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Pine Nut Cake

Pine Nut Cake

Pine Nut Cake - a traditional recipe from Naples. It is a crostata filled with semolina cream and pine nuts and one of my all time favourite cakes.

Course Dessert
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Author Manuela Zangara

Ingredients

Crostata Crust

  • 250 gms – 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 125 gms – 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 125 gms – 1.1 stick softened unsalted butter
  • 1 egg
  • 1 pinch of salt

Filling

  • 250 ml – 1 cup milk
  • 50 gms – 1/3 cup semolina
  • 35 gms – 2 ¾ tbsp granulated sugar
  • 5 gms – 1 tsp butter
  • 1 egg lightly beaten
  • 30 gms – ¼ cup pine nuts
  • ½ tsp lemon zest
  • 1 pinch salt

Instructions

Crust

  1. Put the flour, sugar, butter, egg and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and knead until crumbly. Then quickly knead it by hand until obtaining a smooth dough.
  2. Wrap it with some cling wrap and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Filling

  1. Put the milk, salt, butter, sugar and lemon zest in a pot. Mix and put on the fire.
  2. After a minute, add the semolina and mix well so you do not have lumps.
  3. Cook it for about 5 minutes, or until it thickens like a crème patissière.
  4. Add the beaten egg and pine nuts and stir.

Assembling

  1. Take the crust out of the fridge, place it on a sheet of baking paper and roll it into a 1 cm – 0.4 inch thick sheet.
  2. Put the dough in a greased 20 cm – 8 inch spring form pan. Press it down well and make sure you have dough at the sides as well.
  3. Pour the semolina and pine nut mixture on the top.
  4. Roll the remaining dough, cut some strips 1.5 cm – ½ inch wide and put them on the top of the cake to make a diamond pattern.
  5. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180°C – 355°F for 25-30 minutes or until cooked through.
  6. Let it cool down completely, then unmould it, dust it with icing sugar and serve.