May is the month of Mother’s Day, but also the month when my grandmother, who passed on to me the passion for preserves, bread, homemade pasta, and plants, passed away. For this reason, I decided to post her version of the recipe, also prepared in the past by my mother. Grandma never used a scale, she “weighed” the ingredients in tablespoons, glasses, and various bowls. She usually prepared the cream in spring, when there was fresh milk from their cows, and many fresh and beautiful yellow eggs from her hens. Here, I respected the tradition for the eggs, as you can see from the color, using the eggs from my hens, but I bought everything else. But the taste of this grandma’s tile cake took me right back to those spring days spent in the countryside, and with her.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Cheap
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 6
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Regional Italian
Ingredients
- dry biscuits
- custard
- sprinkles (optional)
- 2 cups l whole milk
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 3 egg yolks
- 8 tablespoons sugar
- Half lemon zest (grated)
Steps
To prepare grandma’s tile cake, start with the preparation of the cream. In a bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar, then add the cornstarch and while stirring, pour in the milk. As you know, grandma didn’t use a scale, but the respective quantities in weight are 3.9 oz of sugar, and 1.4/1.8 oz of cornstarch. Mix everything well, then with the help of a sieve, strain and pour the liquid mixture into a pot. Now add the grated lemon zest.
Transfer the pot to the stove over medium heat, and bring the cream to a boil, stirring with a slow but continuous motion, always in the same direction. As soon as the cream starts to thicken, lower the heat, count to 10, and turn off the stove.
Let it cool completely.
Once cooled, the cream will have a very dense, almost gummy layer on the surface, this should not be used for the preparation, but eaten as is, as a snack.
Take a plate, a tray, or a baking dish, and spread a layer of cream on the bottom. Then place a layer of biscuits on top. Cover with the cream, and then repeat creating 3 or 4 layers until the ingredients are used up and finish with a layer of cream.
Since this is a very moist cream, grandma did not soak the biscuits; just leave the tile cake to rest for a couple of hours, and the biscuits will soften on their own.
Before serving, you can decorate with colored sprinkles or a dusting of cocoa, but it’s also delicious just as it is.
