Italian Birthday Cake Recipe
by Ursula Ferrigno
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Easy
This is perfect for big family gatherings, which happen often in my family. Ideal for anything from an eighteenth birthday, right through to a wedding celebration.
This recipe is extracted from Dolci Italiani by Ursula Ferrigno, published by Ryland Peters & Small (£22). Photography by Clare Winfield © Ryland Peters & Small
Ingredients for the cake Serves: 8
- 175g unsalted butter
- 175g golden caster sugar
- grated zest of 2 lemons
- 3 large eggs
- 175g Italian 00 flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 x 20-cm/8-inch cake pans, greased and lined birthday candles
Ingredients for the icing and filling
- 100g white chocolate
- 40g unsalted butter
- 150g icing sugar
- 4 tablespoons lemon curd (or jam or conserve)
- 50g pistachios, finally chopped
- 50g raspberries
Method for Italian birthday cake
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/Gas 4.
- Cream the butter and sugar with the lemon zest in a stand mixer, or use a handheld mixer, until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition.
- Sift the flour and baking powder onto the egg mixture, adding the lemon juice and mix well to form a dropping consistency. This always makes for a light cake.
- Divide the mixture evenly between the two prepared cake pans and bake in the preheated oven for 25–30 minutes until well risen. Leave to cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, then leave to cool for 5 minutes. Beat the melted chocolate into the butter, then gradually beat in the icing sugar, adding 1 tablespoon of water if needed to loosen the icing.
- Cut each cake in half horizontally and spread the lemon curd on one side and the icing on the other and sandwich together so you have two sponges. Spread lemon curd on top of one sandwiched cake, and icing on the base of the other and sandwich the two cakes together to create a four-layer cake.
- Spread the remaining icing all over the top and sides of the cake and press the pistachios onto the sides. Decorate the top with raspberries and candles and celebrate!
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Note: Use pistachio cream as an alternative filling, if preferred.
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About the author
Ursula Ferrigno, a talented cook and food writer from Italy's Amalfi Coast, learned to cook from her grandmother. She writes for Taste Italia, American Gourmet, Olive, and BBC Good Food. Ursula also teaches baking, specializing in breads like ciabatta, focaccia, and stromboli.
