Adding sake to dessert recipes will give your sweet treats an exciting and complex twist that most folks won’t be able to place, but they’ll just know it tastes great.
Here’s a bundt cake recipe using sake in both the batter and glaze. Any sake will work. If you use nigori sake (the unfiltered type) it will lend more sweetness than the clear varieties. Remember the same rule as cooking with wine; if you wouldn’t drink it, don’t cook with it.
Ingredients
Cake:
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups white granulated sugar
5 eggs, at room temperature
3 1/3 cups cake flour
1 Tbsp + ¼ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp kosher salt
½ cup sake – nigori or other
¼ cup fresh squeezed orange juice
zest of 1 orange
½ cup almond flour or additional granulated sugar for pan
Glaze:
6 Tbsp butter
1 ½ cup confectioners’ sugar
¼ cup sake – nigori or other
Directions
Preheat oven to 325°.
(Do not prep your bundt pan until right before pouring your batter in. This will prevent sticking, especially if you have a pan with lots of nooks and crannies!)
In a mixer, beat butter, zest, sugar and salt together until light and fluffy.
Whisk together flour and baking soda together. In a separate container, mix sake and juice together.
Add eggs one at a time to butter/sugar mixture, beating and scraping between each egg. After all eggs are fully incorporated, add flour and liquid mixtures alternately – 3 batches of flour and 2 liquid, ending with flour. Beat until just incorporated.
Now, prep your pan! Spray pan thoroughly with nonstick spray. If you don’t have this, use a neutral-flavored oil on a paper towel. Butter/flour mixture has a tendency to stick in the crevices of fancier bundt pans. After the pan is thoroughly greased, toss almond flour or sugar to coat inside of pan, knocking out excess.
Pour batter into pan and bake 50-65 minutes, until skewer comes out clean. Remove from oven and let sit for five minutes. Make sure edges aren’t sticking to pan, then invert onto a plate. If cake doesn’t fall out by itself, you can put it back in the oven for a few minutes then remove and immediately try inverting again.
While your cake is baking prepare your glaze. Microwave or heat glaze ingredients and stir until melted. Carefully brush over cake while it’s still warm – it will be clear. It is meant to impart flavor and additional moisture. Let the cake cool before cutting.
Here’s a great dessert recipe where wine’s depth and decadence really shine. The secret to these brownies is to not overbake them. When you test them with a knife in the center, you want some chunks of brownie to come out- a clean knife means it’s overdone- it won’t be bad, but the edges may be pretty hard.
Ingredients
2 cups dried cranberries
2 cups Zinfandel wine
3 ¾ cups sugar
2 ½ cups AP flour
2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 ¼ cups cocoa powder (dark/black cocoa is especially nice!)
1Tbsp + 1 tsp kosher salt (use a bit less if using fine or sea salt)
2 sticks and 5 Tbsp (21 Tbsp) unsalted butter
1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
8 eggs
2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips
2 cups chopped almonds
Directions
In a bowl, soak cranberries in wine for at least three hours, until plump. Strain and reserve 1/3 cup of remaining wine.
Preheat oven to 325°. Butter rimmed sheet pan and line with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients.
Melt the butter and 1 ½ cups chocolate chips in a bowl until very warm. Whisk together, then whisk in eggs. Fold into dry ingredients just a few turns, then pour in reserved wine and continue folding until all is just combined.
Spread onto prepared pan. Bake about 45-55 min…keep checking every 5 or so at 45 with a knife in the center.
Let cool. Run knife along sides. It’s easiest to flip this out by laying another sheet pan on the top of the brownies and then flipping it, taking the parchment off, putting a cutting board on the bottom (which is facing you) then flipping back over again. With the long ends toward you, make five even cuts – six columns. Turn the brownie vertically, then cut three even cuts, making 24 squares.
Mochi muffins are made with sweet rice flour, which makes them nice and chewy inside and out. The dark brown sugar and molasses gives their sweetness a satisfying depth.
They’ll be a little gooey and moist inside even when they’re done – that’s because of the rice flour – and the outside’ll be golden brown and ready for you to take a bite!
Ingredients
¼ cup melted unsalted butter or coconut oil
2 cups mochiko sweet rice flour
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 can (about 13.5 oz) full fat coconut milk
2 eggs
½ cup finely diced apple or Asian pear (peel fruit before dicing)
1 ½ tsp vanilla
1 tsp molasses
3 Tbsp sesame seeds
Directions
Preheat oven to 350° and lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin with butter or coconut oil.
In a medium-sized bowl, combine sweet rice flour, dark brown sugar, baking powder and salt.
In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter or coconut oil, coconut milk, eggs, vanilla and molasses. Add dry mixture to the wet, about ½ cup at a time, stirring gently after each addition to make sure there are no lumps. Once you’ve added all the dry mixture to the wet and everything is well-incorporated, fold in the finely diced fruit.
Fill each muffin cup equally with batter (will be completely full or close to it). Sprinkle sesame seeds on each muffin.
Bake for about 50 – 60 minutes or until muffin tops are golden brown. Let cool about 10 minutes before eating.
Celebrate the sweetness of sunshiny days with a bevy of bright, delightful bubbles and berries.
Allowing the fruit flavors to meld is the key to the enchanting flavor. Cheers!
Ingredients
1 orange
1 ½ cups strawberries
½ cup raspberries
1 Tbsp sugar
1 bottle rosé, chilled
¼ cup brandy
2 Tbsp Grand Marnier or Chambord
½ lemon, sliced into rounds
Optional: 3 sprigs mint leaves, sparkling water for serving
Directions
Chop the orange with skin on. Slice strawberries and add both to a pitcher. Sprinkle with sugar, stir to coat and let sit 20-30 minutes at room temperature.
Add rosé and other liquor, lemon and mint (if using). Stir and refrigerate 1-3 hours. Halfway through refrigeration, add raspberries.
Pour sangria and fruit into ice-filled glasses, with sparkling water (is using).
A traditional Syrian cookie similar to shortbread. They’re buttery, filled with pistachios and studded with sesame seeds – their crispy, light texture goes perfectly with a hot cup of coffee or tea.
Usually made with mahlab, ground pits from a wild cherry, the almond extract and ground anise/star anise/fennel will get you pretty close to the flavor.
You can make honey syrup to help sesame seeds stick to the dough, just pressing dough into sesame seeds is enough to make them stick but you might like the extra sweetness.
Ingredients
½ cup plus 2 Tbsp ghee, room temperature
½ cup powdered sugar
½ tsp baking powder
1 egg
1 ½ cup flour
1 tsp white vinegar
1/8 tsp almond extract
¼ tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp ground star anise, anise or fennel seeds (listed in order of best flavor fit)
Pinch of salt
1 cup toasted white sesame seeds
1 cup pistachios, ideally unsalted, coarsely chopped
Optional: 5 Tbsp honey and ¼ cup water
Directions
Make optional honey syrup: In a small saucepan, mix honey and water. Simmer/stir over medium heat until honey dissolves – about 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
Cream ghee, add sugar and mix well.
Mix in egg, vinegar, almond and vanilla extracts and ground spice.
Add flour, baking powder and salt. Refrigerate 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350°. Scoop a generous tablespoon of dough, flatten into a disc about ¼ inch thick. Thinner = crunchier.
If using honey syrup, pour into a large deep plate and add sesame seeds. Press one side of cookie into a bowl of pistachio pieces and then turn cookie over and dip in honey syrup/sesame mixture.
Otherwise, press one side into a bowl of toasted sesame seeds and then the other side into chopped pistachios.
Place on parchment-lined baking sheet, sesame-side-up.
Bake about 20 minutes until bottom is golden brown. Leave on baking sheet about 5 minutes and then move to a rack to cool completely.
Nothing like a stuffed date to make your day, unless it’s a stuffed date DIPPED IN CHOCOLATE! Decadent. Delightful. Divine.
Ingredients
3 ounces dark chocolate – about ½ cup chocolate chips or similar
1 tsp coconut oil
24 dates – medjool or other
½ cup almonds, toasted and coarsely chopped
¼ cup almond butter
Directions
Line a baking sheet with parchment.
Cut lengthwise slit in each date and remove pit. Remove date crown.
Fill each date with about ½ tsp almond butter and chopped almonds and press closed.
Make a double boiler using a small pot with about an inch of water. Place a small bowl over the pot and make sure the bottom isn’t touching the water. Add chocolate and coconut oil to bowl.
Bring water to a simmer and let chocolate melt slowly while you stir it constantly.
Using a toothpick, lower dates into chocolate and spoon chocolate over exposed part to fully coat. Shake off excess chocolate and place on baking sheet.
Let dates set 5 minutes on counter then put in freezer for 10 minutes.
