peach and pear upside-down cake

Donna Hay and her recipes are perfect! This is one of the best cakes I have ever eaten. Her books are an inexhaustible source of inspiration. 

Recipe taken from Donna Hay Classic Book 2

for a removable mold in 24-26 cm 

205 g plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

4 free range eggs

225 g caster sugar

1teaspoon vanilla extract

125 g melted butter

for the topping

225 g sugar

125 ml water

75 g butter

6 peaches in syrup and 2 pears, halved

How to make

Prepare the topping: 

Place the sugar and water in a saucepan over low heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Increase the heat and boil until the syrup is s golden brown colour. Remove from the heat and stir through the butter. Pour into a well greased 24cm round cake tin.

Preheat the oven to 160°. 

To make the cake:

Sift together the flour and baking powder three times and set aside.

Place the eggs, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 8-10 minutes or until thick and pale. Sift the flour and baking powder over the egg mixture and gently fold through. Fold through the butter. Place the fruits cut-side down and very close together in the caramel. Spoon over the cake mixture and bake for 1 hour 5 minutes, or until cooked when tested with a skewer.

Allow to stand for 5 minutes then invert the cake onto a plate. Serve warm woth thick double cream. Then store in the fridge.  

Kisses
Mony

cake with oranges in syrup

Recipe taken from Salt and Pepper Collection of November 2012

Serves 8-10 people

120 g almond flour

150 g of flour

3 untreatened oranges 

4 organic eggs

400 g of sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder for cakes

150 g of butter

seriously rich chocolate cake by linda collister

This cake made with ground almonds and dark chocolate is flourless, beautifully dark rich and moist. My little son Alessandro cooked it almost by himself, so it's simple but absolutly divine.

Serves 8-10 :

• 100 g butter, diced
• 140 g best-quality dark chocolate
• 6 free range eggs
• 140 g ground almonds
• 1 tbs kirsch (optional)
• 85 g caster sugar
• cocoa powder for dusting

How to make:

1. Preheat the oven to 170 °C. Butter and line the base of a 23cm springform cake tin. Melt the butter and chocolate, stir until smooth, and leave for about 5 minutes to cool slightly. Stir in the egg yolks, ground almonds, and the liqueur, if using.

2. Put the egg whites into a bowl, add two or three lemon drops (the original recipe here wants the classical pinch of salt) and whisk until soft peaks form. Continue whisking, sprinkling in the sugar a little at a time, until stiff peaks form. Stir 2 tablespoons of the whites into the chocolate mixture and fold in carefully the remainder.

3. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 30-35 minutes until well risen and just firm. Cool in the tin. Remove the cake and dust with cocoa powder.

It's ready!

Here is an elegant slice decorated with lemon glaze.

italian puff pastry into ... slices or in glasses.

I finally tried the puff pastry, I did it with a chef, who taught me the steps of assembling the cake, which I did it here again with good results. I must say that I used a packed puff pastry, as there are excellent ready-made products, used even in the best restaurants. Yes it is! Then the dough for real purists I will do another time following the recipe of the chef Montersino, thatseemsthesimplesttodointheworld!!!   

scroll down for wine to match 

orange cake

Here is a recipe taken from the Pastry encyclopedia oh the Italian Pastry Masters Academy, with which I participate in my first contest "the citrus" of the foodblog   ilricettariodicinzia (ended on 24th March). It is the first time I participate in a "contest" that does not concern the sport ... but the food...

Bonne chance! 

corn donut

With this recipe I celebrate 10.000 visitors!



10.000

Thanks to all of you 10.000,

who passed through here

by chance or by research,

those who had left a trace

and to those who will,

who supports me now 

and who will tomorrow!

Who would have thought:

in November did not even know

what a blog was!

Thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

Whites Cake

White Cake

Sunday morning, the typical slowness in the last free hours before a new week starts... I try to concentrate on a movie, but it's impossible, I try then with a book, nothing to do.... it's too much difficult in these sunday hours with reduced consumption of neurons; I have taken to reading one...two...three recipes...till I get inspired and begin lazily to pull out first the flour from the cupboard then the balance, the oranges and the butter...that must be soften; thanks microwave I've abandoned my rolling pin to soften the butter!

Cake of the Princess

With this recipe i take part to the contest  francescav-chiama-italia in order to celebrate this important date  for my country, the dream of a united nation, the sense of belonging to our culture, language, and art as the trait-d'union throughout the centuries and the different governments: as our Roberto Benigni during his interesting lesson of history said: in order to make one's own dreams come true, you have to wake up! So here we are awake and present to honour what others before us delivered to us : our flag!

                                              

     

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

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.