'Turkish Breakfast' – yoghurt and sesame cake with sour cherry and black olive caramel

  • medium
  • 6
  • 1 hour 30 minutes plus cooling and freezing time
Not yet rated

The combination of olive, yoghurt and sesame usually appears in savoury dishes, but chef Jonny Lake cleverly reimagines it into a dessert. Yoghurt comes in the form of a cake, gelato and ganache, but the real star of the show is the black olive caramel – the far more sophisticated version of the universally loved salted caramel.

There are a lot of elements to this dish, but you can make all of them apart from the cake in advance, so little forward planning actually makes serving this dish (relatively!) simple.

First published in 2022

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Black olive caramel

  • 100g of water
  • 150g of caster sugar
  • 50g of glucose
  • 150g of black olives, pitted (Jonny uses Gemlik olives)

Yoghurt gelato

  • 400g of whole milk
  • 60g of double cream
  • 105g of trimoline
  • 165g of caster sugar
  • 8g of Stabiliser Stab 2000
  • 40g of yoghurt powder
  • 750g of Greek yoghurt, Jonny uses FAGE

Cherry sauce

Sesame tuile

  • 20g of whole milk
  • 40g of butter
  • 20g of glucose
  • 25g of caster sugar
  • 1g of yellow pectin
  • 50g of sesame seeds, a mixture of white and black
  • 10g of T45 flour, or pastry flour

Yoghurt ganache

Yoghurt sponge

To serve

  • lemon thyme leaves

Equipment

  • 6 savarin moulds
  • High-power blender
  • Pacojet or ice cream maker
  • Thermometer
  • Piping bags

Method

1

Begin by making the caramel, as some of this is rippled through the gelato. It can be made several days in advance. Pour the water, sugar and glucose in a pan and heat until a medium-dark caramel forms. Meanwhile, place the pitted olives in a blender and blitz. You need the olives to reach 80°C – if you have a Thermomix then set it to that, otherwise you may need to blitz and then heat them in a pan until they reach this temperature

  • 100g of water
  • 150g of caster sugar
  • 50g of glucose
  • 150g of black olives, pitted (Jonny uses Gemlik olives)
2

Once the olives are blitzed and at 80°C and your caramel has formed, pour the hot caramel over the olives and blitz again until smooth. Blitz in water a little at a time until you have the right consistency for piping. Transfer to a piping bag and reserve in the fridge

3

Make the gelato in advance too. Add the milk, cream and trimoline to a pan and gently warm. Mix the sugar and Stab 2000 together well, then whisk this into the warm milk. Continue to heat this mixture until it reaches 82°C. Meanwhile, whisk the yoghurt powder into the yoghurt, then place this in a blender with the ice cream base. Blitz until smooth, then cool and churn in a Pacojet or ice cream maker, adding some of the black olive caramel when it's semi-frozen to ripple through it. Reserve in the freezer until needed

  • 400g of whole milk
  • 60g of double cream
  • 105g of trimoline
  • 165g of caster sugar
  • 8g of Stabiliser Stab 2000
  • 40g of yoghurt powder
  • 750g of Greek yoghurt, Jonny uses FAGE
4

To make the cherry sauce, mix all the ingredients together and leave overnight to rehydrate the dried cherries. The next day, bring the mixture to the boil slowly, then blitz until smooth. Transfer to a squeezy bottle

5

To make the tuiles, heat the milk, butter and glucose in a small pan. Mix the pectin into the sugar, then whisk this into the warm milk mixture. Bring to the boil and boil for 1 minute, then stir in the flour and sesame seeds. Roll the mixture between 2 sheets of baking paper, then place in the freezer to freeze solid

  • 20g of whole milk
  • 40g of butter
  • 20g of glucose
  • 1g of yellow pectin
  • 25g of caster sugar
  • 10g of T45 flour, or pastry flour
  • 50g of sesame seeds, a mixture of white and black
6

Preheat an oven to 170°C/gas mark 3½. Bake the sheet of tuile mixture for 8-10 minutes until golden, then leave to cool. Break into shards, leave to cool then store in an airtight container until needed

7

To make the ganache, chop the chocolate and place it in a heatproof bowl. Bring the cream to the boil, then pour it over the chocolate, using a hand blender to emulsify. Add the yoghurt and blend again, then transfer to a piping bag and reserve in the fridge

8

The final element that needs to be made is the yoghurt sponge. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Whip the sugar, honey and eggs together until very light and fluffy, and mix together the yoghurt, yoghurt powder and a tiny pinch of salt. Fold the yoghurt mixture through the whipped egg mixture, then sift in the flour and baking powder, folding again to combine

  • 100g of caster sugar
  • 26g of honey, plus extra for brushing
  • 100g of eggs
  • 88g of Greek yoghurt, Jonny uses FAGE
  • 16g of yoghurt powder
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 80g of T45 flour, or pastry flour
  • 2.5g of baking powder, (about half a teaspoon)
9

Divide the sponge mixture between mini savarin moulds then bake for 8 minutes until golden. Carefully remove the sponges from their moulds, then brush with honey and coat in toasted sesame seeds

10

To plate, place a yoghurt sponge on each plate and pipe some black olive caramel into the centre. Pipe a long trail of the yoghurt ganache along the plate, then add a scoop of the yoghurt gelato. Arrange some shards of sesame tuile around the dish, then finish with dots of the cherry sauce and lemon thyme leaves

  • lemon thyme leaves

A former executive chef at Heston Blumenthal’s legendary The Fat Duck, Canadian-born Jonny Lake has been working at the pinnacle of the industry for decades. Since opening his own London restaurant Trivet with master sommelier Isa Bal, he’s thrilling diners with a menu inspired by his various travels and in 2024 won two Michelin stars for his efforts.

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