TENERINA CAKE

Difficulty: east
Cooking time: 25-30 minutes
Preparation: 20 minutes
Serves: 8

INGREDIENTS:
Butter 100 gr
High-quality dark chocolate 200 gr
Flour 60 gr
3 tablespoons milk
1 pinch salt
3 medium eggs
Sugar 150 gr

METHOD:
To prepare the Tenerina cake, chop the chocolate and put it to melt in a bainmarie until it becomes creamy and smooth. Cut the cold butter into cubes and add it slowly (2-3 cubes at a time) to the melted chocolate still on fire, taking care to soak it well before adding more. When you have dissolved all the butter, remove the pan from heat and let the mixture cool.
Meanwhile, shell the eggs and place the egg yolks in a bowl with half the sugar : beat thoroughly with the whisk or a food processor until mixture is light and fluffy.
Still beating, add the chocolate and butter mixture to egg yolks and sugar together with the warm milk and flour: pour the cream into a large bowl.
Separately, whip the egg whites with a pinch of salt, add the remaining sugar and beat until it forms a compact white cream, then with a wooden spoon or spatula, gently incorporate the egg whites with sugar to the chocolate mixture, stirring from bottom to top.
Grease and flour a 24 cm diameter cake tin and pour the mixture into the cake: Bake in preheated oven at 180 degrees for 25-30 minutes, then turn off the oven, and cool the cake into the oven door ajar. Once cool, remove the cake from the mould put it on a serving platter and sprinkle with powdered sugar icing.

APPLE STRUDEL

Difficulty: medium
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Preparation: 70 minutes
Serves: 6
INGREDIENTS for a 30 cm long strudel pastryt:
100 ml lukewarm water
250 gr flour
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 pinch salt
1 medium-large eggs

INGREDIENTS for the filling of 2 strudels:
100 g butter (for toasting bread crumbs)
100 g melted butter (to grease the dough)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Grated rind of 1 lemon
Golden Apples 1.5 kg
150 g breadcrumbs
50 g pine nuts
4 tablespoons rum
100 g raisins
Sugar 120 gr

METHOD:
Pour the flour onto a pastry board or in a bowl as you like it, and put in the middle egg, salt and oil. Begin to knead vigorously and add water slowly enough so to make the dough firm, smooth and elastic. When you have finished, form a ball, grease it with oil, cover with plastic wrap and let rest for half an hour to cool.
Meanwhile soak the raisins in rum, or if you prefer, in warm water, toast bread crumbs in butter.
Peel and core the apples, and cut into four parts and then into thin slices. Pour apples into a large bowl and add the drained raisins.
Continue combining cinnamon, sugar, pine nuts and grated lemon peel. Mix the ingredients gently and let rest.
Preheat the oven to 200°C. In the meantime, take the dough, divide it into two equal parts and roll them out (like a rectangle) with a rolling pin on a floured cloth, until the dough becomes as thin as possible.
When the dough has become as thin as a sheet of paper, use your hands to pull it until it becomes almost transparent.
Grease a baking sheet with half the melted butter, leaving a border all-around of 2-3 cm, sprinkle with half the breadcrumbs toasted in butter before.
Put it on half the apple mixture, roll up the strudel, taking care not to break the dough, helping yourself with the cloth, seal it well on the sides so that the content does not come out during cooking.
Then place the strudel on a greased baking sheet (or on top of parchment paper) with the closure facing down, and before baking at 200 °C for about 40 minutes, drizzle with melted butter. Repeat the same procedure for the second strudel. When cooked, sprinkle strudel with icing sugar and serve warm, cut into slices.

SBRISOLONA

Difficulty: easy
Cooking time: 60 minutes
Preparation: 15 minutes
Serves: 8

INGREDIENTS:
Butter 110 gr
Flour 00 - 250 gr
Finely ground corn flour 150 gr
Lemon rind. 1 lemon
Almonds 150 gr
Unpeeled almonds 50 gr
Lard (or butter) 100 grams
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon Vanilla
200 gr sugar

METHOD:
Chop almonds coarsely, keep aside a few with whole skin to cover the surface of the cake.
In a large bowl place all the ingredients, the flours, peeled and minced almonds,, butter, lard, vanilla, lemon rind and egg yolks, sugar (except for a couple of tablespoons ). Work quickly to combine all the ingredients. Grease a cake pan at least 25 cm in diameter, preferably those with an alluminum base, because it will be easier to remove the cake after cooking, without breaking it.
Crumble the dough and arrange it on the cake tin : the dough must not be compacted.
After distributing the mixture into the pan, garnish the cake with the almonds that you have previously kept aside.
Bake in the oven at 180°C for about an hour, then let it cool and remove the cake from the tin, being careful not to break it: sprinkle the sbrisolonacake with sugar and serve cool.

SACHERTORTE

Difficulty: Medium
Cooking time: 60 min
Preparation: 60 min
Serves 12 people

INGREDIENTS FOR A MOULD OF 28 CM:
butter 150 gr
High-quality dark chocolate 200 gr
Flour 150 g
a pinch of Salt
8 egg whites + 2 whole
Vanilla 1 packet
Sugar 150 g
FOR ICING
Water 100 ml
Dark chocolate 200 gr
Sugar 200 gr
FOR FILLING AND COATING
Dark chocolate 30 gr
apricot jam 6 tablespoons

METHOD:
First take a round 28 cm diameter cake pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Separate the yolks from the whites. Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie or microwave, melt the butter and mix it with chocolate, then let cool and then add the yolks and mix well together.
Mix slowly adding the flour little by little until you will get a homogeneous mixture.
Beat the egg whites until stiff , add vanilla and sugar a little at a time mixed with, then finished with whites off eggs.
Put the chocolate mixture in a large bowl and pour inside 1 / 3 of the egg whites, mix them with a spatula until the mixture is smooth and free of lumps. Add to this the rest of egg whites, incorporating gently, stirring from bottom to top to trap air.
Preheat the oven to 180°C (convection oven) and bake your cake for about 50 minutes, or until, by inserting a toothpick into the centerit comes out clean and not dry.
Just removed from the oven, let the cake cool in pan for 5 minutes, then removefrom the pan and let cool on a wire rack.
Then, cut the cake into two halves: if your jam is fairly compact, heat 4 tablespoons in a small pan, then spread on one alf of the cake using a spatula, then cover with the other half of the cake. Mix the remaining jam on fire with a tablespoon of water, then sift it and brush the entire surface of the cake.
Put then the cake on a wire rack again and allow to dry for at least an hour. After this time, prepare the frosting to cover it. Put the chopped chocolate in another small saucepan, melt with sugar and water. As soon as sugar is dissolved bring to a boil and cook over high heat for 5 minutes and the temperature must not exceed 160 °C. Remove the pan from the heat and add the chopped chocolate, then stir until the coating becomes pretty smooth.
Immediately pour the icing on the cake (using a heated spatula), covering it evenly. Let it harden for at least two hours.

YOGURT PLUMCAKE

Difficulty: easy
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Preparation: 15 minutes
Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS:
Butter 40 gr
Manitoba flour 280 gr
Baking powder 1 packet
Grated rind of 1 lemon
oilseed 80 gr
Salt 1 teaspoon
Eggs 2
Vanilla1 packet
Yogurt full creamy 400 ml
Icing sugar 130 gr

METHOD:
In a large container, combine the sugar, yogurt, oil, eggs, melted butter and mix it all with the help of a hand-held whisk. Still mixing, add the teaspoon of vanilla extract to obtain a homogeneous mixture; Now add the sifted flour and half a teaspoon of salt and, finally, add baking powder, so you get a fairly sticky dough.
Warm your oven and put in the mixture to rest for at least 1 hour and a half; after that the dough should have lost some of its stickiness and will become more compact and creamy.
Grease with butter a plumcake mould, flour and fill it with the mixture until it's ¾ full. Bake in the preheated oven at 200 °C for about 18/20 minutes.

CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS

Difficulty: easy
Cooking: 25 minutes
Preparation: 15 minutes
Serves: 6

INGREDIENTS for 12 muffins:
Baking soda ½ teaspoon
butter 190 gr
dark chocolate drops 80 gr
Flour 380 gr
Milk 250 ml
Baking powder 1 packet
Salt 1 pinch
Eggs 2+1 whole egg
Vanilla 1 packet
Sugar 200 gr

METHOD:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
Soften butter at room temperature and then whip (perhaps with the help of a food processor) with the sugar vigorously for several minutes until the mixture is creamy.
Break the eggs into a bowl and beat with a fork along with the milk, add the mixture (a little at a time and always beating). Cream butter and sugar and continue until the consistency will be very smooth, swollen and homogeneous. Mix in a bowl and sift the flour, yeast, baking soda, vanilla and salt and add gradually to mixture, until everything will be creamy and without lumps, add the last drops of chocolate (keep some for decorating the surface).
Put the mixture in spoonful into muffin tins (or paper cups) previously buttered and floured until it's ¾ full, then spread the surface with the chocolate chips and put in the oven for 20-25 minutes.
A muffin is cooked when the surface is golden brown, turn off the oven and let rest for 5 minutes in there with the door open, then simply remove them from the oven and let them cool completely.

LADY’S KISSES

Difficulty: medium
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Preparation: 1 hour

INGREDIENTS:
Butter 200 gr
Cocoa powder (bitter) 20 gr
Plain chocolate 200 gr
Flour 200 + 20 gr
Roasted hazelnuts 200 gr
Sugar 200 gr

METHOD:
Place the hazelnuts in the bowl of the mixer and shake it with two tablespoons of sugar, then add the remaining sugar and flour, then whisk everything together.
Divide into two parts, then add the sifted cocoa to one half and 20 grams of flour to the other. Cut the butter into squares: unite half the mixture is light and half in the dark with cocoa.
Mix the ingredients separately and quickly first and then clear the dark until you obtain a smooth and homogeneous mixture. Form two balls and wrap them with the transparent film, then let rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
After half an hour, take out the dough from the refrigerator and form sticks as long as a finger, and cut into pieces of approximately 3 cm. Form into balls the size of hazelnuts.
Place the balls on a plate lined with baking paper and bake in the oven at 160 º for 15 minutes. Let the cookies to cool off the oven on a cold surface. Chop chocolate and put it into a saucepan. In another small saucepan, heat two or three inches of water until it reaches a boil, then reduce the heat and place the saucepan with the chocolate over the one with water.
Melt the chocolate in a double boiler, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until it is completely melted. Fill with melted chocolate, now warm and therefore more dense, a pastry bag and spread a little 'chocolate on the flat part of the half cookies. Let the chocolate cool a little further and then overlay the flat side of another cookie of the same type (light or dark).
Put the lady's kisses in the fridge for 15 minutes until the chocolate is clotted, then serve.