Caprese Cake

Obviously I couldn't miss the Pastry Encyclopedia and I have soon tried Alfonso Pepe's Caprese Cake (it's a famous cake with chocolate and almonds of Neapolitan origin)

The recipe is gluten-free.

Ingredients

20 cm baking pan

• 125g dark chocolate (I use Worldfoods Dark Chocolate 70% from Ecuador)
• 125g butter  (softened at room temperature)
• 150g eggs (weighted shelled) about 3 eggs 
• 125g white sugar
• 185g toasted ground almonds
• 1 orange untreated
• 80g whites (about 3 little whites) 
• 6g rhum
• butter for the baking pan
• decoration : icing sugar - milk chocolate

CAPRESE dressed to the nines

Method

1. Chop the chocolate into pieces and melt it in a bowl suspended over simmering water, always mixing.

2.Whisk the soft butter to earn a cream and add the melted chocolate, mix with a wooden spoon.

3. Beat the eggs with half of sugar (before I put them in a bowl suspended on simmering water and used the whisk) Beat them with electric whisk for 10 minutes about to earn  a soft smoothy cream. Add the mixture of chocolate and butter, the toasted and then ground almonds, the grated orange rind.

4. Whip the egg whites until stiff with the remaining sugar and amalgamate to the mixture mixing very gently; then add the rhum. 

5. Line the bottom of the tin with baking parchment and butter the sides, pour the mixture into it and bake for about 35-40 minutes. .Take out of the oven and let cool on a wire rack for cakes.

6. Sprinkle the cake with icing sugar and decorate the middle of the cake with white chocolate flakes. I used the white chocolate to get a beautiful color effect. Was I wrong ?! Nooooooo, bon appetit!!!



Caprese cake

Serves: make 8 slices

delicious chocolate cake

Ingredients

For the dough: 

• 250 g dark chocolate 70% Ecuador
• 6 eggs
• 200 g brown sugar
• 150 g almond powder
• butter for the mold
  

For the frosting:

• 3 tbs apricot jam
• 150 g dark chocolate
• 1,4 dl fresch whipping cream
  

To decorate

• 2 tbs blenched almonds

How to make
Preheat oven at 170°
 

1. Melt the chopped chocolate in a water bath or in the microwave. Shell 5 eggs and separate the egg yolks and whites  in two different containers. Beat the egg whites until stiff and leave them (always with a pinch of salt) in the other bowl mix the egg yolks with the remaining egg and sugar until mixture is thick and fluffy (I always use the method of Luke Montersino first heated in a saucepan with the sugar eggs with a whisk just turning 2 or 3 min. and then mount the compound planetary or with electric whips, this means that the mixture becomes very frothy)

2. Mix in a bowl almond powder melted chocolate egg yolks with sugar and a spoonful of egg whites. Add the remaining egg whites, stirring gently from bottom to top.
3. Butter a mold of 24 cm in diameter and pour the mixture. Bake in preheated oven at 170 degrees for 45 minutes and let rest. Then baked the cake and let it cool.

4. Heat the jam in a saucepan and sprinkle over the entire cake using a spatula.
Heat the cream in a double boiler with the chopped chocolate until melted, let cool slightly so that the consistency of icing is greater. Cover entire cake with the cream and let cool. Decorate the surface with chopped almonds and the edges with little chocolate decorations.

Serves 8/10 slices

plum cake with white chocolate frosting

The secret not to make all choccolate drops fall in the bottom of the cake, you can find here in the point 3 and can be used in any other vs. recipe.


Ingredienti: 

• 150 g butter
• 250 g sugar
• 125 g chocolate drops 
• 125 g yogurt
• 350 g flour 00
• 3 eggs 
• 50 ml milk 
• 12 g baking powder
• 12 ml of rum
• 100 g white chocolate (for the frosting) 

Preheat oven to 170°.

1. In a bowl whisk very well the softened butter, sugar and and 25 g of yogurt using a wooden spoon. It must become a creamy.

2. Add a little at a time: the sifted flour, the eggs, milk, and the remaining yogurt; mix everything thoroughly with a wooden spoon.

3. In another bowl mix together the remaining flour (50g) sifted baking powder, chocolate drops and rum. Add them to the mixture stirring gently.

4. Pour the mixture into a mold for plum-cake, the size of 25x8 cm. Bake for about 50 minutes . It should be golden on the surface. Let cool.

5. In the meanwhile in a small saucepan melt white chocolate in a double boiler, let cool for a while; put hte plum-cake on a serving plate and decorate the top with the white chocolate frosting. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.

If you prefer the chocolate drops cab be replaced by whole pistachios (same weight, same method).

plumcake con glassa al cioccolato bianco

Serves 8/10

Sacher Torte

It is bombastic and intimidates, but apart from the methodwhich is a little long, you can do easily and gives a great satisfaction!

Ingredients:

•  75 g of dark chocolate
•  65 g butter
•  20 g of icing sugar
•  a pinch of vanilla powder
•  3 eggs
•  90 g of sugar
•  65 g of flour 00
•  250 g of cream ganache (190 grams dark chocolate -  150 grams cream)
• 125 g of apricot jam
• Salt

Method

1. Pick up the chocolate in a bowl, then melt it in a water bath. Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix with a whisk the butter with the sugar, salt and vanilla. When the mixture is blended, add the lightly beaten egg yolks one at a time, stir and add the melted chocolate.

2. A part in a large bowl, whisk together the egg whites with a whisk and add to sugar mixture gently. Finally add the flour. Mix well and pour it into a buttered and floured mold diameter of about 22-24cm and put in preheated oven at 170 degrees for 40 minutes

3. Baked the cake and leave to cool, while you prepare the ganache with: 125 grams of cream and 190 grams of dark chocolate into small pieces. Pour the cream into a saucepan and place it on the stove to heat, bring to the boil, then add the chocolate. Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon until the chocolate is fully melted and well blended with cream.

4. Remove the cake from the mold by gentle inversion. Cut it in half with a thin knife in order to obtain two disks. With a spatula spread a layer of jam on the first disk, spread the ganache over the cake and close with the second disc.

 

5. Spread the jam over the entire surface of the cake then cover the cake with remaining ganache. Refrigerate for 20 minutes until the glaze is not solidified.



pumpkin tarte and renette apples

Ingredients: 

• 4 "renette" apples
• 430gr sugar
• 400gr peeled pumpkin
• orange marmelade
• butter
• sugar

For the pastry dough

• 350gr flour
• 200gr softened butter
• 100gr caster sugar
• 1 egg
• cinnamon
• lemon zest
• salt

Method:

Prepare the pastry dough working quickly all the ingredients and put it wrapped in plastic wrap in refrigerator for 30'. Prepare a syrup with 700g of water and 400gr of sugar, dip in the pumpkin reduced in small pieces. Left simmer until it becomes soft. Peel the apples and cut into wedges and flavour in a pan with a tbs of butter and and the remaining sugar. Roll out the pastry to 3mm thick and line a mold with the diameter of 26cm. and 5 com high. Spread on the bottom ornage marmelade and put in concentric circles a layer of aplle slices and a layer of pumpkin till all ingredients are finished. Sprinkle with icing sugar and bake at 180° for about 1 hour. When out of oven let cool, sprinkle with icing sugar and serve. 

Serve: 10 slices

mimosa cake with strawberries

Prepare  the cake one day before it's easier to divide.

Ingredients:

• 225 g flour
• 225g sugar
• 6 fresh eggs
• 1 lemon
• 50 gr butter
• vanillin (vanilla bean is better)
• salt

Preheat oven at 180°

1. Beat the eggs with sugar and a pinch of salt to obtain a foam swells that "writes" (it takes about 10-15'), add the flour brought down by a sieve with the vanilla and stir with a wooden spoon (used only for pastry), add now yhe juice and zest of one lemon and then the melted butter COLD. Pour the mixture in a pan of 28 cm in diameter greased and floured if you put a disc of parchmente paper is perfect.  Bake for about 40'. Remove from the oven and let cool.

2. Finish the Cake : Cut the sponge cake into three discs and trim the edges and the top. With these make crumbs in the cutter for final decoration.  Whip 550g of cream with a spoon of icing sugar. Clean and dry 3 baskets of strawberries, take apart a dozen for garnish. With the remaining strawberries make a wet with water and a tablespoon of rum. Blend all. Soak with this wet each side of the sponge cake alternating with the cream; in the middle there I put melted chocolate. Close all layers and cover the entire cake with the remaining whipped cream. Sprinkle the crumbs of sponge cake both on the top and on the sides of the cake; cut the strawberries in half to garnish the bottom of it. Sprinkle all over with icing sugar.

Serves 10/12 slices.