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 Time1hour
Cook Time30minutes
Total Time1hour30minutes
AuthorManuela Zangara
Ingredients
Crostata Crust
250gms– 2 cups all purpose flour
125gms– 1 cup granulated sugar
125gms– 1.1 stick softened unsalted butter
1egg
1pinchof salt
Filling
250ml– 1 cup milk
50gms– 1/3 cup semolina
35gms– 2 ¾ tbsp granulated sugar
5gms– 1 tsp butter
1egglightly beaten
30gms– ¼ cup pine nuts
½tsplemon zest
1pinchsalt
Instructions
Crust
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.
Wrap it with some cling wrap and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Filling
Put the milk, salt, butter, sugar and lemon zest in a pot. Mix and put on the fire.
After a minute, add the semolina and mix well so you do not have lumps.
Cook it for about 5 minutes, or until it thickens like a crème patissière.
Add the beaten egg and pine nuts and stir.
Assembling
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.
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.
Pour the semolina and pine nut mixture on the top.
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.
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180°C – 355°F for 25-30 minutes or until cooked through.
Let it cool down completely, then unmould it, dust it with icing sugar and serve.