Everybody Loves Tuscany

Una torta nella quale specchiarsi

Una torta nella quale specchiarsi

For the cake:

4 eggs
250 g of sugar
200 g of flour
1 pinch of salt
1 tablespoon of vanilla flavoring
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

For the mousse:

750 ml of milk
9 sheets of softened gelatin
450 g of white chocolate
360 g of whipped cream

For icing:

340 g of sugar
300 ml of water
400 g of condensed milk
10 sheets of gelatin
740 g of chopped white chocolate
White and pink food color

Furthermore:

200 g of strawberry jam

How to proceed:

1. Beat the eggs and the sugar with an electric whisk until they have assumed a frothy consistency. Now add the flour, salt, vanilla extract and baking powder; mix the ingredients to obtain a smooth and homogeneous mixture. Bake in a rather deep pan at 170 ° C  or 330 degrees F for 30-40 minutes, with the heat diffused both in the lower part and in the upper part of the oven.

2. Once cooled, remove the sponge cake from the pan and divide it into two equal halves with a horizontal cut.

3. Proceed now with the mousse. Heat the milk in a saucepan over low heat and then dissolve the softened gelatine sheets inside. Add the flakes of white chocolate that you will melt, stirring occasionally. Remove the saucepan from the heat.

4. Transfer the liquid into a bowl and, when it has cooled down, add the whipped cream. Then pour half of the mousse into a circular pan. Level the surface.

5. Spread the strawberry jam on the bottom of another baking pan, place one half of the sponge cake on top and allow to cool, preferably in the freezer. Then remove from the mold and lay this half of the cake – with the jam facing down – above the leveled mousse in the previous pan.

6.Pour the remaining mousse on the cake and then place the second half of sponge cake over it. Once the mousse has cooled, remove the cake from the mold, turn it upside down and place it on 3 glasses, in turn placed and upside down on a baking sheet. This procedure is necessary to make the perfect icing of the cake.

7. For the icing, therefore, simmer the sugar, water and condensed milk. Immerse the gelatine sheets in hot water, soften them and transfer them to the mixture with the condensed milk. Stir and then add this mixture on the white chocolate flakes; blend everything. Filter the obtained liquid with a strainer and then divide it into three bowls (or carafes) in equal parts. Then color (with food coloring) the three portions as follows: white, red, pink. Blend further.

8. Now fill a large carafe with the three colored liquids, in any desired order. Mix with a kitchen toothpick, obtaining a variegated liquid, with the appearance of “marble”. Finally pour this liquid on the cake with circular movements until covering its entire surface. Voila! Stunning effect guaranteed.

Video from youtube courtesy of De gustibus