Passover cake delights with chocolate, liqueur
LONDON, Ont. — Desserts at a Passover seder are “a relief,” says Norene Gilletz of Toronto with a laugh. She explains that it’s partly about the sweet-tasting dishes themselves and partly that they signify the end of what is usually a very long, filling and fulfilling meal.
Gilletz is an expert on Jewish cooking by lifelong experience and as the author of nine cookbooks. But even for an expert, the strictures of creating food for a seder, including the much-anticipated desserts, can be daunting, she says.
This weekend will see the unusual convergence of Easter and Passover and for both Christian and Jewish families, tradition will dictate much of what they eat.
But when it comes to ritual and the symbolism of the foods consumed at these high religious holiday meals, Easter dinner cannot compare with the Passover seder.
Seder, which means order, is the highlight and opening meal of Passover, an eight-day festival to commemorate the delivery of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt.
Although the level of observance varies among denominations and even among families within the same denomination, the traditional seder is a 15-step family-oriented feast that includes blessings, eating matzo, eating bitter herbs in memory of the bitter slavery, drinking wine to celebrate the freedom and readings from the Haggadah, which describes in detail the story of the Exodus.
Several symbolic foods are included in the meal, but matzo (also spelled matzah), an unleavened cracker-like bread, is one of the most significant.
The story is that the Israelites left in such a hurry that the bread they had baked as provisions did not have time to rise.
As a way of experiencing what their ancestors experienced, Jews, during Passover, are prohibited from eating any food product made from wheat, barley, rye, oats or spelt or their derivates that has been leavened or fermented.
Matzo itself is made from flour and water, but under a strictly supervised or “guarded” process in which the matzo is mixed, formed and cooked in less than 18 minutes to ensure that it has no chance to leaven or rise.
This proscription against leavened products has big implications for seder desserts, an important but non-symbolic part of the meal, because it means you can’t use flour to make pies or cakes. Some people will use matzo meal — finely ground matzo — as a flour substitute.
Others will use potato starch, a flour-like material made only from the starch of the potato, rather than from the potato itself.
Eggs are a popular ingredient in Passover desserts and meringue-type treats are common.
“People have their own customs and their own guidelines of what they like to follow,” Gilletz says. “The ultra-religious will use special matzo.”
Most desserts served at a seder are reserved for Passover, she says. Her favourite is her mother’s Passover sponge cake, made with potato starch and the added treat of Passover chocolate.
Other possibilities for desserts are “nut cakes that use finely ground nuts instead of flour. Macaroons are good — like a meringue with coconut in them. I make a Passover apple crumb pie or an apple cake.”
Brenda Donner of London is a convert to Judaism and says she loves the structure, the family orientation and the opportunity for meaningful discussion at the seder.
It’s also a lot of fun with poetry readings and Passover-related lyrics sung to familiar tunes like Oklahoma.
“But it’s a massive amount of work” to host one of these large family gatherings, she says.
When she and her husband and daughter gather with the rest of the extended family at the home of her husband’s aunt and uncle, everyone contributes a dish for the meal.
One of her favourite desserts is a Passover Chocolate Almond Torte made with ground almonds instead of flour.
Gilletz holds classes on how to adapt recipes for Passover.
“I teach people how to modify and how to adjust.”
Most but not all of her students are Jewish.
“We’re all connected by a culinary umbilical cord, a love of food,” she says. And whether you’re celebrating Easter or Passover, “it’s not what’s on the table; it’s who’s at the table.”
MY MOTHER’S PASSOVER CAKE, ENLIGHTENED
The original version of this recipe used nine eggs. Norene Gilletz makes a healthier version using only two egg yolks and seven egg whites. Sabra liqueur is rich, bittersweet chocolate and orange liqueur produced in Israel.
60 g (2 oz) bittersweet Passover chocolate
7 egg whites
2 egg yolks
250 ml (1 cup) sugar, divided
50 ml (1/4 cup) orange juice
5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla or Sabra liqueur
5 ml (1 tsp) lemon juice
250 ml (1 cup) potato starch
1 ml (1/4 tsp) salt
Heat oven to 180 C (350 F). Grate chocolate and set aside.
In a large, grease-free stainless or glass bowl, place egg whites and bring them to room temperature. In another mixing bowl, beat egg yolks for 2 or 3 minutes. Gradually add 125 ml (1/2 cup) of the sugar and beat for 3 to 4 minutes longer, until light and lemon-coloured. Gradually add orange juice and vanilla; beat for 2 to 3 minutes longer.
Wash beaters and dry well. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Beat in lemon juice. Gradually beat in remaining 125 ml (1/2 cup) sugar. Beat until whites are stiff and glossy but not dry.
Sift potato starch and salt into egg yolk mixture. Gently fold in whites and chocolate. Don’t worry if some white streaks remain. Gently pour batter into an ungreased 25-cm (10-inch) tube pan. Smooth the top with a spatula.
Bake cake on centre rack for 1 hour. Top of cake should be golden and will spring back when lightly touched and a cake tester should come out clean. Invert pan immediately and let cool completely, about 1 1/2 hours. (If your pan doesn’t have little feet, invert cake over the neck of a bottle or on a rack.)
To remove cooled cake from pan, slide a thin-bladed knife between pan and sides of cake. Push up the bottom of the pan; remove sides. Carefully loosen around the centre tube and the bottom of the pan. Turn cake over onto a large round serving platter.
Note: This cake is delicate, so pack it carefully to prevent crushing if you are going to freeze it. This cake can be decorated with a chocolate drizzle and orange slices or with a strawberry puree. If freezing, decorate after the cake has thawed.
Makes 12 servings.
Source: Healthy Helpings: 800 Fast and Fabulous Recipes for the Kosher (or Not) Cook by Norene Gilletz (Whitecap Books).
PASSOVER CHOCOLATE ALMOND TORTE
This nut-based cake is a great way to end a Passover seder, says Brenda Donner of London, Ont.
8 eggs, separated
5 ml (1 tsp) almond extract
250 ml (1 cup) sugar, divided
500 ml (2 cup) ground, blanched almonds
50 ml (1/4 cup) margarine or unsalted butter
125 to 140 g (4 to 5 oz) semi-sweet
chocolate squares
5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla
Almond Frosting (recipe follows) or
frosting of choice
Refrigerate bowl and beaters to cool before beating egg whites.
Heat oven to 180 C (350 F).
Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Beat in almond extract and gradually blend in 125 ml (1/2 cup) of the sugar until egg whites are stiff and glossy. Gently fold in ground almonds.
Pour into sprayed 23-cm (9-inch) springform pan. Bake for 20 minutes or until cake is set.
Meanwhile, melt butter and chocolate in a heavy pot over a low heat. Stir until smooth. Set aside to slightly cool.
In a bowl, beat egg yolks and vanilla gradually; beat in remaining 125 ml (1/2 cup) sugar and combine until thick.
Using a mixer on low speed, gradually beat melted chocolate and butter into yolk and vanilla mixture. Gently pour over baked almond cake and return to a 180 C (350 F) oven for 25 minutes or until just set.
When cool, remove sides of pan and ice with almond or chocolate frosting.
Makes 8 to 10 servings.
ALMOND FROSTING
30 ml (2 tbsp) butter
500 ml (2 cups) icing sugar
2 ml (1/2 tsp) almond extract
Liquid (orange juice, coffee or non-dairy
milk substitute)
Sliced almonds
In a medium bowl, cream butter into icing sugar. Add almond extract. Add liquid by 15 ml (tbsp) until desired consistency is reached. Ice cake and decorate with sliced almonds.
Source: Brenda Donner, London, Ont.
baking with Bill & Sheila
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