#or an almond and orange flower torta

[deathcupcake]

Sitting here eating a red bean bun for lunch and scrolling tumblr. Wanting to play DATV but still just sitting here eating a red bean bun and scrolling along. Is there anything so tasty as this.

[urbany01-blog]

Urbany

Top 7 Treat to Sweeten your Mouth on Birthday in Italy

Italy is the country of food lovers. Italy people love to celebrate every event in grand manner. Birthday is the special occasion for everyone’s life. There are tons of treats and cakes they love to eat in party time. We have described top 7 treats which is served in to make the birthday bash a most happening. Please check the list mentioned here.

You can enjoy the luscious cakes taste at home by ordering cakes online from our Cake Delivery in Italy shop.

Flourless Chocolate Cake: Flourless cake is also recognized as la torta tenerina. the cake has a very moist texture and it has a creamy texture inside. It is thin, fragile and powdered with sugar dust. It is hardly an inch thin. This is also known as flourless cake and very delicate, advised to not serve warm. Instead of flour potato starch or less flour is used to bake a cake. it is the chocolate cake so 80% of the pure chocolate and 20% of flour is used in making such cake.

Galeto: In Italy you will find Galeto lovers who are always ready to eat the traditional flavored Galeto. It is the pickiest and choicest dessert for the birthday bash in Italy. Galeto can be flavored with chocolate, pistachio and many other ingredients. Gelato is really a mouthwatering dessert.

Cannoli: Cannoli is a perfect dessert served in various types of festive in Italy. Everyone in Rome is aware with mouthwatering pastry dessert. This is a cylinder shaped shells made by frying pastry dough. And the best part the dough is filled with sweet ricotta crème. It is a must try dessert for celebrations. It is served occasionally in birthdays to make the birthday a memorable one.

Panettone: It is a must try dessert of Italy. Panettone is a northern Italy sweet dish. This is a perfect Christmas treat but now it is also accepted to serve in birthdays. Panettone is studded with rising and candied citrus peels. In other country it is known as a dome-shaped bread loaf.

Tiramisu: Gelato Tiramisu is the complete dessert served in different types of celebrations. Tiramisu means “pick-me-UP”. Tiramisu is made with coffee and cocoa and almonds. This is first created in Italy than Tiramisu dessert became popular all around the world. This is sweetened with cake pieces and coffee soaked biscuits. And the layer is overwhelmed with a filling made of eggs, sugar and mascarpone cheese.  Tiramisu is the historical dessert now also served in elevating life celebration.

Delicious Black Forest Cake: Hope everyone knows it. This is a worldwide famous cake of all occasions and especially for birthday bash. Black forest is the perfect treat for chocolate lovers. It is served in Italy to start a party. This is made with delicious cocoa pie, whipped crème and cherry sponge cake.

Pastiera Napoletana: It is a crisp cake or we can say the Italian tart made with boiled wheat, ricotta cheese and eggs. Its layer is crisp hides soft stuffing inside. For adding exotic aroma orange flower water and cinnamon is sprinkled on it. This dessert is a complete treat for following a big birthday bash. Every slice of pastier Napoletana is definitely a crowd pleaser feast to serve in milestone celebration of birthday.

A perfect pick is here to get the Birthday Gift Basket delivery to Italy. So here are the most popular cakes and desserts which are made and served in Italy during the popular events.

[francescissima]

If we were in Naples today, I would take you to lunch in a family trattoria, set in an un-touristed part of the city. I would lead you through the dark lanes around Spaccanapoli, passing the eternally grieving Madonna statues sitting snugly in niches along white washed walls, each with their own red or pink glowing light and plastic flower bouquet. We would pass beautiful desanctified churches, graffitied, bombed and derelict beyond repair. Turning down the busy Vin San Gregorio Armeno where craftsmen carve and paint wooden presepi, a street dedicated exclusively to the Nativity, we would later exit onto the main thoroughfare at Via Duomo. On the opposite side of the road, we would gaze up at the ornate Cathedral of Naples, Cattedrale di San Gennaro, and then notice the 20 foot high advertising poster of a young woman in skimpy lace underwear right next to it. As we walk to lunch, we might speculate about a country that in recent times enjoyed the depraved antics of a corrupt Prime Minister, Berlusconi, and a society that feasts upon evening game shows hosted by middle age men in suits alongside young women sporting bikinis and stilettos.

After much banter, we’d find our lunch venue down an unattractive street still bearing the scars of the second world war. There’s no written menu here so we order a lunch of three courses, senza carne, without meat, a lunch of the house. First comes a little antipasto of acciughe, anchovies lightly dressed in oil, a generous ball of mozzarella di bufala, with a pile of Pane Duro, sliced from the ringed shaped loaves on the counter. Next follows a simple Pasta Napoli, then some contorni or sides, a cooked tangle of spinach slicked with good oil, some roasted potatoes which emerge from the focolare set in the wall, and a mixed salad. Finally, and because it’s the week following Easter, we are served a large slice of Pastiera, the famous wheat studded ricotta tart of Naples. The vino de casa, a light red wine, is included in the 10 euro per head price. We remark on our good fortune to have found such a place.

Di’s Beurrre Bosc pears

Grapes and Pears and a snail. Giovanna Garzoni, 1600-1670

pear tree turns to Autumn

Di’s Bruerre Bosc pears poached in Vincotto and Vanilla

Pastiera Napolitana is a pastry lined tart filled with citrus flavoured ricotta, lightened with eggs, containing softened wheat berries, then covered with latticed pastry on top. It has pagan and mythical origins, but the modern version of pastiera was probably invented in a Neapolitan convent.

“An unknown nun wanted that cake, symbol of the resurrection, to have the perfume of the flowers of the orange trees which grew in the convent’s gardens. She mixed a handful of wheat to the white ricotta cheese, then she added some eggs, symbol of the new life, some water which had the fragrance of the flowers of the spring time, candied citron and aromatic Asian spices. We know for certain that the nuns of the ancient convent of San Gregorio Armeno were considered to be geniuses in the complex preparation of the Pastiera. They used to prepare a great quantity for the rich families during Easter time.”¹

Torta di ricotta con brulee

I have made Pastiera in the past. It needs to be made some days in advance, and no later than Good Friday, to allow the fragrances to mix properly. This Easter, I have decided to break with tradition and make a lighter version. No resurrection wheat, and no top layer of pastry which I now find too heavy. My Sunday’s ricotta tart is lightened by cream, retains the aromatic orange elements, and steals a little trick from the French, a brûlée topping. It is served alongside some autumn pears cooked in vincotto. It is a dessert worth indulging in at any time of the year and the fruit can be varied to suit the season. Slow baked quinces would also go nicely.

An inside look at the filling

Torta di ricotta con pere, vincotto e vaniglia- Ricotta tart with brûlée topping and pear, vincotto and vanilla.

The Pastry Case

First make some sweet shortcrust pastry or pasta frolla, rested for one hour then baked blind, enough to cover a 25 cm tart or flan tin with a removable base. I have not included a recipe for this, since most cooks will have their favourite. Make it very short ( with 250 gr of butter)  and dust the tin with almond meal before baking.

The Ricotta Filling

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

375 g firm ricotta, drained

60 gr icing sugar

2 tsp or more of fine orange zest

1 tablespoon of Grand Marnier or orange blossom water

50 – 100 gr candied citron, finely chopped – optional

25 ml full cream

Set the oven temperature to 180 c before commencing.

Place the egg, egg yolk, ricotta, sugar, orange zest, liquor and citron in a bowl of a an electric mixer and mix on low until very smooth. In a separate bowl, whip the cream until thick then fold through the ricotta mixture. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tart case and smooth over the top. Bake for 20- 30 minutes or until golden on top. Set aside until the topping sets and cools before removing from the flan tin.

The Pears

4 large firm pears, such as Beurre Bosc

500 ml water

150 gr caster sugar

1 vanilla bean, slit open and seeds scraped

juice and rind ( without pith) of 1 lemon

2 strips orange rind

1/3 cup vincotto

Peel and core the pears and cut each pear into four. Place the water, sugar, vanilla, lemon and orange rinds, juice and vincotto into a medium-sized saucepan. Bring to the boil then add the pears. Cook on a low poaching heat, for around 30 minutes or until you are satisfied that the pears are soft enough. Remove the pears from the liquid and reduce the poaching liquid to thicken. The pears can be kept for days covered in their liquid.

The brûlée on top.

Sprinkle 1/3 of a cup of Demerara sugar evenly over the cake. Holding a kitchen blowtorch, caramelise the top by moving the flame backwards and forwards, until the sugar is melted.

Serve the tart with Vincotto poached pears on the side.

Buona Pasqua a Tutti.

Although this dessert has many steps, it really is easy to put together once you’ve made a sweet pastry shell.

All recipes are derivative and I have based this one on a recipe I found here, a site dedicated to the use of Vincotto. I also added some of the extra orange elements found in the traditional Pastiera Napolitana.

¹ https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastiera_napoletana

Rewriting Tradition, Part 2. Easter in Naples If we were in Naples today, I would take you to lunch in a family trattoria, set in an un-touristed part of the city.