Croatian Chocolate Ice Squares (Ledene Kocke)

It’s been too long since I’ve baked a Croatian treat! One of the things I love most about Croatian desserts is the layering – you’ll find that so many of these desserts are delicately layered, beautiful bars and some are airy and creamy. Today I’m baking Ledene Kocke which is known as Chocolate Ice Squares.

I had originally pulled a recipe for this from my favorite Croatian cook book, but ran into quite a few baking blunders with this recipe yesterday… but these days happen, so you just have to shake it off and remind yourself that tomorrow is a new day to be present while baking and start again! I thought about the parts of this recipe that didn’t work out so well for me, and tweaked it to make it my own, and finally it was lovely!

Serves 12

Cake Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 3 tbs granulated sugar
• 3 tbs flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tbs instant coffee

Layer Ingredients:

• 1 cup milk
• 4.5 tbs flour
• 2 tbs granulated sugar
• 2 tbs vanilla
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 10 ounces semi sweet baking chocolate chips
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream

To bake:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. For the cake, beat the eggs well until frothy, then slowly add the 3 tbs of sugar.
3. Combine the flour, baking powder and instant coffee in a separate bowl, then slowly add to the egg mixture. Pour batter into a square glass baking dish and bake for 20 minutes until toothpick is clean when removed. Allow to cool.
4. For the cream layer, bring milk to a simmering boil, then add the vanilla, flour and sugar. Cook until thickens while stirring continuously then allow to cool completely in the fridge for 30 minutes.
5. Whip the butter with the powdered sugar together until well-combined.
6. While mixing at a high speed, add the milk mixture in spoonfuls. Once combined, spread this mixture over the baked cake layer and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
7. For the ganache layer, place your baking chips into a large-sized bowl then heat the heavy cream in a sauce pan until it comes to a boil. Remove from the heat and place over the chips and let stand for 3 minutes, then whisk until combined.
8. Pour the ganache over top, smooth it out and put back into the fridge for at least 1 hour.
9. Remove from the fridge, then cut into squares for serving.

Time to enjoy this rich and decadent chocolate dessert!