Iftar Dawat #Adulting

I've wanted to have an all-girls iftar for some time and learned so much with hosting my first actual dawat.

1. Pre-plan everything. You won't have time an hour or even two hours before iftar. 
2. Don't plan to put up decorations the day of. You won't have the time (or energy — even if you're not fasting) 
3. Try to host an iftar when you know you're not fasting. Do this for your own sanity. 
4. Cook all meat before the day of, try to even cook one or two dishes before the day of the iftar. 
5. On the day of — start preparing early, so you can relax a bit before 7 pm when you're putting together all the last minute preparations. 
6. An apron is your best friend! Shoutout to my roommate Saleha for getting me one. I'll post a picture of it soon because it came in so clutch today. 
7. Designate one person to pass out the dates at Maghrib. 
8. I still think praying maghrib after dates and water/juice is the easiest way to go. 

Here's some of the food I made: 

Vanilla Pudding Fruit Cups

Simplest dessert to make. I just used a vanilla pudding Jello powder and topped it with sliced strawberries and blueberries. 

Enchiladas: 

 Chicken Sliders:

Dessert

 Strawberry Cupcakes:

...and the most important guest!

Persian Love Cake

Copped this recipe from Epicurious. Modified a few instructions and ingredients.  

INGREDIENTS

1. Cake
   • 1 cup cake flour
   • 14 tablespoons baker's sugar or superfine sugar, divided
   • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
   • 1/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
   • 3 large eggs, separated
   • 6 tablespoons water
   • 1/4 cup canola oil
   • 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
   • 1/4 teaspoon whole cardamom seeds (removed from about 5 green cardamom pods)
2. Frosting
   • 2 1/2 cups chilled heavy whipping cream, divided
   • Pinch of saffron threads
3. • 2/3 cup powdered sugar
   • 1 teaspoon rose water
• 2 tablespoons natural unsalted pistachios

5. PREPARATION

   For cake:

   1. 1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter two 8-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides. Line pan bottoms with parchment paper; butter parchment. Sift flour, 7 tablespoons baker's sugar, baking powder, and salt into large bowl. Whisk yolks and next 4 ingredients in small bowl until smooth. Add yolk mixture to dry ingredients; whisk until smooth. Beat egg whites in medium bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add 7 tablespoons baker's sugar; beat until whites resemble thick marshmallow fluff. Fold whites into batter in 3 additions. Divide batter between prepared pans. Bake until cakes are golden and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool in pans on racks 15 minutes. Turn out onto racks, peel off parchment, and cool completely. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Wrap and store at room temperature.)

   For frosting:

   1. 1. Combine 1/2 cup cream and saffron in small saucepan. Bring to simmer. Remove from heat; let steep 20 minutes. Chill until cold.
      2. Beat remaining 2 cups cream, powdered sugar, and rose water in large bowl until soft peaks form; strain in saffron cream. Beat until peaks form.
      3. Place 1 cake layer, flat side up, on platter. Spread 1 cup frosting over. Top with second cake layer, flat side down. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake. Chill at least 1 hour. Garnish cake with rose petals and pistachios.
      4. 

Pistachio Cardamom Cake

This recipe was adopted from 177milkstreet. Honestly one of the best recipes I've tried. 

Ingredients: 

(1 cup) white sugar
2 tsp grated orange zest, plus ¼ cup orange juice (about 1 orange)
(1⅓ cups) shelled, unsalted pistachios, toasted and cooled
(1 cup) all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
2 tsp baking powder
1½ tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp kosher salt
4 large eggs
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons plain whole-milk Greek-style yogurt
¼ cup olive oil, plus more for pan
2 tsp vanilla extract
85 grams (¾ cup) powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. 
   
   Heat the oven to 325ºF with a rack in the middle position. Lightly coat a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with oil and flour. In a food processor, combine the white sugar and orange zest; process until the sugar is damp and fragrant, 5 to 10 seconds. Transfer to a large bowl.
   SEE DEMO
2. 
   
   Add the pistachios to the processor and pulse until coarse, 8 to 10 pulses. Set aside 2 tablespoons of the nuts for topping. Add the flour, baking powder, cardamom and salt to the processor with the nuts. Process until the nuts are finely ground, about 45 seconds.
   SEE DEMO
3. 
   
   To the sugar mixture, whisk in the eggs, ½ cup of yogurt, the oil, orange juice and vanilla. Add the nut-flour mixture and fold until mixed. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and bake until golden brown, firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted at the center comes out with moist crumbs, 50 to 55 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely, about 2 hours.
   SEE DEMO
4. 
   
   
   In a bowl, whisk the remaining yogurt with the powdered sugar until thick and smooth. Spread over the cake. Sprinkle with the reserved nuts. Let set for 10 minutes before serving.
   SEE DEMO

Rosewater Pistachio Cupcakes

Cupcakes
– 1/2 cups Butter
– 2/3 cups Caster Sugar
– 1 cup Self-Raising Flour
– 3 Large Eggs
– 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
– 1/2 tsp Rosewater
– 1/3 cups Pistachios, chopped finely

Decoration
– 1/2 cup Butter, room temperature
– 2 1/4 cups Icing Sugar
– 1-3 tbsp Whole Milk
– Pink Food Colouring
– 3-5 drops Rosewater
– Chopped Pistachios

Instructions: 

Cupcakes:

1. Preheat your oven to 350F line a 12-hole muffin tray.

2. Cream together the butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy, add the flour, eggs, baking powder, & rosewater and beat again until combined well. Fold in the pistachios and spoon into the cases.

3. Bake the cupcakes in the oven for 15-20 minutes and leave to cool. 

Cupcakes

4. Beat the butter in a stand mixer until smooth, taking a few minutes to do so. Add the icing sugar gradually whilst continuously mixing and beat it with the milk till you get the appropriate texture (usually 5 minutes).

5) Add enough food colouring and the rosewater to get the color you want. Sprinkle finely chopped pistachios on cupcakes.