Tag Archives: Dolci

Your Favourite Recipe

09 Sunday Sep 2018

Posted by in Mangiamo!, Recipes

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For the second time in 3 months, I wrote about the wrong topic for the monthly #dolcevitabloggers linkup!  I was frantically trying to finish a detailed review of my favourite book, only to find that other posts were on the topic of ‘favourite Italian recipe’. Mannaggia!  I had taken a screenshot of the list of topics, but a few of them were switched.

So…. my favourite recipe?  Hmmm.  That is almost like asking a mamma which one is her favourite child!  I love food and have too many faves to pick just one.  I think it is better if I write about your favourite recipe!  I had a look through the recipe category of my blog.  There are 14 recipe posts-half are desserts.  My favourite ingredients seem to be ricotta, limoncello, orange and olive oil! The most popular recipe post, by a massively huge margin, is Torta Caprese all’Arancia. I posted this recipe in honour of my 2015 Cannolo Award. 

Caprese (cah•PREH•seh) means ‘from Capri’ (CAP•ree) the beautiful island off the coast of Napoli.  I suppose caprese could also mean ‘goatlike’ since capra is goat?  We’ll stick with ‘from Capri’.

There are a few different stories about how Torta Caprese came to be.  The most likely is that it was invented by mistake in the 1920’s by a kitchen worker at an Austrian owned pensione on Capri.  He added mandorle tritate –ground almonds, instead of flour while trying to make something similar to an Austrian Sachertorte.  It was a big hit, and went on to be served at all of the hotels and tea rooms on Capri.

The basic recipe involves mixing melted butter and chocolate in a ‘bagno-maria’ with sugar and egg yolks, then adding whipped egg whites and ground almonds.  Liqueur, usually Strega, is added.  The cake has a hard thin shell and moist interior and the center tends to sink in a bit from the sides.

I recently tasted a yummy orange Torta Caprese, so I decided to try my own version.  After a bit of experimentation, and substituting Gran Marnier for Strega, I ended up with a very nice Torta Caprese all’ Arancia.  It is a 3 bowl recipe, so be prepared to wash them!

Read the rest of the original post Torta Caprese all’ Arancia to find the step-by-step recipe and find out what the Cannolo Award is all about.

This post is written as part of the monthly #dolcevitabloggers linkup, hosted by Jasmine of Questa Dolce Vita, Kelly of Italian at Heart and Kristie of Mamma Prada, the 7th -14th of every month. Hopefully next time I will prepare the correct topic!  You will have to wait until November to read about my favourite Italian book!

Here is me posing on my first visit to Capri when I was 16. Unfortunately I didn’t know about Torta Caprese at the time.

Ciao, Cristina

Olive Oil Limoncello Cake

25 Thursday Jan 2018

Posted by in Mangiamo!, Recipes

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In November I attended an art retreat, surrounded by 900 olive trees!  It was at Casa Berti near Gugliano, about 40 minutes outside of Lucca. There were also lemon trees in giant terra cotta pots on the terrace, not yet ready to be moved into the limonaia for the winter. Many of the lemons become limoncello.  I was so inspired and distracted by the olive trees that I took several breaks from art making to pick olives.  I could not help it-they were calling to me!  Every day or two, when there were enough picked, they would be taken to the frantoio or olive press and then return to Casa Berti as lush, fragrant oil.  Green gold as a friend calls it. The Casa Berti cucina had a stainless steel bidone full of new oil with a little spout for pouring.

Being surrounded by olives, freshly pressed oil, fresh lemons and limoncello, I had the urge to make an olive oil limoncello cake.  I have been making this cake for years, but I did not have the recipe with me.  I also left my art making to bake just when Ben, the owner of Casa Berti, had gone on another run to the frantoio with olives. I searched the kitchen but could not find any measuring utensils or a scale, so the measurements were all a big guess. ??? Luckily I knew where the limoncello was!

The cake came out better than usual, probably due to the quality and freshness of the ingredients.  I usually just dust it simply with zucchero in polvere-icing sugar.  For a fancier look, make a limoncello glaze with icing sugar and limoncello.  The cake is also nice with fresh fruit, especially raspberries or blueberries.  It goes equally well with a cup of espresso or a glass of limoncello and is also very easy to make-you don’t even need a mixer-just a wooden spoon and a whisk.  I adjusted some of the amounts to the recipe based on the Casa Berti cake, but if your measurements are not exact, non ti preoccupare, it will probably still taste good!

Casa Berti

Casa Berti Olive Oil Limoncello Cake

400g (~3 cups) flour

200g (almost 1 cup) sugar

4 medium sized eggs or 3 large eggs

160ml (~ ¾ cup) extra virgin olive oil

130 ml (~½ cup) milk

60 ml (¼ cup, 4 tablespoons) limoncello

Grated zest/peel of 2 organic lemons

16g packet Pane degli Angeli (or 15 ml/1 tablespoon baking powder)

  1. Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F)
  2. Butter and flour a 23 cm (9 inch) pan
  3. In a small bowl, add the lemon peel to the sugar and mix with fingers or the back of a spoon until they are well mixed and the sugar looks damp
  4. Whisk the eggs and add the sugar/peel mixture
  5. Add the olive oil, milk and limoncello
  6. Add flour a bit at a time and stir with a wooden spoon just until the flour is mixed in.  Do not over mix
  7. Add Pane degli Angeli
  8. Spoon into the pan and bake for 40-45 minutes.  Be careful not to overbake or it may come out dry
  9. Cool and dust with icing sugar
  10. For a fancier topping, make a limoncello glaze with 1 cup icing sugar and 30 ml (2 tablespoons) limoncello.  If it is too dry, add another 15 ml (1 tablespoon) limoncello or milk.  Mix together and drizzle onto cake.

Buon appetito, Cristina

Torta Caprese all’ Arancia

25 Saturday Jul 2015

Posted by in Mangiamo!, Recipes

≈ 23 Comments

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Tortacaprese2In honour of my recent Cannolo Award, I thought this post should be food related.  What is a Cannolo Award?  Read about it here.  Although I love them, I will not be writing about cannoli, but rather about Torta Caprese.

The super cute-issimo cannolo logo

The super cute-issimo cannolo logo

Caprese (cah•PREH•seh) means ‘from Capri’ (CAP•ree) the beautiful island off the coast of Napoli.  I suppose caprese could also mean ‘goatlike’ since capra is goat?  We’ll stick with ‘from Capri’.

There are a few different stories about how Torta Caprese came to be.  The most likely is that it was invented by mistake in the 1920’s or 30’s by a kitchen worker who added ground almonds (mandorle tritate) instead of flour while trying to make something similar to an Austrian Sachertorte for visitors at an Austrian owned pensione on Capri.  It was a big hit, and went on to be served at all of the hotels and tea rooms on the island.

The basic recipe involves mixing melted butter and chocolate in a ‘bagno-maria’ with sugar and egg yolks, then adding whipped egg whites and ground almonds.  Liqueur, usually Strega, is added.  The cake has a hard thin shell and moist interior and the center tends to sink in a bit from the sides.

I recently tasted a yummy orange Torta Caprese, so I decided to try my own version.  After a bit of experimentation, and substituting Gran Marnier for Strega, I ended up with a very nice Torta Caprese all’ Arancia.  It is a 3 bowl recipe, so be prepared to wash lots of dishes!

Torta Caprese all’ Arancia

Ingredients:

  • 250g dark chocolate 70%
  • 175g (¾ cup) butter at room temperature
  • 110g (½ cup) sugar
  • 110g (½ cup) brown or golden sugar
  • grated peel of a large orange
  • 3 tablespoons Gran Marnier, Mandarino, or other orange liqueur
  • 6 eggs, separated
  • 150g (1½ cups) ground blanched almonds (also called almond flour or almond meal)
  • ½ a bustina (packet) Lievito Bertolini or Pane degli Angeli (substitute 2½ teaspoons baking powder if you can’t find these)
  • pinch of salt
  • Icing sugar for dusting

1.  Preheat oven to 180° C (350° F).

2.  Butter the sides of a round springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.

3.  Melt butter and chocolate in a double boiler or ‘bagno-maria’ (a stainless steel bowl in a pan of hot water) and let cool.  This can also be done with a glass bowl in the microwave but be careful-only heat in 30 second intervals and stir well.

4.  In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks and brown sugar, then add to the chocolate.  Stir in alcohol and grated orange peel.

PicMonkey Collage

5.  Whip egg whites with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form.  Add the white sugar.

Torta Caprese Collage4

6.  In another bowl, mix almond flour, lievito or baking powder and salt together with a fork.  Fold the chocolate mixture in with a rubber spatula, then fold in egg whites.

Torta Caprese Collage3

7.  Pour batter into pan and bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour, until center is firm.  The center sink in a bit.  Remove the sides of the pan and slide the cake onto a platter.

8.  Dust with icing sugar and serve with orange slices and whipped cream or gelato.  Store at room temperature for up to 3 days…if it lasts that long!

Torta Caprese

Buon Appetito!  Mille grazie to my amiche Anna and Shannon who were very motivated to help me photograph the finished cake.  I wouldn’t let them cut it and have a piece until the photos were done!

torta caprese tagliata

Torta Caprese pezzo

Here is me posing on my first visit to Capri when I was 16. Unfortunately I didn't know about Torta Caprese at the time.

Here is me posing on my first visit to Capri when I was 16. Unfortunately I didn’t know about Torta Caprese at the time.

Downloadable recipe and recipe in italiano will be added as soon as I am home from Italia.  Buon Appetito!

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