We love chocolate here at CW, so this week we share some Italian desserts that are full of the good stuff.
Torta di semolino e cioccolato
Serves 8
Sweet shortcrust pastry dough
Semolina filling
- 500ml (2 cups) milk
- Pinch of salt
- 85g (2/3 cup) fine semolina
- 75g (1/3 cup) sugar
- Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
- 1 egg, beaten
Chocolate ganache
- 75ml thick (double) cream
- 150g dark chocolate (70% cocoa), finely chopped
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
After resting the pastry dough, roll it out to a thickness of about 3–4mm and press into a 23cm pie dish, trimming the edges. Place a sheet of baking paper over the pastry and fill with baking beads (you can also use dried beans or uncooked rice that you can keep and re-use specifically for this purpose). Blind bake for 15 minutes.
Take the pastry out of the oven and remove the baking paper with the beads. Let the pastry cool.
Prepare the semolina by bringing the milk to the boil with the salt. Turn the heat to low–medium, add the semolina and whisk continuously until the mixture thickens to a thick porridge consistency. This should take 8-10 minutes. Taste to check if it’s ready – the semolina should feel soft in your mouth, not grainy. When ready, remove from the heat and stir in the sugar and zest until combined. When the mixture has cooled, stir in the egg. Spread the semolina mixture into the tart crust.
Bake at 180°C for 40–45 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and the semolina feels firm and springy to the touch. Let it cool completely.
Prepare the ganache by bringing the cream to the boil in a small saucepan. Take off the heat, add the chocolate to the cream and stir or whisk until very smooth. Pour the warm ganache over the cooled semolina tart and let it cool completely to set
before slicing and serving.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Torta al cioccolato
Serves 6–8
- 100g Dutch (unsweetened) cocoa powder, sifted, plus extra for dusting
- 200g (1 1/3 cups) plain flour, sifted
- 200g sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tsp natural vanilla extract, or 1 vanilla bean, split lengthways and seeds scraped
- 350ml full-cream milk, or as needed
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Grease a 20cm round cake tin and dust with sifted cocoa powder. Tap upside down to remove any excess.
Place the dry ingredients together in a bowl (do make sure the cocoa powder is sifted well to ensure you don’t have problems with lumps later). Add the vanilla to the milk, then add this, bit by bit, to the dry ingredients, stirring with a wooden spoon until combined and smooth. If the batter is too stiff, you can add more milk (or even water).
Pour into the tin and gently smooth the top. Bake for roughly 30 minutes, or until the centre of the cake feels springy to the touch and it smells cooked – it will be distinctly chocolatey.
When it has cooled enough to handle, remove from the tin and serve as desired – dusted with icing sugar or, when completely cooled, covered in ganache, perhaps with some berries on top or whipped cream on the side.
This is an edited extract from Torta della Nonna by Emiko Davies, published by Hardie Grant Books, RRP $34.99, available in stores nationally.
For more recipes:
