(Per questo post in ITALIANO fare click qui.)
This is a beautiful, very tasty and yet delicate specialty from my sister Francesca who loves everything that is sweet (she even has a great blog dedicated to sweets).
And yet... the cake on this page was made by my Mum, Gabriella, as you can see in the video.
It's based on a recipe (in Italian) that Francy originally found on the Italian site Gennarino.org.
It's a very simple and very attractive cake, also easy to serve because you just have to detach a single "rose" for every portion you need.
Making the cake, typical from Mantua, is not that difficult (you can see how it's done in the video). The final result is quite spectacular and really, really good.
Torta delle rose/Roses cake from Nicoletta Tavella on Vimeo.
ROSES CAKE
Ingredients:
fresh yeast (about 25 gr.) or dry yeast (about 7 gr.)
1 glass of lukewarm milk
2 whole eggs
3 tablespoons of olive oil
3 tablespoons of sugar
grated zest of 1 lemon
500 gr flour
a pinch of salt
PLUS
100 gr soft butter at room temperature
100 gr sugar
icing sugar to garnish
Mix all the ingredients well, by hand or with a mixer, and leave the dough to rest in a bowl for one and a half hour, covered with a clean kitchen cloth and away from draught.
Roll out the dough with the rolling pin on a surface that you have first dusted with flour to avoid sticking. The sheet has to be not too thin neither too thick, and rectangular in shape.
Mix butter and sugar and spread this cream evenly on the rolled out dough.
Roll up the dough like a cigar and cut it in thick slices (see pictures).
Lay the dough cylinders next to each other in a high, round oven dish (about 26/28 cm diameter) leaving some space between them because they'll rise and become larger, filling all the gaps. Leave to rise again protecting from draught until the dough has doubled its volume.
If you used a spring-release tin lay it on top of a flat oven dish because the butter will melt and leak a bit.
Put in the pre-heated oven (170°C) for about 45 minutes (30 with a ventilated oven) or until nice and golden (I usually ignore the time indicated in recipes because all ovens are different and check from time to time how things are going).
Remove from the tin after it's cooled off a bit and serve dusted with icing sugar.
No the Generals didn't eat it, we did... :)
I adore this cake recipe as I had "heard" of this rose cake, but hadn't had use for it until recently.
This is such a perfect solution for a cake as a finger-food. I have to share this with my recipe club soon, as we are always looking for clever recipes
that are off the beaten foodie path.
Virginia Osborne
Posted by: recipe club | May 23, 2011 at 10:26 PM
Thank you for your comment, Virginia. Hope you'll make and like it as much as I do. :) Ciao!
Posted by: Nicoletta | May 23, 2011 at 11:26 PM