Tuscan Pine Nut Cake

“The recipe, tried and perfected for years by more than one family, is a reliable one: it is simple to make and gives a tremendous satisfaction to take it out from the oven, hot and sprinkled with toasted pine nuts, not to mention to eat it, with a fondant custard heart dotted with juicy raisins soaked in sweet wine. Talking about the silky custard, don’t miss the recipe, it has become the standard procedure to make custard at home!” -Jul’s Kitchen

Tuscan Pine Nut Cake
Recipe type: Dessert
Prep time: 20 mins
Cook time: 40 mins
Total time: 1 hour
Serves: 8

Shopping list
180 g of butter at room temperature
150 g of caster sugar
3 free range eggs
180 g of organic tender wheat flour
10 g of baking powder
1 handful of shelled pine nuts
For the custard:
3 free range egg yolks
4 tablespoons of caster sugar
2 tablespoons of organic tender wheat flour
500 ml of whole milk
2 tablespoons of raisins, soaked in Vinsanto, Tuscan sweet wine

Directions

1. As first thing, make the custard, you’ll need it to be cold when you will add it to the cake. Heat the milk in a saucepan until it starts to simmer, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar and flour, then pour in the hot milk in a thin stream, stirring continuously with a whisk. Put the custard on a low flame and stir constantly until it begins to thicken: remove it from the heat, add the raisins and let it cool.

2. Preheat oven to 180°C.

3. Whip the butter at room temperature with the sugar for a few minutes until it becomes creamy and light.

4. Add the eggs gradually, one after the other, waiting for the first to be completely mixed before adding the second. Stir in the flour sifted with the baking powder.

5. Grease and flour a 23 cm wide round baking tin.

6. Separate the dough into two equal parts with the help of a spoon: put a spoonful of batter into the baking tin and one in a pastry bag, and so on, until you’ve finished. Level the batter into the baking tin, spread the cold custard over it, then add the remaining batter in concentric circles, trying not to mix it with the custard. Sprinkle the pine nuts on top and bake for 40 minutes.

7. When golden brown, remove it from the oven, let it cool for a few minutes, then gently remove it from the mould and when completely cold, dust the cake with icing sugar.

Website: http://en.julskitchen.com/
It was a dark and stormy night… this is how fairy tales begin, isn’t it? Everything started in a night like that, at the beginning of February 2009, after several months of passionate foodblogs reading and cookbook shopping addiction. An intimate name, Juls’ Kitchen,with a reference to my other great passion, the English language…My focus is the ingredient. I look for fresh, seasonal, preferably local produce. I’m not a fanatical of a control freak, but my aim is to use the best products of the seasons, and from there develop a recipe. Hence one of the dishes that have surprised me most were the summery zucchini still crisp and fragrant green, sauteed with garlic and fresh oregano. A triple jump from the macarons of the first months, I admit it, but it’s always me, always Juls’ Kitchen, it’s always related to something I crave for and eat with pleasure!