My Favourites
We can’t get enough of Stefania this week. Check out her divine rose cake. Basically, the dough is rolled into individual ‘roses’ to form one big ‘bouquet’. What a great treat for a guest.
Stefania says, “Turns out this sweet and crisp bouquet, flavor and smoothness that reminds me maritozzi I ate so much at the time of primary schools.”
The recipe is in Italian but there is a quick translator on her site for those non-Italian speakers amongst us (or you can see the translation by Cake for Dinner in the comments below here). Yum!
Click through to Stefania’s website for the recipe.
The recipe was a skosh lacking in details, IMO, so I translated and re-wrote them (used metric and US measurements, plus US substitutions; I’m in the US). Don’t fault me if the instructions aren’t completely accurate and “chef-like” (I was doing it in my head, not while making it, and I am NOT a chef/professional baker, LOL). Feel free to correct me.
Rose Cake (Torta di Rose)
For the dough:
150g (5.072 ozs or ½ c + 2 T) warm milk
20g (.71 oz or 4¼ t) sugar
1 cube of yeast [maybe granulated yeast would work, just as well]
30g (1.01 oz or 2 T) of oil (vegetable)
3 egg yolks, slightly beaten
zest of a lemon
350g (12.35 ozs or 1½ cups) of 00 flour [substitute all purpose, or a mixture of cake and all purpose]
a pinch of salt.
For the filling:
150g (5.29 ozs or 10½ T) of sugar
150g (5.29 ozs or 10½ T) of butter.
Finishing: icing/confectioner’s sugar
Combine the warm milk and sugar in a glass measuring cup; crumble the yeast into warm milk and let it proof. Stir in the oil and beaten yolks. Combine the flour, lemon zest and pinch of salt. Make a well and pour in the liquid. Mix well and then knead vigorously for a few minutes. If the dough is a bit wet, stir well with a wooden spoon.
Beat the sugar and butter together until creamy. Roll out the dough into a rectangle and spread with the sugar/butter mixture. Roll up loosely into a log (not too tight, so they’ll look like roses when you slice them). Sealing the seam and cut into 4-5 cm/1½-2″ pieces.
Butter a 25.5cm/10″ round baking pan, line it with a 35.5cm/14″ parchment circle, butter the parchment and then arrange the pieces to cover it in one layer. Let rise for 1 hour.
Bake at 180C/350F for 30 minutes.
Let cool slightly (or completely) on a wire rack, then unmold onto a decorative serving plate (just lift the parchment and then slide it out from underneath) and dust with icing/confectioner’s sugar. The “roses” can be pulled from the “cake” by your guests.