CaffeIna (late) birthday and the most amazing cake I've ever had!

The tenth of March was CaffeIna first birthday! Such an important event went unnoticed, or better said completely neglected (sigh), because of life events. Finally, I am in quieter waters and I find the time to post about a wonderful cake I made for that event. Honestly, I don’t want to waste too much time rambling around. I just would like to give you the recipe of this cake because it is just one of THE MOST AMAZING cakes I’ve ever had! If you look at the pictures you can see that the crust is a chocolate crust and as you all know I am not a big fan of chocolate (ps for Christiane: trust me on this one! You would love it too!). So for me to say that even with a chocolate component this cake was amazing it truly says it all. I guess the ricotta filling, which I loved, overcompensated. And don’t let the length of the method fool you: it’s super easy to make.

I found this recipe at Pasticci e Pastrocchi, one of my favorite Italian blogs. I was looking forward to translate it for you because this dessert brings the idea of cake to a whole new level.

This cake is for your, dear friends, constant or occasional readers, because this year of blogging has been such a surreal experience for me and you all made it so so so special! Thank you all!

Petersburger Streuselkuchen

Ingredients

Yields a 9” cake

For the crust

150 g (5.3 oz) butter, at room temperature

125 g (4.4 oz) sugar

1 egg

250 g (9 oz or 2 cups) all-purpose flour

5 g (1 tsp) baking powder

1 pinch of salt

15 g (1 tbsp) cocoa powder

For the filling

100 g (3.5 oz) butter

150 g (5.3 oz or ¾ cup) sugar,

5 eggs at room temperature

500 g (17.6 oz) ricotta

For the streusel

75 g (2.6 oz) sugar

75 g (2.6 oz) butter

150 g (5.3 oz) all-purpose flour

15 g (1 tbsp) cocoa powder

Method

For the crust (chocolate pasta frolla)

Cut the butter into cubes and put it in a medium bowl. Add the sugar and the egg and mix quickly with a whisk.

Add the flour, the baking powder, the salt, and the cocoa powder and quickly mix, first with a fork and then with the finger tips until all the ingredients are just combined. Remember to be very quick to mix in all the ingredients. This is a pasta frolla type of dough and, like shortbread and similar dough, it is very important not to over-mix it or it will burn (i.e. once you bake it, it would become very hard!)

Quickly shape the dough into a ball, wrap it into plastic wrap and put it in a cold place (but not the fridge this time) while you prepare the filling.

For the filling

In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the butter and the sugar until you obtain a cream. Then add the eggs, one at a time. It is very important that the eggs are at room temperature or the cream will become all lumpy.

When the eggs are all well incorporated, add the ricotta and beat until you obtain a smooth cream.

For the Streusel

Melt the butter and let it cool down.

Add the flour and the sugar and quickly mix with a fork or your hands until you obtain a crumby mixture.

To assemble the cake

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees and prepare a 9” springform pan (I buttered it and covered the bottom with parchment paper).

Roll out the dough on the bottom and the sides of the pan (make sure to make very high sides). Pour the filling on the crust and the sprinkle the streusel on top.

Bake for about an hour or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean of crust crumbs.

Let the cake cool down completely before opening the sides of the pan. Mine took a long time to be ready to get unmold! (The center of the cake will be pretty liquid until the cake gets completely cooled. If you try to unmold it too soon you will risk a disaster, with the filling flowing all out.)

Have a sweet day!