With warmer weather around the corner, I thought it would be a great idea to share one of my go-to recipes for Ledene Kocke. A signature dish found in most dessert shops across the Balkans, Ledene Kocke or “Ice Cubes” are a favorite across generations. This refreshing dessert served cold, is made up of a chocolate cake layer soaked in a sugar syrup that is then topped with a creamy delicious custard, and lastly covered with a layer of melted chocolate. What’s not to love about this dessert?
This dessert is inspired by yet another candy/sweet similar to my Jafa Kocke and Medeno Srce desserts. It’s inspired by Fontana chocolates of the same name. As I’ve mentioned before, Balkan chefs love making dessert versions of candy and I must say I enjoy the dessert versions so much better.
Traditionally, the “cool” factor in this dessert is achieved by adding a little bit of menthol flavoring to the custard using either an extract or crushed up peppermint candy. Personally, I only like minty flavor in teas and gum so I swap out the minty flavor for vanilla. In fact, I use both vanilla extract and vanilla sugar in this recipe. But if you want the truly authentic experience I recommend using mint extract or even melting down some peppermint candy and adding it to the custard.
Next time you need a delicious dessert I hope you give this one a try!
Looking for my dessert ideas? Check out the dessert section!
Ledene Kocke/”Ice Cube” Squares
Cuisine: Balkan10
servings20
minutes40
minutesA traditional dessert, elegant and delicious!
Ingredients
- Cake Layer
5 eggs
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon (80g) flour
1/3 cup (80 g) sugar
2 tablespoons (15 g) cocoa powder
1 tablespoon baking powder (1 kesica)
- Sugar Syrup
1 1/4 cup (300 ml) water
7 tablespoons (90 g) sugar
- Custard
4 cups (1 L) milk
2 cups (250 g) flour
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract (or mint extract traditionally)
2 tablespoons vanilla sugar (2 kesice)
1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons (150 g) sugar
2 sticks + 3 tablespoons (250 g) margarine, room temperature
- Chocolate Topping
1 cup (100 g) chopped chocolate
2 tablespoons (30 ml) oil
Directions
- Cake Layer
- Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C) and grease a 9×13 pan (23×33 cm) with baking spray or oil and flour. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl using a stand or hand mixer, beat the eggs and sugar until frothy. In a separate bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients and mix to incorporate well.
- With the mixer speed on low, add in the dry ingredients a little at a time until all of the dry ingredients have been combined with the eggs and sugar. Be careful with your mixer speed and use a spatula if you have to incorporate your dry ingredients. Setting the mixer too fast will result in a “flour bomb”.
- Continue mixing the cake batter until all of the dry ingredients have been incorporated. Transfer the batter to your baking pan and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. When baked, remove the baking pan from the oven and set it aside to cool.
- Sugar Syrup
- When you take the cake out of the oven start making the sugar syrup.
- In a medium saucepan, add in the sugar and water and bring to a boil on medium heat. When the mixture reaches a boil, reduce the heat slightly and continue boiling it until it reduces slightly (5 minutes or so after the boiling point).
- After about 5 minutes, turn off the heat and pour the hot syrup all over the cake evenly. Set the cake aside to cool completely to room temperature.
- Custard/Filling
- Add the milk to a pot but reserve about 1/3 of the milk. To the milk in the pot add 1 tablespoon/1 kesica of vanilla sugar and bring to a boil on medium heat.
- While the milk comes to a boil, into your reserved milk add in the remaining ingredients. The mixture will be thick and that’s ok! Whisk until there are no lumps.
- When the milk reaches a boil, pour in all of your milk and flour mixture and begin to whisk quickly. The custard will begin to thicken almost instantly. Continue cooking the custard for 2-3 minutes or until it has become very thick and bubbles begin to rise to the top.
If the mixture begins to stick to the bottom of the pan reduce the heat slightly and continue stirring but do not scrap the bottom. If you do, dark bits of burnt custard will mix with the rest of the mixture. - After the mixture has thickened turn off the heat and transfer the custard to a wide dish (bowl, pot, baking pan). Place a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the custard being careful not to burn yourself (don’t worry it won’t melt). This prevents a skin from forming and making your custard lumpy.
- Let the custard cool covered to room temperature. After it has cooled, using a hand or stand mixer cream the margarine until light and whipped. With the mixer on medium speed, add in the custard 1 tablespoon at a time until all of the custard and margarine have been combined.
- Assembly
- Spread the custard over the cake layer evenly. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until completely cold.
- Chocolate
- In a small saucepan, heat up the oil and chocolate until melted.
- Pour the chocolate over the custard and spread evenly across the top, working quickly so the chocolate doesn’t set.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Notes
- You can make each component of this dessert ahead of time and assemble it the day of!
- In order to get clean lines and to prevent the chocolate from cracking when it’s cut, run a sharp knife under hot water until the blade becomes hot. Wipe off the water from the blade and then slowly cut out squares of the dessert. After each cut, run the knife under hot water again, repeating the process until you have as many pieces as you need.
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