East West Ginger Cake With Cardamom Cream Recipes

CARDAMOM CREAM

Steps:

• In a small saucepan, bring 1 cup of heavy cream and the cardamom to a boil. Reduce until only 1/4 cup remains. Allow to cool. Reserve. Whip the remaining 1 cup of heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Stir in the reserved mixture. Chill until ready to serve.

GINGER CAKE: BOLO DO GENGIBRE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to moderately slow (325 degrees F.) Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and spices onto a piece of wax paper and set aside. Cream together the butter, shortening and sugar until fluffy-light. Add the molasses and cream well; beat in the eggs yolks, 1 at a time. Combine the Madeira and the milk. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the creamed mixture alternately with the combined liquids, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Beat the egg whites to soft peaks and fold gently into the batter but thoroughly.
• Pour the batter into a well-greased and floured 10-inch tube pan and bake about 1 hour and 15 minutes or until the cake beings to pull from the sides of the pan and feels springy to the touch. Cool the cake right-side up in its pan on a wire rack 10 minutes; loosen with a spatula then the cake out of the rack, remove the pan, and cool to room temperature before cutting. Serve plain, or frost if you like with your favorite butter cream to which you have added about 1 tablespoon of Madeira wine and 2 to 3 tablespoons of chopped preserved ginger.

CARDAMOM CREAM CAKE

Steps:

• Drain the ricotta in a fine mesh sieve placed in a large bowl for 1 to 2 hours until very thick. If you've bought very thick, very freshly made ricotta from a specialty shop (not the kind from the supermarket), you can skip this step.
• Meanwhile, make the milk syrup: In a small saucepan, combine the milk and cardamom pods. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer the milk until it reduces by half, 30 to 45 minutes. Stir in the sugar until it dissolves, then continue to simmer until the mixture thickens to the texture of half and half, about 10 minutes longer. Let cool, strain the mixture to get rid of the cardamom and any coagulated milk, then stir in the rose water. (Syrup can be prepared up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated.)
• Make the cake: Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9-inch cake pans, line the bottoms with parchment paper, then grease the parchment. Flour the entire pan and parchment, tapping out any excess.
• In a medium bowl, lightly whisk together the egg whites, milk, vanilla and rose water.
• Using an electric mixer, combine the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, cardamom and salt, and mix on low speed for 30 seconds to blend. Add the butter and about a third of the milk-egg white mixture. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase to medium speed and beat for a minute or so until everything is very smooth. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
• Add the remaining milk mixture in 3 batches, beating well between additions. Scrape down the sides.
• Transfer the batter to the prepared pans and smooth the surface with a spatula. Bake until a tester inserted near the center comes out clean and the cake springs back when pressed lightly in the center, 25 to 35 minutes. The cakes should start to shrink from the sides of the pans only after removal from the oven. Let the cakes cool in the pans on racks for 20 minutes, then unmold and cool completely.
• Make the ricotta filling: Using an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the ricotta, cream and confectioners' sugar until quite smooth, about 30 seconds. Beat in rose water to taste. Beat on medium-high speed for about 30 seconds to 1 minute. The mixture will thicken.
• Make the mascarpone frosting: Using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, confectioners' sugar, rose water and cardamom until fluffy, about 2 minutes. On low speed, beat in mascarpone and yogurt until the mixture is just combined and looks smooth. Do not overbeat or the mixture may curdle.
• When the cakes have cooled, use a long serrated knife to trim the tops of the cakes, so the tops are flat and even. Then cut each cake in half into 2 layers, to make a 4-layer cake. Brush cake layers on all sides with milk syrup. Place one cake round on a cake stand or serving platter, then top with one third of the ricotta filling, leaving a small border around the edge of the cake. Repeat with the remaining cake layers and ricotta filling.
• Frost top and sides of the cake with the mascarpone frosting. Top with chopped pistachios and candied rose petals, if using; chill until ready to serve.

BLUE GINGER KIR ROYALES

Steps:

• Mix ginger, sugar, water and curacao all together in a saucepan and bring to a slow simmer. Reduce mix by 50 percent until a syrupy consistency is reached. Keep in mind that the syrup will thicken as it cools. Strain warm syrup and allow to cool completely in the refrigerator. Take ginger slices and completely coat in sugar. Spread on sheet pan and slowly dry out in a preheated 225 degree oven for 3 hours. Ginger slices should be dried but still chewy.
• Using champagne flutes, add 1 tablespoon of the syrup and fill to the top with champagne. Drop a small sliver of candied ginger in each glass, enjoy.