Ricotta cake with fresh redcurrants - Ciambella alla ricotta con ribes rosso

From my book Sweet As... ciambella alla ricotta. Ricotta ring cake. Usually made with jam filling, this time I added fresh redcurrants, it was great!

Ingredients

250 g ricotta

300g sugar

3 eggs

300 g self raising flour

grated ring of 1 lemon

1 cup of cleaned fresh redcurrants

The original recipe is in my book Sweet As...

Here is a quick explanation: cream together the ricotta and sugar, then add all the other ingredients following the order in the ingredient list. Bake at 180C for approximately 40mins. Sprinkle with icing sugar and decorate with fresh redcurrants.

 Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

 

Feijoa cake

👩🏻‍🍳about 20 feijoas, 3 eggs, 200 g sugar, 80 g butter, melted (I used salted butter, if you use normal butter add a pinch of salt to the mixture), 200 g self raising flour and a drop of pure vanilla essence. 

Cut the feijoas in two halves and remove the flesh with a teaspoon. Set aside. Beat the eggs and sugar first until the mixture is pale yellow, then add the butter and, little by little the flour. End with vanilla. Stop beating and fold in the feijoas. Pour into a greased or lined baking tin (20cm is good) and bake at 180℃ for about 45 mins (until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean). Tip upside-down on a serving plate while still hot, the feijoas tend to go to the bottom so I keep the cake upside down to have them at the top. Dust with icing sugar and let it cool down completely before serving (so that the base of the cake will flatten nicely). Yum with cream or mascarpone!

Also, did you know that you can eat feijoa flowers too? Find out more here

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

 

Soft baked cheesecake, "Japanese style"

One thing that I loved about living in Japan were the cakes, both Japanese and Western style. In fact the Western style cakes not only are of an incredible high quality, but they also seem lighter and less sweet that what we have here in New Zealand. The baked cheesecake has always been one of my favourites, I do find it a little 'eggy' perhaps, but every now and then it is fun to make!

Ingredients

1 x 250g pack of cream cheese (I used Philadelphia) 

50g butter (I used salted butter, follow instructions if you use unsalted butter)

150ml cream

50 sugar

5 eggs (large)

80g self rising flour

lemon zest and juice

Apricot jam for the topping (optional)

Cube the cream cheese and butter and place into a mixing bowl with the cream and sugar. If you use unsalted butter add a very small pinch of salt too. Place the bowl on a pot with boiling water (Bain Marie)  and mix well until all the ingredients are melted. Make sure that there are no lumps of cream cheese! Remove from the heat and then add the egg yolks, one by one, mixing well.  In the meantime whip the egg whites to a stiff peak, and also heat the oven to 180C. Add flour to the main mixture, then lemon zest (1 lemon) and lemon juice (one or two tbsp, depending on your lemon - Mayer lemons are sweet so you need more, if you use a more acidic lemon one tbsp will suffice). Fold in the egg whites little by little. Pour into a 18cm round baking tin lined with buttered baking paper (on the bottom and side of the tin - I butter both the tin and the baking paper). Place the tin on a larger baking pan filled with 30-40cm of hot water and place into the oven. The cake will also bake at Bain Marie. Turn the heat down to 160C and bake for about one hour. Turn the oven off but do not remove the cheesecake: leave it to cool down in the oven with the oven door slightly open. Sadly it will drop a bit in heigh while cooling, but this is normal. I am not sure what kind of stabilisers commercial bakeries use to keep their baked cheesecakes super high, but this is more about taste, and the homemade does taste better! When the cheesecake has cooled down remove from the baking tin and if you like brush the top with a little apricot jam thinned with hot water. 

I particularly like this cheesecake because it is so soft and not so sweet, so I can have it for breakfast with my coffee. For dessert instead I like to add some Italian amarena cherries in syrup, or some berries, fresh or frozen, marinated with a little sugar and lemon juice, to give it a bit more sweetness and flavour.

And now some flowers for my Pinterest 

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Apple cupcakes with dried flowers

 

I have a selection of dried petals: blue cornflowers, red petals (a mixture of rose, verbena, dianthus) and orange and yellow (marigold and calendula), ready to add to a cake or cupcakes or muffins.

Ingredients for 12 cupcakes/muffins

4-5 Oratia Beauty apples

40 ml water

10 ml lemon juice

120 g salted butter

3 eggs

130 g sugar

A few drops of pure vanilla essence (optional)

200 g self-rising flour

Dried flowers

For the icing:

100 gr butter

100 g sugar

more dried flowers

Preheat the oven to 175°C. 

Line a 12-muffin tray with cupcakes paper cups.

In the meantime place the water and lemon juice in a mixing bowl, peel and slice the apples and drop them directly into the lemony water.

Melt the butter in a jug, either in the microwave or in the oven (while the oven is warming up for the cupcakes). Place the eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk, using an electric beater, until the mixture looks light and pale yellow in colour. Slowly add the melted butter and the vanilla essence, if using.

Keep beating at a low speed now; add half of the flour followed by half of the lemony water from the apples. Add the rest of the flour and water and keep beating making sure that there are no lumps. Add the apples and the dried petals. Divide into the cupcakes paper cups.
 
Bake for about 18-20 minutes, until golden brown at the top. You can also check by inserting a toothpick into the cupcakes: if it comes out clean the cupcakes are ready. Remove the cupcakes from the tin and let them cool down. The icing is optional, I just mixed some melted butter with sugar and used it to top the cupcakes, then sprinkled more dried petals on top. 

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Covid-19 lockdown recipe 6: a super soft and super easy (and dairy free) apple and pear cake

 🍎🍐 I bought quite a few apples and pears from the orchard in Oratia before it closed down and I needed to use those which were getting a bit soft, so I peeled and cut about 1kg between the two and added lemon juice. They were quite “lemony” 🍋😊 and I thought of using my lemon cake recipe from the book Party Food for Girls, with a few variations. 

👩🏻‍🍳 4 eggs, 250 g sugar, 200ml vegetable oil, 250 g self raising flour and a drop of pure vanilla essence. 

Beat the eggs and sugar first until the mixture is pale yellow, then add the oil and, little by little the flour. End with vanilla. Stop beating and fold in the apples and pears. Pour into a greased or lined baking tin (23cm is good, lots of cake here) and bake at 180℃ for 45 mins to one hour (until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean). Cool down completely before removing from the tin. Dust with icing sugar. Try it and you will thank me for the recipe 😊
🍎🍐🍏

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Covid-19 lockdown recipe 2: Mont Blanc with chestnut cream and chickpeas

The lockdown for me is a chance to clean up the pantry, instead of concentrating in stocking up with too much food. I always have a full pantry anyway, one of the advantages of leaving a bit out of town perhaps, but also many bags a quarter full that beg to be finished, or cans of food kept in the emergency kit which need rotating anyway. I found a can of sweet chestnut spread which I bought ages ago, I usually combine it with fresh chestnuts or canned chestnuts (not sweet) but I had none. I have plenty of chickpea cans though, and chickpeas are good for making desserts too! Mont Blanc, or Monte Bianco, is one of my favourite desserts, Mum used to make it a lot when I was a child because we have a chestnut wood in Italy, and the nuts were our staple all winter long. 

Drain the chickpeas and keep the water aside. This can be used to make vegan meringues (recipe here), or vegan fresh pasta (recipe here), or many other recipes. Then rinse the chickpeas under running water and mush them with the nutri-bullet (not as fine like hummus, leave a little 'texture'. Combine with the chestnut spread and some grated dark chocolate (to taste). The chestnut spread is soo sweet that you won't need to add any sugar.

Mix well, then whip 300 ml of cream and add half to the mixture, one spoon at the time.

Vegans can use coconut cream, like in this recipe here!

Fold the cream in slowly, trying to keep the mixture light.

Like this.

Now spoon the mixture over a plate and shape like a mountain.

Cover with the remaining cream,

Top with more grated dark chocolate,

And decorate, if you like. I used my last blueberries and the first Cape Gooseberries from the garden, and some candied Poppies (recipe here).

Refrigerate for a few hours before serving. Delicious, lots of proteins, gluten free and no cooking required, and no guessing that there are chickpeas there!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Colomba Sestolese - A traditional sweet pie from my Italian village in the Apennines - step by step photos and instructions

This cake is traditionally made in Sestola on 6 December for St Nicholas' Day, so I am totally out of season here, but I have a good excuse: my friend Stefania gave me a jar of jam she made with rusticane plums, and the flavour was just right, not too sweet and a little sour... just like the plum jams they make at home, and an essential ingredient for this preparation. Please note, this is a VERY ITALIAN CAKE, not one that Kiwis may like as in this country the preference is for somewhat soft and 'moist' cakes (although my husband ate this happily, but with cream on the side!!!).

I am sure that every family has a lightly different recipe, this is mine and works pretty well. In a large bowl, or on a wooden table, measure 500 g of plain flour, 200 g sugar, 1 tsp of baking powder and 120 g of butter. Usually in Italy we use unsalted butter, so add a pinch of salt, but here in NZ I used salted butter, so no more salt is needed. Mix just a little then add 3 free range eggs and a small glass of liquor. I used Sambuca, Sassolino is best, but hard to find here, and Sambuca is a good substitute. You can also add the zest of a lemon or some citrus peels (I added citrus peels, about 1 heap tsp).

Mix well, don't worry if it feels too dry at first, you need to work on the dough and with a little patience you will get a soft dough.

Shape into a ball then cut into three pieces. Take the bigger piece and roll it (add more flour for the board/table).

Line a 20cm round cake tin with baking paper and place the rolled piece inside, building up the borders a little.

Now add about three or four tablespoons of plum jam.

Chop some almonds and chop some walnuts. You can also add pine nuts, or even hazelnuts, the important thing is always to have walnuts! 

Top the jam with the chopped almonds,

Then with walnut pieces, and sprinkle with sultanas.

Roll some more pasty and cut a circle to cover the filling, add some leftover pastry to lift the border where necessary.

Repeat! Jam, chopped almonds and walnuts, sultana...

Roll some more pastry and cut another circle to cover the filling. Always lift the border with more pastry where necessary.

And repeat for the third time: jam, nuts, sultana and one more circle of pastry. 

Use the pastry strips left over to seal well the borders with the top, I press everything down with a teaspoon for a neat look.

Make some light incisions with a fork on the top.

Sprinkle with sugar and bake at 180/200°C for about 40 minutes.

Let the pie cool down before cutting, even if the fragrance will be irresistible.

Ok, I was going to cut the cake the day after and take a great photo... but my daughter got up first and had some for breakfast.... and then it went so quickly that this is the only photo I have... anyway, you can see the three layers, and the crust is like a biscuit. It was delicious, and this is a good thing: when we make this cake in the village we have a proverb which says that if the cake is good it will be a good snowy season (mountain village you see, we need snow for skiing), and now the family hopes that this year Mt Ruapehu  will have lots of snow and a great skiing season!

 Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©