Italian Corn Cakes Food

ITALIAN SPONGE CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 320F.
• Beat eggs with a pinch of salt until foamy. Start adding sugar a few tablespoons at a time. Add next portion once previous sugar has been dissolved.
• Continue beating egg and sugar mix for 10 more minutes (should take around 15 minutes total).Stand mixer will be really handy.
• Mix corn starch with flour.Start sifting in corn starch and flour mix into the beaten eggs. Fold it gently moving your spatula from the bottom to the top. Once first portion of flour mix is incorporated, add in another portion. Continue until you have used all the mix.As a result you should get very light and airy batter.
• Grease and flour the baking pan, remove access flour.Or use a parchment paper liner instead.
• Pour in the sponge cake batter into the pan. Level with a spatula if needed.
• Bake in a preheated to 320F oven for 40-50 minutes.
• Do a toothpick test at 40 minute mark. If toothpick come out dry (not sticky and without any crumbs stuck to it) sponge cake is ready. Otherwise leave for another 5-10 minutes.Of course, look for nice light golden brown color as well.
• Take the pan out of the oven and let the cake cool before taking it out.Dust with powdered sugar and serve or use further in the other recipe.

LEMON CORNMEAL CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine milk and lemon juice in a bowl; let stand until thickened, about 5 minutes. Pulse almonds, cane sugar, and zest in a food processor until finely ground. Transfer mixture to a large bowl; stir in cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add oil, eggs, and almond extract to milk mixture, and whisk until combined. Stir into cornmeal mixture.
• Brush a 9-inch springform pan with oil. Pour batter into pan. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until cake is golden and a tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Let cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Unmold and dust with confectioners' sugar just before serving. (Cake can be kept, covered, at room temperature up to 2 days.)

MINI CORN CAKES

Steps:

• In 12-inch nonstick skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add onions, celery and bell pepper; cook 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• In medium bowl, stir vegetable mixture and remaining ingredients except oil and sour cream until well blended.
• In same skillet, heat 2 teaspoons of the oil over medium heat. Cooking 8 corn cakes at a time, drop corn mixture into oil by tablespoonfuls, spreading each into 1 1/2-inch round. Cook 1 minute to 1 minute 30 seconds on each side, carefully turning once, until golden brown. Cook remaining corn cakes, using 2 teaspoons oil for each batch of 8 corn cakes. Serve with sour cream.

CORNMEAL AND ROSEMARY CAKE WITH BALSAMIC SYRUP

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• For the cake: Butter and flour an 8-inch round cake pan.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, cake flour, minced rosemary, baking powder, and salt.
• Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, on low speed beat the butter and vanilla together until combined. Slowly add the powdered sugar. Once the sugar is incorporated increase the speed to high and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolks and eggs, 1 at a time. Reduce the speed to medium and add the sour cream. On low speed add the dry ingredients just until incorporated.
• Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth the surface with a spatula. Bake in the lower third of the oven until the cake is golden and pulls away from the sides of the pan, about 35 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool. Transfer the cake from the pan to a serving plate and dust with powdered sugar.
• For the Balsamic Syrup: Place the sugar, balsamic vinegar, and rosemary in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer until the sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes. Discard the rosemary sprig and let the syrup cool.
• To serve, place a slice of cake on a serving plate; spoon some syrup around the plate.

CORNMEAL CAKE

Steps:

• Pre-heat the oven at 200°C.
• Lightly oil (or butter) a non-stick 30 cm cake pan.
• Mix the eggs yolk with sugar and oil.
• Boil the milk and pour on the cornmeal, on a separated bowl,mixing well.
• Mix this to the eggs mixture.
• Sift the flour with the baking powder and add to the mixture.
• On a clean bowl whisk the eggs white and fold into the mixture.
• Pour this to the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes or until the tester come out clean.

ITALIAN BUTTERCREAM

Steps:

• Place the egg whites and 1/3 cup of the sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until the egg whites reach the soft peak stage.
• Meanwhile, pour the remaining sugar and 1/3 cup water in a medium saucepan set over medium heat. Attach a candy thermometer to the side of the pan and bring to the soft-ball stage, without stirring, 240 degrees F.
• The egg whites and syrup should be ready at about the same time. If one is ready before the other then you can remove the pan from the heat or stop whipping for a few minutes.
• Continue to whip the egg whites on medium-high speed and slowly drizzle in the hot syrup, aiming the syrup between the side of the bowl and the beaters. Continue to whip until both the bottom of the bowl and the mixture are cool, 10 to 15 minutes. The mixture should be thick and will form firm peaks at this point. Beat in the salt. At this point you have an Italian meringue.
• While still beating on medium-high, add the butter, a few pieces at a time. As the butter is added, the buttercream may appear to thin out some, but it will thicken into firm peaks once all of the butter is added. Beat in the vanilla extract. If the buttercream is still too loose, beat on high speed until thickened.
• Use right away or refrigerate in an airtight container overnight. The buttercream may need to be beaten slightly to smooth out before using.

ITALIAN CORN CAKES

Steps:

• 1. In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. Add the sour cream and about half the water. Gradually incorporate the rest of the water and corn kernels.
• 2. Heat up a skillet or griddle to medium high. Prepare with cooking spray or butter. Cook spoonfuls of the batter about 2 minutes on each side.

ITALIAN SPONGE CAKE (PAN DI SPAGNA)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 338°F (170°C).
• Butter and flour (or spray with baking spray) an 8 inches (20 cm) pan.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the eggs, sugar, salt, and lemon zest until very fluffy and pale yellow (about 10/15 minutes on medium/high speed). To test that it has been beaten enough, let a small amount of batter fall into the bowl. If it remains "sitting" on top, it means that it's ready.
• Sift the flour on top of the egg mixture, a little at a time, and fold it gently with a wooden spoon or a spatula just until incorporated. Do not over-mix or you will deflate the batter.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Don't smooth the top or bang the pan on the counter, leave it as it is!
• Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. (Remember: do not open the oven for the first 30 minutes!)
• Turn off the oven but leave the cake inside (keep the door slightly open using a wooden spoon) for 5/10 minutes so it can cool down slowly.
• Remove the sponge cake from the oven, let it cool for 10 more minutes, then loosen around the edges with a knife, and flip it on a wire rack upside down (without the pan) to cool completely.

PASTICCIERA CREAM (ITALIAN PASTRY CREAM )

Steps:

• Place sugar, egg yolks flour, lemon rind (if using it), and vanilla in a sauce pan and mix together well.
• In a separate sauce pan, scald milk.
• Very slowly pour milk over egg yolk mixture, in a thin stream, beating constantly with rotary beater.
• Continue cooking on low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until mixture reaches the boiling point.
• Cook 4 minutes longer, stirring constantly.
• (**At this point, if making chocolate pasticciera cream, add chocolate and while stirring, cook 1 minute longer.) Remove pan from heat, add butter and mix well.
• Pour into bowl and let cool, stir occasionally to prevent skin from forming over the top.
• If using as a cake/pastry filling, chill (with plastic wrap pressed onto the surface to prevent a skin from forming) until very thick at least 3-4 hours.
• For Chocolate Pasticciera Cream: **Add grated chocolate to cooked pasticciera cream and cook 1 minute longer, stirring constantly, until chocolate is blended well.
• Cool/chill before using as a cake/pastry filling.