TAHINOPITA - Tahini Cake

Good morning!

Today I give a prize to those who guess what my post will be. In fact it's not even worth it anymore, since I have already put a pre-post on Face. But OK, to those who are saying – "gosh! What same, cake again"? Yes, and to be more incisive🤣, I will repeat my usual speech: this is quite different and delicious, believe me?

Let's start by remembering the virtual trip we took to Greece, right? It is not because we already know something or somewhere that we can not go back, or turn over things and discover, for example, that recipe book that we did not even remember anymore that we had bought. So that's it, let's remember and make a Greek cake recipe, the main ingredient of which is sesame, or rather Tahini. So to those who are allergic, I'm sorry, this recipe is not for you 😑 .

I'm even organizing a special post to talk only about sesame and its numerous benefits. I am sure that, who "twisted his nose", after reading about its benefits, will certainly change his mind, that is, for those who like Sesame, of course.

I'll tell you one thing: I believe that a large majority, from watching so much of these reality TV programs about cooking, know what "MISE EM PLACE" is, right? OK! but for those who do not know let's go: "mise em place" are all the preparations that precede the preparation of a dish, that is, are the preliminary preparations.

This means that we must have all the ingredients that we will use organized on the counter, washed, peeled, cut, grated, or as indicated in the recipe.

Of course, all this work before putting into practice a recipe, is so that we do not waste time and walk uselessly through the kitchen looking for ingredients that sometimes we realize belatedly that we do not have. Has anyone been through this? Of having started a recipe and sworn that it had an Ingredient X and at the time H had not?

Yes, who lives near some market OK, but in São Paulo we are not always close to some, and this really becomes a problem, not to mention if the missing ingredient is not so easy to find.

Well, but all this "blablabla" to say that I failed 🤦‍♀️ and I did not prepare the "mise em place" correctly. I swore I had the Tahini, I actually even had it, I organized everything and by the time I went to get it, I looked and it was out-dated. What a rage 😡 we want to talk many foolish things, don't we? The fault is solely and exclusively the performer of the dish, isn't it 😭.

It´s impossible to take the car out of the garage on a Saturday, Super Market full etc.etc.. Anyone who knows me knows that I hardly give up anything, so what have I done? That's right, I made my own Tahini 😉. I'm glad I had enough Sesame for that. So please stay tuned, as having all the ingredients at hand and organized is essential to the success of a recipe.

Step by step

ingredients:

How to prepare:

In a bowl put the Tahini, sugar and olive oil. Mix well before separating the amount of Tahini, since the oil will be in suspension. As soon as it is well mixed, separate the amount to be used.

Beat for 5 to 10 minutes approximately until obtaining a smooth paste and the sugar is completely dissolved.

Then add the cognac, orange (or lemon) juice and spices. Mix and set aside.

ere are two of the ingredients that I did not have, the Tahini, which was expired, in this case I prepared myself and orange, which I replaced with lemon juice. Perfect!!

In another bowl put flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Mix well.

Add the dry ingredients to the previous mixture and incorporate them thoroughly.

Finally add the raisins, walnuts and 2 tablespoons of Sesame.

he dough at this time will be heavy and dense.

Here as I mention in the recipe below, raisins is an optional ingredient, but it can be replaced by apricot and the nuts can also be replaced by hazelnuts, chestnuts, anyway, feel free to use, change or omit.

Brush Tahini into a round shape 25cm in diameter and sprinkle with the remaining of the toasted sesame.

Then put the dough spreading well with a spatula so that it bake equally.

If you do not want to grease the baking tray with Tahini, you can do the conventional way, that is, with oil and wheat flour, but I guarantee that it will make a lot of difference if you do.

Since the dough is a little difficult to smooth, moisten the spatula with water and gently smooth the dough, it will become much easier 😉 .

Place in the oven preheated to 180ºC and bake for 40-45 minutes.