![]() You could cut neat slices, and the chocolate was shining through. The day after, when we took this cake out of the fridge for breakfast, we had a surprise: it was dense, almost like a semifreddo. Easy, foolproof recipe, with endless variations allowed. You don’t have to roll out the dough, just crumble it on the bottom of the pan, press it, and spread with ricotta, then crumble some more dough on top. You rub butter, flour and sugar in fine crumbs, then you add an egg to bind everything together. With this cake, you use the same ingredients, but with different proportions. It was the answer to the problem of making a crostata, a shortcrust cake, in summer, when it is so hot that the butter melts in your hands. Sabrina gave me ingredients and an outline of the procedure to make it. The cake was still warm, the ricotta filling creamy and the chocolate oozing. What was put there, on the middle of the table, was an unpretentious cake, a humble ricotta cake with coarse crumbs on top and some dark chocolate showing up in between.īut it had sometimes alluring that I could not explain.Įven though I was so full I could barely walk, I could not resist a slice of the cake, that was soon after followed by a second wedge. Towards the end of the meal, when we were dizzy from the flowing food and the infinite chats, they made some space on the table, moving aside empty glasses and the remnants of a memorable dinner. We sat there, right in the middle of the most beautiful wheat fields of Val d’Orcia, while a thunderstorm was brewing outside, sharing glimpses of life, of creative work and expectations. It was our first time there, though we felt at home as soon as the first piece of warm focaccia was put on the table and the first glass was filled with crisp, cold wine. Tommaso and I drove to Val d’Orcia to meet Sabrina and Barbara, the two sisters who own Villa Pienza. If you are not covering your cake in fondant and are simply icing it, place the crumb coated cake in the refrigerator for a half an hour to set, then continue to put another layer or two of icing on your cake.It was the beginning of June, summer was nothing more than a promise in the air. Remember that you are covering the cake in fondant and so the crumb coat doesn’t have to be presentation perfect. When you have a nice, thin and smooth layer on your first cake, place your second cake cut side down, on top of the first and repeat the steps for icing. The goal isn’t to cover the cakes in a thick layer of icing, you want just enough to hold the crumbs in and a little extra in the middle for flavor. Place a small amount of icing on the middle of your cake stand to hold your cake still, then put a large dollop of icing on the top of your first cake and with your offset spatula begin to work the icing to and down the edges of the cake. When you have turned the cake a few times, start to cut into the center of the cake, turn it 90 degrees and repeat until the top of your cake is level. Place your cakes on a cutting board in front of you and with your knife level to the table, turn the cake into the blade without moving the knife. Once you have everything you need, the first step is to level off If you would like to use a buttercream to crumb coat your cakes, please see the ‘ How To Make A Swiss Buttercream’ video, or if you are crunched for time a store bought icing will work. The only equipment you will need is a cake stand, however it isn’t 100% necessary, a serrated knife and an offset spatula. The purpose of putting a crumb coat on your cake is to ensure that when you roll your fondant over the cake it is smooth and there aren’t crumbs stuck into it. By: Helena Stallings, Culinary Arts StudentĪfter your sponge cakes have been pulled from the oven and had time to cool on cooling racks, you are ready to crumb coat your cakes.
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