk if you're doing it manually. Once it's mixed well and frothy (about 1 minute using a standing mixer, or about 2-3 minutes of vigorous beating with a whisk), pour in the milk and baking soda mixture. Continue to mix until uniform.
Pour in the rest of the crumbly mixture. Mix that well, with either a paddle attachment, or a spatula. Or continue to use the whisk; it won't make much of a difference, since the resulting batter is very runny.
Pour the batter over the base in the springform pan. Gently sprinkle the walnut pieces over the batter.
Bake in a preheated moderate oven for about 30-40 minutes. You'll know it's done when the top is a golden brown, and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Allow to cool in the pan, and then release. Enjoy!

Daring Bakers' April' 2012 Challenge : Nazook

The Daring Bakers’ April 2012 challenge, hosted by Jason at Daily Candor, were two Armenian standards: nazook and nutmeg cake (will post the recipe later). Nazook is a layered yeasted dough pastry with a sweet filling, and nutmeg cake is a fragrant, nutty coffee-style cake.

                                                              Nazook with almond filling

                                              Armenian nutmeg cake with pistachios on top

This is my third bake for the Daring Bakers' (see first and second) and m so glad for being  a part of this awesomely genius and always inspiring community (which actually makes me realize, time and again, how much loads out there I still have to learn!). The wonderful part which I loved about this month's challenge was that it showed us a glimpse of the Armenian culture (I bet 90% of us,after reading about this month's challenge, immediately googled to know more about the Armenian food) and thank you Jason for sharing these wonderful recipes.

According to Jason- Nazook is a crisp, but soft, and buttery, sweet, but not too sweet pastry that's a traditional favourite among Armenians. Armenians prepare it usually around the time of Easter and it is eaten for 40 days through Ascension.

Nazzok in Hindi means tender or soft. This pastry is exactly that, it is so buttery soft (and tender of course :D) that it will literally melt in your mouth. This is an excellent pastry that can be eaten practically anytime of the day. It particularly goes well with coffee or tea. At my household we loved it with our afternoon cuppa. The pastry takes a while to prepare since the dough needs to sit in the fridge for a few hours (or overnight), but the time and effort taken to make this wonderful golden pastry can be more than justified with every bite of baked goodness.


Nazook
Click here for video instructions by Jason's Aunt Aida
Ingredients:

Pastry Dough
3 cups (420 grams) all-purpose (plain) flour, sifted
2½ teaspoons (7 grams) active dry yeast
1 cup (240 ml) sour cream (I used fresh homemade yogurt)
1 cup (225 grams) softened butter (room temperature)

Filling
1 1/2 cups  (210 gm) all-purpose (plain) flour, sifted (I used 100 grams almond meal and 110 grams all purpose flour)
1 1/2 cups (340 grams) sugar
3/4 cup (170 grams) softened butter (room temperature)
2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract

Wash
1-2 egg yolks (for the wash; alternatively, some yogurt, egg whites, or a whole egg)

Method:

Make the Pastry Dough
Place the sifted flour into a large bowl. Add the dry yeast, and mix it in. Add the sour cream, and the softened butter. Use your hands, or a standing mixer with a paddle attachment, to work it into a dough. If using a standing mixer, switch to a dough hook. If making manually, continue to knead for about 10 minutes, or until the dough no longer sticks to the bowl or your hands. If it remains very sticky, add some flour, a little at a time.
Cover the dough and refrigerate for 3-5 hours, or overnight if you like.

Make the filling
Mix the flour, sugar, and the softened butter in a medium bowl. Add the vanilla extract. Mix the filling until it looks like clumpy, damp sand. It should not take long. Set aside.

Make the nazook
Preheat the oven to moderate 350°F/175°C/gas mark 4. Cut the refrigerated dough into quarters. Form one of the quarters into a ball. Dust your working surface with a little flour. Roll out the dough into a large rectangle or oval. The dough should be thin, but not
transparent.
Spread 1/4 of the filling mixture across the rolled-out dough in an even layer. Try to spread the filling as close as possible to the edges on the short sides, but keep some of pastry dough uncovered (1 inch/2.5 cm) along the long edges.
From one of the long sides, start slowly rolling the dough across. Be careful to make sure the filling stays evenly distributed. Roll all the way across until you have a long, thin loaf.
Pat down the loaf with your palm and fingers so that it flattens out a bit (just a bit). Apply your egg yolk wash with a pastry brush.
Use your crinkle cutter (or knife) to cut the loaf into 10 equally-sized pieces. Put onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Place in a preheated moderate oven for about 30 minutes, until the tops are a rich, golden brown. Allow to cool and enjoy!

Modeling Chocolate Paste

This is my last installment regarding Saee's Birthday Cake (check here and here for the first two). I often use modeling chocolate for decorations because -
a) it cuts so beautifully,
b) it's quick to make,
c) it hardens to hold it's shape (as long as it's thick enough), and tastes amazing...better than fondant!

                     The doll and the makeup supplies are made from White Chocolate modeling paste

                The bow on the purse, piping and the handle is made of Dark Chocolate modeling paste

Basically it's a mixture of chocolate and corn syrup. Once it cools and hardens slightly you can knead it together like a  play doh. After mixing the chocolate and corn syrup together, pour it out on wax paper or saran wrap, and dab it periodically with a paper towel because it releases wax. After it begins to firm up (but is not completely hard...say 2-3 hours later), start kneading it and getting it really smooth. It's easier to do that when it's not 100% hard! Then, when you store it away, it'll be ready to go. All you have to do is just warm it up by kneading it on the counter for a bit.

Adapted from Joy of Baking
Dark Chocolate Modeling Paste
Ingredients:
200 grams dark chocolate, chopped
1/4th cup (60 ml) light corn syrup

White Chocolate Modeling Paste
Ingredients:
200 grams white chocolate, chopped
1 1/2-2 tablespoons light corn syrup


Method:
Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or a saucepan set over a pan of simmering water. Stir in the chocolate until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and stir until smooth and cooled a bit. Stir in the corn syrup. The chocolate will stiffen almost immediately. Stir until completely combined. Transfer the chocolate to a sturdy plastic freezer bag and refrigerate until firm. 
When the dough is firm, remove from the refrigerator and knead till it is soft enough to work with. If it is too hard, cut off small pieces and knead until pliable. At this point you can make the chocolate into whatever shape you want.

I m so delighted to receive these two awards from Resh of Daily Cuppa .
The wonderful awards are:
                                        

                                
Rules for both the awards are :
1. Thank the person who nominated you for this Award and link them back.
2. Say some 5 random facts about you.
3. Spread the  joy by nominating other bloggers.
4. Convey the blogger about the nomination.


Random facts about me:
1. I love to read chick-lit (my kindle is full of all the Barbara Delinsky, Nicholas Sparks and Cecilia Ahern).
2. My all time favourite movies are Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Love Actually, You've got mail, I Hate Love Stories, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander and all the Ocean's series.
3. I m a rabid baker (it's pretty evident).
4. I can live on street food.
5. I have a doberman named "Dobby" (not very creative :D).

I would love to share these awards with:
1. Amelia of Amelia's De-ssert.
2. Alida of My Little Italian Kitchen.
3. Abbygail of Abbygail's Kitchen.
4. Jeannie Tay of Baking Diary.
5.Caroline of Caroline Bakes.

All these blogs are very dear to me and really enjoy going through their posts.