Today I present to you the cocoa and ricotta crumble cake, a delight created by the very charming Barbara Lamperti from the site “Buonapappa.net” (as soon as it’s available, I will also include the link to the original recipe), which specializes in recipes for little ones. The cake I chose has a base of crumbled cocoa shortcrust pastry and a delicious ricotta filling. It’s designed for children, but I assure you that adults will also appreciate it very much. I made some modifications based on my tastes compared to the original recipe. It’s a very easy dessert and will be a great success at your parties or even as a Sunday dessert. I recommend preparing the cocoa and ricotta crumble cake the day before because it becomes even more delicious and needs to cool completely before being sliced.
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Affordable
- Rest time: 1 Hour
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 15
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons, Fall, Winter and Spring
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 pinch fine salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 medium whole egg
- 1/2 cup soft butter
- 2/3 cup powdered sugar
- to taste grated orange zest
- 1 packet vanillin (alternatively a pinch of ground cinnamon)
- 1 3/4 cups sheep ricotta (alternatively cow ricotta)
- 1/2 cup vanilla powdered sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 egg whites
- 1/4 cup candied orange peel or mixed candied fruit
- 1 pinch fine salt
Tools
- 1 Pan
- 1 Grater
Steps
For this cake, we can use either a 20 cm (8 inches) or 24 cm (9.5 inches) springform pan. The difference is only aesthetic, as with the smaller pan, the cake layers appear taller and more defined.
Let’s start by preparing the cocoa shortcrust pastry. In a bowl or mixer, mix the flour, powdered sugar, cocoa, baking powder, grated zest, salt; then add the soft butter in pieces and the whole egg. Knead until you get a nice dough, shape it into a small cylinder (photo 1 and 2).
Since flours do not always absorb liquids in the same amount and eggs are not all the same, if you notice that the dough doesn’t bind, meaning that the flour is not completely absorbed, you can fix it by adding a teaspoon or two (at most) of cold milk and knead until you get a well-bound and smooth dough.
Divide the “cylinder” obtained into 2 equal parts, wrap them separately in plastic wrap, and place them in the freezer for 60 minutes because they need to be very firm to be grated. Also, put the grater in the freezer if it does not contain electrical parts.
In the meantime, prepare the ricotta cream. In a bowl, beat the egg whites with a pinch of fine salt until stiff (photo 3).
Finely chop the candied fruits.
Sift the ricotta into another bowl and drain any excess whey; add the two egg yolks, vanillin, lemon zest, powdered sugar, and mix all the ingredients well with a steel whisk or fork (photo 4).
Finally, add the egg whites, mixing slowly and gently, from bottom to top, until you get a creamy and fluffy mixture (photo 5).
Perfectly line the pan with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350*F.
Prepare the base of our crumble cake. Take one of the shortcrust pastry doughs from the freezer and grate it using the larger holes of the grater (photo 6 and 7), reducing it to small flakes.
Completely cover the bottom of the pan with the “crumbs” (photo 8), gently tapping the pan on the table if necessary.
Add the ricotta cream (photo 9) and spread it evenly on the base (also in this case, it is sufficient to tap under the pan with your hand to ensure that the cream is evenly distributed).
At this point, take the other dough from the freezer, grate it, completely cover the cream (photo 10), and bake immediately for about 40 minutes at mid-height. Remove the cocoa and ricotta crumble cake from the oven and let it cool completely without touching it for at least 2 hours or, better yet, overnight.
As soon as the cake cools to room temperature, it should be transferred to the fridge, closed in a cake container, to prevent the ricotta from souring.
