Italy has amazingly varied pastry traditions. Everything from the rich creamy ricotta cakes of the south to chocolaty wonders of the North.
Panettone is one of the most involved and difficult Italian cakes, and most Italians buy their panettoni from bakeries, or at supermarkets. However, you may want make a Panettone, and this is a relatively easy home recipe.
A Ciambella Romagnola, Romagna's traditional ring cake, is wonderful for breakfast, dipped into warm milk or caffè latte. It's also quite nice at the end of a meal, either with a glass of dessert wine or with the slices drizzled with zabaione or a fruit sauce or glaze.
A Ciambella Romagnola, Romagna's traditional ring cake, is wonderful for breakfast, dipped into warm milk or caffè latte. It's also quite nice at the end of a meal, either with a glass of dessert wine or with the slices drizzled with zabaione or a fruit sauce or glaze.
Persimmon cake, or torta di cachi, is a very traditional, very rich cake that that in some ways resembles a pan pepato, or spiced bread, and is also egg free, which makes it ideal for those allergic to eggs. It will be perfect for festive occasions, including Christmas or Carnevale.
This does require some effort, but is quite nice, and if you like lemons you will like it very much. As an added bonus, it has no flour at all, which is good for those who must avoid gluten.
The traditional torta Mantovana is a very simple, even frugal cake made in the city of Mantova. Pellegrino Artusi included it in his ground-breaking Scienza in Cucina, more than a century ago, but fleshed it out, as it were, substantially increasing the butter and eggs, both expensive ingredients at the time. So this is a wealthy variation on the simpler traditional Mantovana.
This is a crumbly cake -- Sbrisolona means crumbly -- from Mantova, in the Pianura Padana. It's a very traditional cake, dating from the time when few could afford the ingredients of richer cakes or pastries, and has the added bonus of keeping well. It was also a Christmas favorite.
Panettone is Milano's classic Christmas cake. Panettone is a delight as is, but it also takes very well to being filled, and here we have it with a layered filling consisting of pistachio cream, chocolate pear cream, and caramelized cheese cream. A fantastic panettone!
This is one of the most classic Sicilian cakes, and though some people link it to the island's Arab period because of the candied fruit that goes into the ricotta cream, among other things, it's actually much older: The word Cassata derives from the Latin Caseus, which means cheese. In other words, Cassata is one of the world's first cheesecakes. It comes as no surprise that there are a great many variations throughout Sicily; this particular recipe is from Trapani.
This is off the back of a packet of chemical cake yeast (an Italian equivalent of baking powder), and was a very pleasant surprise. It's essentially a quick schiacciata alla Fiorentina, the flat orangy cake that accompanies Florentines through the [link url=http://italianfood.about.com/library/rec/blr0149.htm]Carnival season[/link].
Citrus Cake, or Torta agli Agrumi: A simple, refreshing cake that will be perfect at any time of year. In Italy it's made with oranges or lemons, depending upon the preference of the cook, and it will be nice with other citrus fruit as well, for example limes. Assuming you are using oranges, you'll find the ingredients to serve 4 below. If you instead decide to use lemons, use 2, putting the zest of one in the cake and the juice of both in the sauce.
Pandoro Cake with Dessert Wine, or Torta di Pandoro al Vino Passito: Even if an Italian has nothing else left over from the Christmas dinner, chances are that there will be some Pandoro floating around -- this year the supermarkets were discounting them hugely as a loss leader, and people were filling their shopping carts with them. Here's an idea for when plain Pandoro has begun to pale.
Panettone Filled with Mascarpone Cream, or Panettone Farcito al Mascarpone: This is an extraordinarily rich dessert, and though it will take a bit of effort is well worth it.
Panettone in Orange Sauce, or Panettone all'Arancio: Most panettone dishes feature either a full-sized panettone or individual panettoni. This instead is made with slices, beautifully decorated with oranges.
Panettone Stuffed with Ice Cream and decorated with Candied Orange Zest, or Panettone Ripieno di Gelato: Another recipe for pint-sized panettoni, though it will also work with a standard sized cake. Quick, easy, and no alcohol.
Panettone Stuffed with Chocolate Cream and Strawberries: Preparing a Christmas meal generally requires a great deal of time and effort, so it's nice when something is quick to do. This recipe calls for pint-sized panettoni, though you could do it with half of a full-sized panettone if you had to; if you use a full-sized cake cut it in half lengthwise, and then quarter the half and decorate the slices with the chocolate cream and the strawberries.
Il Pandoro Veronese: Pandoro symbolizes Christmas like few other cakes: It even looks Christmassy, a craggy mountain topped with snow-white confectioners sugar. It's difficult to make, and therefore most Italians prefer to buy commercially produced Pandoro from their local baker or supermarket, but if you are an accomplished baker making it at home will be quite rewarding....
Come Christmas, If you want to build on Italian tradition, there are many recipes for jazzing up Panettone and Pandoro, the classic north Italian Christmas cakes from Milano and Verona, respectively. Here's an idea for Pandoro; it requires a degree of manual dexterity, but the results are most impressive. It also calls for alchechengi, which are an unusual small Tuscan fruit; substitute anything light colored and roughly cherry-sized.
A Neapolitan Layer Cake, or Dolce alla Napoletana: According to Artusi this is extremely refined, and he is, of course, right.
Saffron Ring Cake, or Ciambellone allo Zafferano: Ciambelle, ring cakes, are among the most common Italian cakes. This particular version, which is Sardinian, is richer than many.
Buccellato di Lucca: Wende Giovannoni, whose husband is from Lucca, has very kindly shared one of his favorites, a dish that magically transports him back home with the first bite:
Babà was supposedly invented by the chef of an exiled Slavic king who settled in Nancy (France). Word of the man's voluptuous creation rapidly got around, and someone took it to Naples, where it the pastry shops adopted it with an enthusiasm that continues unabated; the Neapolitans are considered the master babà-makers of Italy.
In introducing it Artusi says, "This pastry wants to look its maker in the eye. In other words, it requires care and patience to make it."
Il Panettone Milanese: Panettone is Milano's signature Christmas cake, and has become popular throughout Italy because it can be made (well) industrially, and as a result can be widely distributed. Of course the homemade cake will be fresher, and you can tailor it to meet your tastes. It takes a bit of effort, but the results are well worth it.
Brioche Cake with Four Creams, or Brioche alle Quattro Creme: If filling a panettone seems like too much work, you might want to try a Brioche alle Quattro Creme. It serves 12, and though it looks complex it's mostly a matter of slicing the cake up and spreading the creams across the slices.
Filled Panettone, or Panettone Ripieno: Panettone, the traditional Christmas cake made in Milano, is now popular thoughout the Peninsula, and though they can be quite good out fo the box they can be amazing if reworked at home.
Honey Cake, or Dolce di Miele: Honey is common in Italy, and was once about the only really sweet substance readily available. It's not that common in recipes, however, I suspect because the sweetness of refined sugar, which is also much cheaper, is more consistent.
Hazelnut Cake, or Torta di Nocciole: Hazelnuts are astonishingly delicate, and make for delightful cakes. Though I tend to associate them with Piemonte, thanks to the stands of trees around Alba, they're popular throughout the North. Lisetta made this cake for a wonderful dinner in Valpolicella and was kind enough to share the recipe. It goes by weight and you may find it easier to calculate it thusly, rather than convert it to volumes.
Orange Upside-down Cake, or Sfoglia Rovesciata: Every cuisine has an upside down cake. This Italian version is fairly elaborate, and will serve 6.
Orange Ring Cake, or Ciambella All'Arancia: An easy, tasty cake that will take about an hour to make.
An Italian Layer Cake, Torta Claudia: A cream-filled layer cake that many people have asked for (and which I hadn't found sooner because I didn't know what it was called). The recipe will take an hour to prepare and 4 to chill, and it helps if you are good at working with whipped cream.
Rum Soufflé: A while back I got a request for an Italian rum cake. Haven't found it yet, but this recipe for Rum soufflé is nice. To serve 6:
Gâteau di Savoja, or Savoy Cake: It launched a dynasty!
This recipe is said to be froma woman whose chef was a close friend of the King's chef. Quite possible, because the recipe brings to mind a very delicate Piemontese hazelnut cake. Indeed, I expect you could vary your choice of nuts, or even use a mixture if you wanted to.
The recipe calls for:
Torta di Noci: This is an extremely rich walnut cake, worthy of a special occasion.
Kit Cat wrote, "I am seeking the recipe for Cassadetti (I may not be spelling it correctly). It is a deep fried cake/cookie, it is made of a sweet dough filled with dried ricotta cheese and honey. They are usually shaped as a half moon. The dough is filled, closed, ends pressed down with fork and then deep fried in vegetable shortening." Turns out they're Sicilian...
The Pan di Spagna that Mr. Correnti and Ada Boni call for in Cassata alla Siciliana is quite similar to the Genoise, which Italians call pasta Genovese. It's a simple cake whose major function is to serve as an ingredient in other, more elaborate productions. Here are two recipes, one with and the other without yeast.
The Mantovana, named after the city of Mantova, is tremendously simple, and, as a friend who has lived in Italy off and on but is now in the US remarked, "smells like Italy." The aroma certainly does evoke northern country cooking, and a mantovana with a glass of vinsanto is a wonderful way to end a meal. With coffee, on the other hand, it's an excellent breakfast.
This is a richer ring cake recipe. I've given the nuts by weight since they're sold by weight, and their volume will depend upon how well they pack in your measuring cup.
Buccellati means riddled, and refers to the texture of this ring cake from the Lunigiana region. This recipe is, as Pellegrino Artusi notes, perfect for family use. He also proposes a much more involved recipe that will feed a multitude.
Buccellati means riddled, and refers to the texture of this ring cake, which is from the Lunigiana area in Tuscany. The recipe is, as Pellegrino Artusi notes, involved. He also proposes an easier version for family use.
This is based on the recipe Alessandro Pradelli gives in La Cucina Lombarda. He suggests it be served cold, covered with chocolate icing, zabaione, or whatever, or used as a base for preparing other cakes, for example polenta e osei. Or, if you make it in a thin sheet, spread chocolate custard over it, and roll it up, you have the beginnings of a Christmas log (use chocolate to make the bark). In short, its extremely versatile.
Laura writes: "When visiting my relatives in Bergamo I have seen a wonderful cake that is made to look like polenta with birds. It is sold all over the old town. I brought one back this time to try to figure out how to make it. My friend and I think we have figured out the cake and filling. Do you have a recipe for it? Specifically, we are having a problem with the outside. It appears to have corn meal in it, but the outside layer almost peels off. We are stumped. Any ideas?"
Though Piemonte is better known for hazelnuts, the region also makes good use of almonds, and this is a fine cake.
The more traditional recipes for this classic Florentine Easter cake call for lard and require that you make a starter loaf with the yeast. This recipe, pried by my mother-in-law from Il Rossino, a pastry chef in Florence's Via Centostelle, does not, and is good enough to be eaten rear round.
Claudia wrote: "I've been looking for the name of and how to make a dessert I had while in Italy. It is a cake made from a philo type dough, and it has a layer of chocolate cream and a layer of vanilla cream. I don't remember if it had frosting though. I had it on my 13th birthday, and my 24th is coming up soon and I'd like to make it." I replied that it sounds like Millefoglie and she said "Bingo!" So, wishing her the happiest of 24ths, here is a recipe:
A traditional chestnut-flour pastry, from my translation of Pellegrino Artusi's Art of Eating Well.
Fruit strudel, filled with apricots or cherries.
A traditional cake whose crumb is shot through with holes (i.e. buccellato), from the mountains of Tuscany.
A delicate honey-laced cake for Rosh Hashanah.
Strudel filled with walnuts, and glazed with chocolate. Tasty!
An extraordinarily rich chilled chocolate-raspberry mouse (whose lack of flour makes it perfect for Passover too).
A classic from Friuli Venezia Giulia.
A rich and somewhat exotic layered Christmas dessert from Altamura, in Puglia.
An unusual cake made with peaches and figs: Summertime!
A traditional Gibraltarian Easter cake, brought to the Rock by Ligurian sailors.
An unusual squash strudel (for want of a better name) from Friuli Venezia Giulia.
Not Italian, as Stu notes, but delicious just the same, and perfect for an important occasion.
A delicate dessert made with milk and potato starch.
You may well find yourself with leftover panettone, this is a quick and tasty way of putting it to use that will also be nice when company comes calling during the holidays.
The potatoes are in the dough; the filling is loaded with apples, nutmeats and other goodies.
A sweet pizza with ricotta and cinnamon that's a Roman Easter tradition.
An overdose of almonds! But tasty.
A heavenly confection born of a boy's visit to the Baby Jesus.
Many people think the smell of a freshly baked ring cake is what Italian country cooking is all about. A collection of four recipes, one fit to feed a host, two that are simple, and one that resembles a pound cake in some ways.
Cassata, biscotti and a torta di ricotta, three Italian classics, from About.Com's baking guide.
Fiadone, Easter breads, and much more; the bits of family history woven into the recipes make for fun reading.
A very complete recipe with extremely detailed instructions, from Good Morning America (of all places).
A simple recipe from Diana Rattray, About.Com's Southern Cuisine Guide, which is quite similar to one from Weight Watcher's. Well phrased instructions.
Verona's sweet Golden Bread, from La Lama Family Secrets. A nice, detailed recipe with info on procuring pans and such too.
A brilliant red page for a cake that does look interesting.
