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Snowflake Cake

17/11/2023

The snowflake cake is a typical dessert of Neapolitan pastry, famous for its soft and moist texture that recalls a snowflake. It is made with a particularly soft dough and enriched with a cream based on sweet ricotta. Here’s how to prepare it:

Ingredients

  • 500 g of fresh ricotta
  • 300 g of sugar
  • 300 g of type 00 flour
  • 100 g of chocolate chips
  • 100 g of lard (you can also substitute with butter)
  • 3 eggs
  • 16 g of baking powder
  • Grated zest of 1 lemon
  • A pinch of salt
  • Icing sugar for decoration

For the soak:

  • 100 ml of milk
  • 1 tablespoon of sugar
  • A pinch of vanilla powder or vanilla extract

Preparation

  1. Start by working the ricotta with the sugar in a bowl until you have a homogeneous mixture.
  2. Add the eggs one at a time, continuing to stir.
  3. Incorporate the softened lard (or butter if you prefer) and the grated lemon zest.
  4. Sift the flour with the baking powder and a pinch of salt, and gently fold it into the ricotta and egg mixture.
  5. Once a smooth dough is obtained, add the chocolate chips and mix to distribute them evenly.
  6. Pour the mixture into a mold previously buttered and floured (or lined with parchment paper), and bake at 180 °C for about 40-50 minutes. Before taking it out of the oven, check the cooking with a toothpick.
  7. While the cake is baking, prepare the soak by heating the milk with the sugar and vanilla until the sugar has dissolved.
  8. Once baked, let the cake cool down then sprinkle it with the prepared soak, spreading it evenly over the surface.
  9. Let the cake rest to absorb the soak well and emphasize its softness.
  10. Before serving, dust with icing sugar to create the “snowflake” effect.

Trivia

The snowflake cake owes its particular texture to the presence of ricotta in the dough, which makes it incredibly moist and with a delicate flavor. It is important that the ricotta is well-drained so that the dough does not turn out too wet. Moreover, in Neapolitan pastry shops, it is often enriched with custard or with small amounts of whipped cream to make it even more indulgent.