Welcome back to Sweet Things! If you’re new here, it’s very lovely to have you.
We’ve had about 7 days of consistently blue, sunny skies here in London and it’s put such a spring in my step. London is a city that thrives in the sunshine; despite it still being a little chilly, you’ll find that everyone is a bit more laid back, people actually smile at you, parks are packed and there are just good vibes all round. It makes me very excited for summer.
With all this extra sun, I’ve had ice cream and gelato on the brain. So this week, for paid subscribers, I’ve got a recipe for frozen custard. A rich, vanilla heavy ice cream with the most gorgeous yellow colour from lots of egg yolks. I also managed to turn it into some giant custard cream ice cream sandwiches which were indeed as fun as they sound.
Before we get into all of that though, I’m very excited to introduce a special guest this week. has just released her debut cookbook, Lugma and she’s kindly shared the recipe for her pistachio cake with labneh cream and kataif.
Enjoy!
Benjamina x
You may know Noor from her time as head of Ottolenghi test kitchen. Across 7 years, she developed tonnes of iconic, delicious recipes that you’ve probably already made if you cook recipes from The New York Times or The Guardian. Noor also co-authored two of the Test Kitchen cookbooks and Lugma, her first solo book, is a beautiful love letter to her home country of Bahrain. I asked Noor a few questions about Lugma and all things sweet…
Abundant dishes served with warmth, love and the flavours of Bahrain and beyond.
Bahrainis have a real sweet tooth and I think Bahraini desserts are very different to what people eat in the West. One of the most traditional sweets is called “Bahraini halwa” and it’s basically this sort of warm jelly made with sugar, oil, water and different flavourings, typically saffron. Then loads of toasted nuts are stirred in, like pistachios and cashews and you eat it warm with bread. It’s very sweet so typically you just have a couple bites with strong Bahraini coffee. Other sweets are date based like batheetha, which is mashed dates mixed with toasted flour, cardamom and ghee or rangeena, fresh dates called rutab that are then topped with this toasted flour and ghee mixture and pistachios.
There’s also Sago, a type of starchy pearl derived from the palm, that is cooked with sugar and saffron and served warm. And of course there are plenty of fried desserts, like sweet samboosa filled with nuts and cardamom or “Lugaimat” a type of fried dough that’s then doused in date molasses (I included a recipe for this in Lugma). We also eat a lot of the typical Arabic desserts that are more known, like muhallabieh and qatayef.
I only really bake when I’m having people over and I’ve made the date loaf from Lugma more times than I can count. I also love to bake this pistachio macaron cake that’s inspired by something my mum used to make when we were little (the recipe for that is in OTK Extra Good Things). But to be honest my favourite sweet thing to eat is not really baked at all: it’s berries macerated in sumac, sugar, pomegranate molasses and lime. I spoon this over whipped cardamom mascarpone cream or just some store-bought vanilla ice cream. The berries and cream recipes are part of the Arab Mess in Lugma.
‘This cake is one I’m super proud of, especially the fun element that the crunchy kataifi topping adds. If you can’t find kataifi in Turkish or Middle Eastern supermarkets, you can thinly shred some filo (phyllo) sheets to create the same effect.’
serves 10
equipment : two 8 inch/20cm cake tins
For the cake:
170g shelled pistachios
190g self-raising flour
1⁄2 tsp ground cinnamon
seeds from 15 cardamom pods, finely crushed using a pestle and mortar
1⁄2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1⁄2 tsp fine sea salt
280g caster sugar
170g unsalted butter, room temp, cut into 3cm (11⁄4in) cubes
190g egg whites, room temp (from about 5 large eggs)
120g Greek yoghurt, room temp
1 tbsp vanilla bean paste
240ml whole milk
For the topping:
60g kataifi, defrosted if frozen, roughly cut into 4cm lengths
1 tsp caster sugar
1⁄4 tsp ground cinnamon
25g unsalted butter
For the labneh cream:
180g Labneh
130g mascarpone
140g cream cheese
50g icing sugar, sifted
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Preheat the oven to 165°C fan/185°C. Grease and line the base and sides of two 20cm (8in), loose-based cake tins with baking paper.
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Pulse the pistachios in a food processor until they resemble ground almonds. Tip 150g into a large bowl (reserve the rest for decorating) along with the flour, cinnamon, cardamom, bicarbonate of soda and salt and whisk to evenly combine.
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Put the sugar and softened butter into a second large bowl and beat with a hand mixer on a medium-high speed until light and fluffy – about 3–4 minutes. Scrape down the sides with a spatula. Lower the speed to medium and add a third of the egg whites at a time, mixing until fully incorporated with each addition.
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Scrape down the sides with a spatula again, then increase the speed to medium-high and beat for 1 minute, until the mixture is nice and smooth. Add the yoghurt and vanilla and beat for 30 seconds, then scrape down the sides once more.
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Turn the speed down to low and add a third of the flour mixture and a third of the milk. Alternate these until combined, and the mixture is smooth.
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Evenly divide the batter between your prepared tins (about 650g/1lb 7oz per tin). Bake for 37–40 minutes or until a cake skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow both cakes to cool completely in their tins.
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With the oven still on, line a medium baking tray with baking paper. In a bowl toss together all the topping ingredients, using your fingers to separate the kataifi strands as much as possible so they aren’t too clumped together. Spread out onto the prepared tray and bake for 15–20 minutes, stirring halfway, until golden. Set aside to cool completely.
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Lastly, use a hand-held mixer (or a whisk and some arm power) to beat together the labneh cream ingredients in a medium bowl, for about 1 minute, or until soft peaks. If too thick, add a splash of milk to make it easier to work with. Refrigerate until needed.
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Once cool, release the cakes from their tins and discard the baking paper.
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To decorate the cake, place one of the cakes on a cake stand. Use an offset spatula to spread a little less than half the labneh cream on top of the cake, spreading it evenly all around. Next, top with the second cake, stacking it so that it’s aligned. Use the remaining labneh cream to coat the top and sides (an offset spatula will help you most here). You’re going for a rustic look so don’t worry if it’s not perfect.
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Lastly, sprinkle the top of the cake with the kataifi, followed by the reserved ground pistachios.
Credit: Lugma by Noor Murad (Quadrille, £28), Photography © Matt Russell
Is frozen custard essentially just vanilla ice cream? …kind of, yes. Whilst you can make ice cream without eggs, these days most options start out with an egg yolk custard base. But calling it frozen custard automatically sounds much cooler.
I’ve really leant into the custard vibes by using slightly more yolks than standard and using ones with the deepest colour I could find (shout out to St Ewe eggs). I also whacked out the good vanilla pods to help infuse the best flavour and you’re left with a rich, slightly dense, very custardy ice cream that is simply perfect scooped on its own.
