DIFFICULTY: 3

INGREDIENTS PER 4 PEOPLE

For the cream:
milk, 4 cups
pastry flour, 4/5 cup
egg yolks, 8
sugar, 1+1/4 cup
the grated rind of half a lemon
vanilla extract,1 tsp (vanilla bean, 1)

For the decoration:
icing sugar
pine nuts

For the pastry:
patry flour, 2 cups
butter at room temperature , a little less than 1 cup
egg yolks, 4
powdered sugar, 150 g
a pinch of salt
vanilla extract, 1 tsp

PROCEDURE

This cake is a sweet grandmother’s simple and delicate cake to enjoy with your family, especially suitable for breakfasts and snacks for children. Grandma’s cake originated in Liguria, but has spread quickly throughout Italy, especially in Tuscany. It is a cake composed of two superposed layers of pastry, which is coated in a delicious custard.
Start by preparing the pastry. Pour the flour in the center of a suitable container and put the butter at room temperature (soft), egg yolks, sugar, salt and vanilla; always start from the center, where ingredients are mixed with the flour, and work the mixture until it becomes a solid but soft mass. It has not to be sticky. Form a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and let rest in refrigerator for at least half an hour. In the meantime, you can move on to the preparation of the cream. In a saucepan, pour in the milk, the flour (carefully sifted to avoid forming lumps), sugar, egg yolks, vanilla and lemon; cook it over low heat and, stirring constantly, bring to boil. Turn off only when the cream has have reached the right density. Take a baking pan with a 24/26 cm circular diameter, wrap it with baking paper and place the first disc of pastry made from dough in the fridge. When it has cooled slightly, pour the cream and cover with the second disc of pastry. Turn on the oven at 180 °, so as to bake the cake when it is warmed up and catch up to the last steps: prick the cake with a fork and brush the surface with egg whites or milk, then bake for about 50 minutes. Once ready, the cake should be left to cool and then topped with plenty of icing sugar and pine nuts to taste (especially if you love them, you can also put them in the cream). Finally, cover with pine nuts as required.

Thanks to: Cucinare Dolci