Recipes Index - page 2

A Neapolitan Layer Cake -- Dolce alla Napoletana
A Neapolitan Layer Cake, or Dolce alla Napoletana: According to Artusi this is extremely refined, and he is, of course, right.

Il Pandoro Veronese
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....

Citrus Cake -- Torta agli Agrumi
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.

Torta Fiorentina -- A Florentine Cake
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 Carnival season.

Cassata alla Siciliana
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.

Torta Mantovana Sbrisolona
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.

Artusi's Torta Mantovana
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.

Almond-Lemon Cake - Torta Alle Mandorle e Limoni
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.

Persimmon Cake - Torta di Cachi
Persimmon cake, or torta di cachi, is a very traditional, very rich cake 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.

Cassadetti & Cassata alla Siciliana
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...

Gâteau di Savoja -- Savoy Cake
Gâteau di Savoja, or Savoy Cake: It launched a dynasty!

Panettone Filled with Mascarpone Cream - Panettone Farcito al Mascarpone
Panettone Filled with Mascarpone Cream, or Panettone Farcito al Mascarpone: This is an extraordinarily rich Christmas dessert, and though it will take a bit of effort is well worth it.

Stuffed Pandoro with Glazed Fruit - Pandoro Ripieno con Frutta
Come Christmas, If you want to build on Italian tradition, there are many recipes for jazzing up Panettone and Pandoro. 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.

Triple Filled Panettone, or Panettone al Triplo Ripieno
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!

Hazelnut Cake -- Torta di Nocciole
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 hazelnut trees around Alba, they're popular throughout the North.

Pandoro Cake with Dessert Wine -- 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: Supermarkets discount them hugely as a loss leader, and people fill their shopping carts with them. Here's an idea for when plain Pandoro has begun to pale.

Rum Soufflé
Rum Soufflé: a tasty Rum soufflé is nice.

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