Seen everywhere online, I just had to try the recipe for the piumino cake with cocoa cream and salted caramel. Super soft and indulgent, it is also very easy to make! I also recorded the video recipe with step-by-step instructions, so you can follow each step with me. I hope it helps you prepare this quilted cake, which is recognizable from its appearance, much like the Torta Nua with pastry cream I shared a few years ago.
The main characteristic of this cake is its texture, soft and porous. It’s almost like a biscuit sponge, the kind used for filled rolls. Perhaps precisely because, like the biscuit sponge, the eggs are worked separately: the egg whites are whipped to stiff peaks and the yolks are beaten with the sugar before incorporating the other ingredients.
This piumino cake uses a fairly large amount of sugar compared to most of the dessert recipes I usually share. I personally found it a bit too sweet: for me, who doesn’t love overly sweet desserts, one piece was enough. However, friends and family who tried it showered me with compliments.
So my advice is this: if you like sweets because you’re a real sweet tooth, this cake will surely win you over. For everyone else, know that I will soon post a version with cocoa in the batter where I will definitely drastically reduce the sugar.
That said, I can tell you the aroma is intense. Bite after bite, vanilla pairs wonderfully with the Fabbri 1905 cocoa cream with salted caramel. Thanks to the salty note, the overall sweetness of the quilted cake is toned down. The piumino cake recipe I selected actually uses less sugar than many others, so I can’t imagine how sweet some versions must be. But, as they say, de gustibus!
Remember that for all followers and readers of my blog there’s a 20% discount active on the Fabbri 1905 website. To receive it just enter FABBRIRICETTEDIBEA20 before checking out the products you’ve added to the cart. On the blog you’ll find many recipes made with gifted products I’ve used in recent months, from muffins to cakes like loaf cakes and other savory treats such as cheese chips with yogurt cream and candied ginger.
Below you’ll find recipes you can make with cocoa or with the cocoa cream I used to create the quilted design on today’s piumino cake! Every link is clickable and will take you directly to the recipe you want to read on my blog.
I remind you that I wait for you every morning in the group and on the Facebook fan page of Le Ricette di Bea with the Recipe of the Day, a can’t-miss appointment to start the day with a sweet or savory treat!
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very inexpensive
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Cooking time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 6Persone
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons, Autumn, Winter and Spring
- Energy 556.11 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 66.68 (g) of which sugars 41.61 (g)
- Proteins 9.50 (g)
- Fat 29.35 (g) of which saturated 2.81 (g)of which unsaturated 10.32 (g)
- Fibers 3.71 (g)
- Sodium 188.74 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 85 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for a piumino cake with cocoa cream for a 9 x 12 in pan
- 3 eggs (at room temperature)
- 1 1/3 cups flour (cake flour) (in my case for soft cakes)
- 4.2 oz sugar
- 2 1/2 tbsp potato starch (or cornstarch if you prefer)
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil (sunflower oil in my case)
- 1/4 cup sparkling water
- 1 packet vanilla (or one small vial (vanilla extract))
- 1 cup spreadable cocoa cream (Fabbri 1905 cocoa cream with salted caramel)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
Tools to prepare the soft and indulgent piumino (quilted) cake
- 2 Bowls
- 1 Hand mixer
- 1 Spatula
- 1 Scale
- 1 Baking pan
- 1 Sieve
- 1 Oven
- 1 Piping bag
- 1 Parchment paper
Steps to make the super soft and indulgent piumino cake with cocoa cream
Let’s start by preheating the oven in static mode to 356°F, so it will be nice and hot when we bake the piumino cake! Gather all the ingredients needed for this recipe, weigh them and place them in front of you on your work surface. Also have all the tools listed ready. Now we can really begin today’s recipe!
Break the eggs and separate the yolks from the whites. We’ll work the yolks with a pinch of salt and the sugar. The whites will be whipped to stiff peaks with a pinch of salt. Don’t be afraid to add salt to desserts: it simply helps the eggs dissolve better during mixing. Set aside the bowl with the whipped egg whites and continue preparing the bowl where you’ve created a dense and fluffy yolk cream.
Add the dose of vegetable oil, in my case sunflower oil, and then the glass of sparkling water. Continue working with the mixer or whisks. Take the flours: cake flour, potato starch, vanilla powder and baking powder, preferably unflavored baking powder. If you sifted them beforehand, you can add them gradually spoon by spoon; if you sift them directly into the bowl like I did, use a spoon and keep the mixer switched off. Otherwise you’ll have flour everywhere in the kitchen.
Now that the flours have been incorporated into the batter, turn off the mixer and switch to the spatula. You will need to gently fold the whipped egg whites into the batter with slow movements from the bottom up. I always recommend watching the video recipe under the first photo to understand every single step you are about to perform.
Now take a rectangular baking pan. I recommend a size of up to 9 x 13 inches maximum; otherwise the cake will be too low and not fluffy enough. Moisten a sheet of parchment paper and squeeze it well. Place it in the pan, arranging it carefully so there are no edges where the quilted cake could leak during baking.
Pour the batter into the pan and level the surface. Now take the piping bag and fill it with the Fabbri 1905 cocoa cream with salted caramel. Decorate the surface of the cake, without pressing, with the classic diagonal quilted pattern. If you like, you can dust the surface with white sugar or brown sugar. We are finally ready to bake the cake!
Place the pan in the center of the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, lowering the temperature to 338°F and keeping the oven in static mode. Always perform the skewer test before turning off the oven. Let the piumino cake with cocoa cream cool for about 30 minutes before serving.
I can only wish you enjoy your meal and remind you that I wait for you every day here on my cooking blog with many easy, quick and delicious recipes like this one!
Tips and storage:
Main tips: Please make sure to whip the egg whites to stiff peaks with a pinch of salt. This is essential to obtain the same fluffiness as my vanilla piumino cake. Also work well on all the other ingredients, first with the electric mixer and then with the spatula, to avoid lumps in the batter. Oven temperature is crucial to avoid drying the cake too much, as is the central position for baking. Be careful when folding the beaten egg whites into the batter: slow, bottom-to-top movements to avoid deflating what you’ve already achieved.
Storage: you can store the quilted cake with cocoa cream in a cake carrier. This way it will stay soft and indulgent for days, almost like freshly baked. After two days it is still soft and fragrant. I’m really happy I tried this recipe recommended by you.
