Grab a slice of Italy by baking an Italian dessert cake, pick either the 5-ingredient rich dark chocolate Torta Tenerina or the simple Torta Paradiso with its hint of lemon zest and vanilla. Both recipes call for an extra fine 00 flour, which is used to make Italian pizzas, if you can get your hands on some, great! If not, the regular cake flour will do too. The extra fine flour yields an extra fine cake vs the regular flour cake, which yields a similar but not so tender crumb cake.
Torta Tenerina
Ingredients for a 9-inch (23 cm) diameter cake pan
- 200 gm Cadbury Bournville 70 % Dark chocolate, chopped
- 100 gm butter, cubed.
- 4 eggs, room temperature
- 150 gm sugar
- 50 gm all-purpose flour
- For dusting: Powdered sugar, as needed
Instructions
- Fill a small saucepan with 1-inch deep water and bring it to a simmer on medium heat. Add the chopped dark chocolate to a heatproof bowl, then place it on the pan, making sure the bottom doesn't touch the water. Stir occasionally until it has just melted.
- Quickly add the butter to the bowl as soon as the chocolate melts and keep stirring. Once combined and smooth, remove from the heat to cool. Stir occasionally while it cools.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- Separate the eggs meanwhile, into two different bowls, both large. You'll need an electric whisk now, preferably a handheld one.
- Pick the egg whites bowl and add half of the sugar into it, beating with an electric whisk until it gets all frothy and forms stiff peaks. Set aside the meringue.
- Now, take the egg yolk bowl and add the remaining sugar into the yolks, beating on medium speed until you have a pale and frothy mixture.
- While the electric whisk is still running, pour the now lukewarm chocolate-butter mixture into the bowl and keep mixing until uniform.
- Keep the whisk aside, and use a spatula to fold in ⅓ of the meringue into the yolk-chocolate bowl. Fold the remaining meringue by using a swirling motion from the bottom up.
- Sift flour into this bowl and fold with the spatula, using gentle motions, until smoothly incorporated.
- Grease a 9-inch springform cake pan with butter then flour it to seal the grease. Pour the batter into the pan.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes (fan oven not recommended).
- Remove from the oven. Transfer to a serving plate and sieve powdered sugar all over the chocolate cake. Slice and serve.
Torta Paradiso
Ingredients
- 115 gm unsalted butter, room temperature
- 200 gm granulated sugar
- Zest from 1 large lemon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 eggs, room temperature
- 180 gm all-purpose flour
- 100 gm potato starch or cornflour
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- Powdered sugar, for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C. Then lightly grease a 9-inch springform pan and line it with parchment paper.
- Sift the flour, potato starch or cornflour, salt, and baking powder into a medium bowl. Mix and set aside.
- Add butter to the the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or if using a handheld whisk, a plain bowl. Beat on medium speed until light and creamy.
- Add the sugar, then cream, and keep beating, on a higher speed, until light and pale, should take 3-5 minutes. Make sure to scrape down flyaways as needed.
- If you’ve not grated the lemon zest, grate it directly into this bowl. Then add the vanilla and mix until even.
- Crack an egg in a separate bowl, whisk, and add to the butter bowl. Mix on medium-low speed until it’s all emulsified and creamy. Repeat with the rest of the eggs, making sure to scrape down whatever is not getting mixed in.
- Add the flour bowl contents gradually and mix until you have a smooth batter with no lumps.
- Pour batter into the springform pan and use a spatula to smoothen the top. Tap aha9stUse a spatula to level the cake. Tap against the counter and shake a little to get rid of air bubbles.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes. The top with turn golden brown and dome. When pressed gently, the top should spring back without any inundation.
- Remove the oven and cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then loosen the pan and remove its outer ring. Place a flat serving platter on top of the cake and invert. Remove the base and peel from the parchment. Cool for 15 minutes, then place it back on the rack to finish cooling.
- The cake should take 1 hour or less to cool. Once cool, finish it off with dusting of powdered sugar through a fine mesh sieve.