Baklava Cake Recipes

EASY BAKLAVA

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish.
• Toss together cinnamon and nuts. Unroll phyllo and cut whole stack in half to fit the dish. Cover phyllo with a damp cloth while assembling the baklava, to keep it from drying out.
• Place two sheets of phyllo in the bottom of the prepared dish. Brush generously with butter. Sprinkle 2 to 3 tablespoons of the nut mixture on top. Repeat layers until all ingredients are used, ending with about 6 sheets of phyllo. Using a sharp knife, cut baklava (all the way through to the bottom of the dish) into four long rows, then (nine times) diagonally to make 36 diamond shapes.
• Bake in preheated oven until golden brown and crisp, about 50 minutes.
• While baklava is baking, combine sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Stir in honey, vanilla and lemon or orange zest; reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.
• Remove the baklava from the oven and immediately spoon the syrup over it. Let cool completely before serving. Store uncovered.

BAKLAVA CHEESECAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter the bottom and sides of a 9x13-inch pan.
• Toss walnuts and cinnamon together in a bowl and set aside.
• Unroll phyllo dough and trim to just slightly larger than the pan so dough will run up the sides. Place 2 sheets of dough in the prepared pan and butter thoroughly. Repeat for a total of 8 sheets layered. Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of cinnamon-walnut mixture on top. Top with 2 more sheets of dough, butter, cinnamon-walnut mixture; repeat and end with 3 sheets of dough. Butter the top of the baklava.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Leave oven on.
• Meanwhile, combine cream cheese, sugar, and flour in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on high power until smooth, about 1 minute. Scrape the bowl. Beat on low speed and add eggs 1 at a time, beating about 15 seconds after each. Scrape bowl. Add lemon juice and beat on high speed until well blended, about 1 minute. Pour mixture over baked baklava crust in the pan while crust is still hot.
• Bake in the hot oven until set, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool to room temperature, about 1 hour.
• Cut cooled cheesecake into 12 servings.
• Combine water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil until melted, about 5 minutes. Add honey and vanilla extract and simmer for 20 minutes. Drizzle hot sauce over the cooled cake, making sure to get in between the slices.
• Refrigerate uncovered or only lightly covered with aluminum foil; a tight seal will make it soggy.

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.

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.

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.