I would call these two desserts, spring sweet sandwiches. Cream, fruits and berries sandwiched between slices of something; in this case a moist lemon poppy seed pound cake baked in a loaf pan or rectangular slices of filo layered with sugar, butter and honey. One is soft and one is crispy. Both sweet but balanced with the fat of the cream and the acidity and freshness of the fruit and berries.

The name pound cake refers to the original 18th century recipe. It used four key ingredients at a 1:1:1:1 ration. One pound of butter, one pound of sugar, one pound of eggs and one pound of flour. The french refer to this type of cake as quatre-quarts (four quarters). The recipe below is not an old school pound cake but it is sometimes nice to know where the name comes from. Now a days, most pound cake recipes call for a baking powder to make a lighter less dense cake.

This could not be easier. A simple loaf pan pound cake that can be eaten alone or with whipped cream and berries. This cake will hold for a week and is a perfect morning taste with coffee, an afternoon snack or an evening dessert.

RECIPE FOR LEMON POPPY SEED POUND CAKE:

INGREDIENTS: 1 CUP ALL PURPOSE ARTISAN FLOUR, 1 1/4 CUP SUGAR, 1/3 CUP ALMOND MEAL ( I PULSE ALMONDS IN THE FOOD PROCESSOR UNTIL A FINE MEAL), 1 1/4 TEASPOON BAKING POWDER, 1/4 TEASPOON SALT, 1 CUP BUTTER ( CHILLED BUT PLIABLE), 4 EGGS, 2 1/2 TABLESPOONS LEMON JUICE, 2 TABLESPOONS POPPY SEEDS, ZEST OF A COUPLE OF LEMONS

PROCESS: Pre heat oven to 350 degrees F

Combine all of the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl or stand mixer: flour, sugar, almond meal, baking powder, salt. Add in the butter and mix until fully incorporated. Add the eggs, one at a time. Once all of the eggs have been fully mixed in, add the lemon zest, poppy seeds and lemon juice. Combine well.

Grease one large loaf pan or a couple smaller loaf pans with butter. Line with parchment and grease the parchment too. Fill the pans with batter, roughly 3/4 full. Bake until golden brown and comes clean when you poke a knife in. This is roughly 30 minutes for small loaves and up to 60 for one large loaf.

Once the pound cake is baked and cooled, slice gently two pieces and generously fill with whipped cream and berries of your choice. This goes particularly nice with raspberries in spring.

This is a Filo Millefeuille with orange. This recipe is new to me and comes from a book by Tessa Kiros “Falling Cloudberries”. I have removed a couple of components for simplicity but the over all mood is the same. I imagine this could be made with our simple pastry cream or a diplomat cream of pastry cream and whipped cream folded together. The cream used in this recipe is a Sabayon Cream. Sabayon is a light, foamy custard of European origins made by whisking egg yolks, sugar and wine over a double broiler. I did not use wine in mine because I didn’t have any, and the custard was just fine, although, not authentically Sabayon and, I am sure with the wine or champagne, the flavor would have been more compelling.

The filo I used is store bought. I have never ventured forth and made my own filo. I would like to and perhaps if I decide to do a good spanikopita I will give it a go. For now, store bought, which is fine, good and easy. For this sweet filo we will layer a few pieces together with melted butter and sugar and top with butter and honey before baking. It comes out crisp and sweet. A golden delight.

Like so many of these sorts of creamy desserts you can use a large variety for berries or fruits depending on the season. For April, I am giving it a go with Ojai oranges and the flavor and texture is almost creamsicle and a welcome into our warm seasons with something light and fresh. Not to mention the color is beautiful, or bright orange and the golden of the honeyed filo. A perfect picture.

INGREDIENTS AND PROCESS FOR FILO MILLEFEUILLE WITH ORANGES:

FOR THIS RECIPE WE WILL BE MAKING A ORANGE CONFIT, A SABAYON CREAM AND SWEET FILO

FOR THE ORANGE CONFIT:

grated rind and juice of one orange, plus 30 grams of sugar. Place in a sauce pan and simmer for 8 minutes until it becomes jam.

FOR THE SABAYON CREAM:

1 GELATINE LEAF, 1 EGG PLUS 2 EGG YOLKS, 50 GRAMS SUGAR, WHIPPED CREAM (ROUGHLY ONE SMALL CARTON OF HEAVY CREAM WHIPPED)

To make the cream:

1. put the gelatine leaf in a bowl of cold water to soften. (If you can’t find gelatine leaf I used a small bag of powdered gelatine and it seemed to work fine).

2. Mix together the egg, egg yolks and sugar in a heat proof bowl. Set on top of a pot of simmering water without the bowl touching the water and whisk for 15 minutes until the mixture is thick and fluffy.

3. Whisk in a couple of teaspoons of the orange confit and a dash of orange blossom water if you would like.

4. squeeze out the gelatine and whisk into the mixture, or whisk in the powdered gelatine.

5. whip the heavy cream and fold it into the sabayon mixture. Keep cool until ready to use.

FOR THE FILO:

THREE SHEETS FILO DOUGH, MELTED BUTTER, SUGAR AND HONEY

1. Lay out a sheet of filo. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with a layer of sugar. Top with a second sheet of filo and brush with melted butter and sprinkle with a layer of sugar. Top with the final sheet of filo and brush with melted butter.

2. Cut the filo sheets into rectangles or squares (whatever size and shape you would like) and place of a sheet tray with parchment.

3. Drizzle with honey and bake at 350 degrees F until crisp and golden.

TO ASSEMBLE THE FILLEFEUILLE:

1. slice of the rind of a few oranges. Gently fillet the orange pieces from the pith and remove any seeds.

2. place a layer of filo on a plate. Spoon on the Sabayon cream and place some orange pieces on top. Top with another layer of filo and repeat with the cream and oranges. Finally, place the last piece of filo on top and dust with powdered sugar. Add some orange pieces around the dessert plate.

3. If you would like to make an addition orange sauce to drizzle around the edges you can do so by simmering together the juice of a few oranges with 15 grams of butter and 30 grams of sugar. Reduce until syrupy. And then drizzle!