Torta Caprese Bianca al Limone

Traveling is a great source of renewal and inspiration. If it was possible, I would spend my days traveling and exploring new cultures and the flavors they cherish the most.

Italy is one of my favorite destinations. The food culture there, like the architecture, the nature and the people is vibrant, colorful, and simply amazing. I can never tire of the sights and smells of Italy.

Few weeks ago, I went on a short trip to Naples, Capri and the Amalfi Coast. What a stunner of a region it is!

Capri, an island off the coast of Naples, is a treasure trove of breathtaking sights and enchanting citrus scents. I am no Italy expert, but if you ever plan on visiting this Mediterranean country, Capri should rank pretty high on your list of to visit regions.

Capri is famous for its Torta Caprese, which is an almond-based cake with a moist and a crumbly texture. It dates back to the start of the 20th century, and if you read about its origins you will come across various stories. Irrespective of how it started, the cake is now widely consumed by tourists in Capri and the South of Italy be it in its chocolate (cioccolota) or lemon (limone) variations. Both versions have chocolate but the bianca or white version uses white chocolate.  You can't go with either variation of this delicate almond-based cake, but the lemon flavor won my vote.

If I managed to spike your interest in this famous Italian dessert and you want to bring the bright flavors of Capri to your home, this is what you need to do.  (Note, recipe adapted from here).

Ingredients:

• 165 g almond flour (I made mine. I soaked the almonds in hot water for few minutes, then in cold water, spread them over a towel to dry then processed them)
• 100 g fine sugar
• 40 g corn flour
• 3 g baking powder
• 130 g grated white chocolate
• zest of 2 organic and unwaxed lemons 
• 30 g olive oil
• 35 g melted butter
• 4 eggs at room temperature
• 2 tbsp limoncello 
• dash of salt

Method:

In a bowl, mix the almond flour with the sugar, chocolate, salt, baking powder, lemon zest and corn flour.

In another bowl combine the eggs with the limoncello (you can substitute with the same amount of lemon juice) and beat until the batter doubles in volume and becomes pale. Fold in gently the butter and the oil then add the mixture to the flour and mix until well combined.

Pour the batter into a greased pan, covered with parchment paper, and bake for about 30 to 40 minutes in a preheated oven (175C).

Keep in mind that the baking time will vary from one oven to another, the pan size and material. You want the cake to be fully baked but not dry and with a nice brown color. Inset a toothpick in the center of the cake and if it comes out clean, your cake is done. 

The cake batter is rather liquid and during baking the edges may cook faster than the center. To have an even bake, you can use baking strips. Azlin Bloor made this cake and explains how you can prepare homemade baking strips. Her recipe yields a cake with a different texture as the amount of ingredients and method are somewhat different. Nonetheless, both recipes will deliver a scrumptious cake! 

Once baked, leave the cake to cool almost completely before removing it from the pan, then put on a a wire rack to cool completely.

You can serve the cake as it is, but  you can decorate with a dusting of powdered sugar and few fresh fruits to elevate its looks.

All you have to do now is to serve yourself a slice of this torta and enjoy the flavors of sunny Southern Italy.

Red Currants and White Chocolate Pots de Crème

In summer and to cope with the heat, we tend to consume more refreshing meals, fresh fruits and vegetables, salads and chilled desserts. 

While it's entirely true that the dessert I´m sharing with you in this post is not exactly light in terms of the calories it packs, but it's served cold and in small portions making it a perfect summer dessert! 

This custard-like French dessert is very similar to creme brulée but with few key differences such as the lack of the famous caramelized sugar crust.

To the classic vanilla flavor of the cream, I added white chocolate and a touch of fresh sourness brought by the red currants. Whenever I use white chocolate in any recipe I like to balance its sweetness with tangy fruits, especially berries.

To make 6 little pots (60 ml each) you need:

• 3 egg yolks and some of the white to weigh 75 g (note, do freeze the eggs whites if you can't find a way to use them immediately)
• 50 g chopped white chocolate
• half of a vanilla pod
• 40 g sugar (adjust to your liking)
• 200 ml cream and 75 ml milk 
• red currants

Preheat the oven at 150 degrees C (around 300 F).

First, with the back of a knife, remove the seeds of the vanilla pod and add them to the eggs. Add the emptied vanilla pod to the cream and milk and gently heat. Bring to a gentle simmer and keep simmering for about five minutes. Once you smell the vanilla, add the chocolate and stir until it melts. 

While the cream is heating, mix together the yolks with the sugar and vanilla seeds.  You need to whisk until you get a creamy and pale mixture. 

Slowly pour the hot cream over the egg yolks while whisking vigorously. 

Add between 5 to 7 red currants in each ramekin, then add the cream through a sieve. 

Arrange the ramekins over a tray. Put the tray in the oven and add enough hot water to cover half or two thirds of the ramekins. Be careful not to spill water into the cream.

Bake the cream pots for about 20 to 25 min in the preheated oven. Do check on them from time to time. Gently shake one of the ramekins and if there's a slight wobble in the center it's time to take them out from the oven. Remember that the cream will continue to cook for a while after you take it out of the oven so you don't want it to set completely while baking. In addition, you need to keep in mind that the baking time will differ depending on the ramekins you use, the oven, the quantity of cream you pour into each pot and even the tray on top of which you have put the ramekins. I used a ceramic tray so if you are using a metallic one you might need to consider this factor as trays heat differently. 

Once baked, take them out of the oven and let them cool completely. Put them in the fridge for at least 4 hours before serving.

Serve the cream pots with some red currants, shaved chocolate and a small dollop of sour cream, if you fancy some extra indulgence.

This dessert is a perfect finish to a summery dinner party and its refreshing flavors, balanced sweetness, and silky smooth texture will delight your guests. With luck, you will have some extra ramekins that you can enjoy on our own and ward off the heat!

Bon appetit  

Coffee Sponge Cake with White Chocolate and Cardamom Ganache!

It's become a habit of mine to celebrate my blog's anniversary in order to remind why I embarked on this journey in the first place. My blog turns four years old and my passion for cooking and baking keeps on growing motivated by all the wonderful interactions I had and I'm still having with bloggers and foodies from all corners of the globe.

For this occasion, I had to think of an easy to make cake that is really delicious and can be readily decorated for that extra effect.

Stacked cakes are best made with a base of sponge cake. Sponge cakes are easy to make and can be flavored in infinite ways leaving the door wide open for your imagination. As I really love the flavor coffee gives in cakes, I decided to go for coffee and marry flavors that work well with it. The first spice that I thought of as being coffee's ideal pair is cardamom. Between dark chocolate and white chocolate, I find that cardamom works better with the latter, therefore I used it. This flavor combination is not entirely new to me as I used it before and shared it  before in this post.

The end result was a light, spongy and delicious cake with a spicy and creamy ganache. For extra flavor and a beautiful presentation I made chocolate mirror glaze. It was the perfect topping for this blog-versary cake!

Now for the sponge you need: (4 x 15cm pan)

• 5 eggs
• 150 g sugar
• 150 g cake flour
• dash of salt
• 60 g melted butter
• 2 tsps of coffee melted in 1 tsp of water
• 1 tsp coffee liqueur (optional)

First you need to put some water in a pan and heat the water to a simmer, Combine sugar, eggs, coffee and liqueur if using  in a big bowl and place over the pan with the simmering water. Whisk vigorously for about 5 minutes or until it doubles in size.The mix should reach 60 C. 

Turn off the heat and remove the pan with the mix off heat. from the pan, and keep whisking with an electrical whisk until you obtain a pale and really think mixture that is triple in volume! Now fold in the flour and salt, and at the end drizzle over the melted butter and gently fold it in!

Separate the batter into the greased pans and bake for about 15 min in a preheated oven (170C). Let them cool for about 10 min then remove the cakes from the pans and let them cool completely. You can make the cake the day before.

For the ganache you need:

• 450 g white chocolate
• 300 ml of cream (you can reduce or add more to change the consistency of the ganache)
• 60 g of butter
• 1 tsp of ground cardamom
• 1 tsp of coffee liqueur or coffee melted in water

Chop the chocolate and place it in a bowl. Heat the cream and before it boils pour it over the chocolate, stir to melt  then add the butter and stir again. Add the cardamom and coffee and let it cool a bit. Now you can add it as it is over the cake or beat it with a whisk until creamy and fluffy. This is what I did, the ganache becomes really creamy and easier to pipe!

For the assembly:

Place one of the cakes on a cake board, generously frost it then top it with another cake layer and so on.

Decorate as you wish. In my case after frosting the cake I poured some dark chocolate  mirror glaze then piped some rosettes from the frosting, sprinkled some dulcey chocoloate and white chocolate shaves,  and splashed some gold dust over the rosettes and the glaze!

For the chocolate mirror glaze I used this recipe, but I  made half the batch, and even using half of the amount in this recipe I did not need all the glaze I made.

Now all you need is to cut a piece and dig in! Enjoy!

Blueberry, White Chocolate and Cardamom Bondies!

One of the reasons why I love baking and cooking is that it allows me to experiment with new flavors and create my own version of popular sweets. I may lack courage in some aspects of my life, but when it comes to the kitchen, I just love to play around with different flavors. After all, if the result is not what I wanted, I can start again.

Brownies and blondies are 2 easy recipes that everyone can make whenever craving for something sweet. The base recipes call for only few ingredients and from there you can take the recipe the way you want by adding spices, fruits, nuts, chocolate chips or any other ingredients you could think of.

The blondies featured in this recipe combine between the sweetness of white chocolate and the tart flavor of the blueberries. These two ingredients alone would give you a wonderful flavor, however, I wanted to add a spice and I was not sure which one. I surely didn't want to use cinnamon as I have used quite a lot recently  even if it would have been a great combination. Instead, I went with cardamom, a deeply aromatic spice with a citrusy character that goes well with the tartness of blueberries and complements it. 

Though I had a feeling the combination of these three ingredients would work, but I wasn't sure as I had never tried it before. Now I am happy to say that the flavors are complementary, well balanced and utterly delicious. I couldn't have asked for more! 

Once baked, the blondies had such an enticing aroma that I had to refrain myself from eating the whole batch before I finished photographing them. 

And now let´s start with the recipe.

For this recipe you need (18 x 18 cm pan):

• 100 g fresh (or frozen) blueberries 
• 100 g butter
• 120 g flour
• 1/4 tsp of salt and another 1/4 tsp of baking soda
• 1 egg
• 100 brown sugar (for optimum results use dark brown sugar)
• 1/4 to 1/2 tsp ground cardamom (depends on how strong you want the flavor)
• 100 g white chocolate cut into small pieces 

Start by combining the flour with the salt, cardamom and baking soda.

Melt the butter in a sauce pan; you want to melt the butter and not to heat it, just warm it through. Add  the butter to the sugar  and whisk until well combined.

Now add the egg and mix well again.

Slowly fold in the flour. Finally, mix in in the chocolate and the blueberries.

Pour the batter in a pan (previously lined with baking paper), and bake them in a preheated oven (180 C; 350 F) for about 20 to 25 min, or until the edges and the top have a golden brown color.

Let the pan cool down. Remove the blondie and then cut into squares or rectangles. 

Enjoy the tasty spicy, tart, and sweet little squares of decadent blondies with coffee or on their own.

Sandwich Cookies with Ganache: a Delicious Treat for Valentine!

For me baking is an act of love, something that fills me with joy and does good to my soul. As with any passion, you cannot keep what you are passionate about for yourself. Sharing your passion with others helps it to be more complete, after all sharing is caring, right? 

And now that Valentine is upon us, it´s a good excuse to bake and share the passion with the world. Of course, you don't need any excuse to bake but during  special occasions, especially one like this, you get more motivation to do so, especially if you intend to share your labor of love with that significant other whomever it may be.

Few days ago I discovered caramelized white chocolate, and of course I had to give a try. So I made a small jar following the recipe of David Lebovitz!

Initially I wanted  to make cookies with rose petals and rose water with white chocolate and pistachio ganache. However, after discovering the exquisite caramelized white chocolate I decided to make two cookie batches using this wonderful chocolate spread. This might seem complicated, however, the base cookie dough is the same to which you can add whatever extra flavor you want. Additionally, this dough is perfect if you wish to decorate the cookies for that extra effect.

Enough talking and let start baking:

For the dough you need:

• 200 g butter at room temperature
• 100 g powdered sugar (add more sugar if you just want plain cookies with no filling)
• 1 egg (about 50 g) room temperature
• 400 g of flour 
• dash of salt

First, cream the butter and the sugar for a couple of minutes until the butter feels just light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat again for a couple of minutes until well incorporated.
Mix the salt and flour and add to incorporate to the wet mix. Don't over mix the dough, you just want it to come together.

Lightly flour a working surface and divide the dough.

To one half add a generous tsp of vanilla paste or extract and about 10 to 20 g of finely chopped white caramelized chocolate (you can use plain white chocolate instead).

To the other half add a tsp of ground rose petals (I ground them in a coffee grinder), and a tsp of rose water. Alternatively you can just add rose essence, but the rose petals give extra texture and color to the dough.

Knead each half of the dough gently to incorporate all the ingredients until the dough is no longer sticky. You may need to add a sprinkle of flour!

Leave the dough on the counter for few minutes, uncovered!

Place each batch of the dough between 2 baking papers and roll out. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or over night for best results.

Take the dough out and cut the cookies using the molds you like. I used several cutting molds including heart-shaped ones, after all it's Valentine! Refrigerate for an additional 30 min so that the cookies hold their shape while baking.

Bake the cookies in a preheated oven (180C) for 10 to 15 min. Baking time depends on the thickness and the size of the cookie! For cookies that I know I will decorate I opt for thicker base, around 6 mm is fine. For the sandwich cookies I make the base thinner, around 4 mm is perfect, and if you are feeling adventurous 3 mm.

For the caramelized white chocolate ganache you need:

• 100 g caramelized white chocolate, chopped
• 50 g cream (35% fat content)
• tsp of vanilla essence or paste

On a gentle heat simmer the cream and then pour it over the caramelized white chocolate. Whisk until all the chocolate has melted then add the vanilla! The ganache is done.

For the pistachio ganache:

• 100 g of white chocolate
• 50 g cream
• a tsp or 2 of pistachio paste (if you can´t find it, here is a link for a homemade recipe)

Follow the same steps described for the first ganache.

When the ganache has completely cooled you can sandwich the cookies together! Just put enough filling to cover three quarters of the base cookie, top with another cookie and press gently until the filling reaches the edges.

And if you are, like myself, a fan of cookie decoration, use your creative imagination to make something suitable for Valentine. Here's some of the cookies I decorated.

Remember, baking and cooking is an act of love. Enjoy baking, and Happy Valentine.