Grandmother's Cake
by Tavolino
A classic traditional Italian dessert made with crumbly shortcrust pastry filled with velvety lemon pastry cream and garnished with crunchy pine nuts.
Ingredients
- All-purpose flour 500 g
- Butter 250 g
- Powdered sugar 150 g
- Eggs 110 g
- Lemon (zest) 1 whole
- Salt 1 pinch
- Baking powder 4 g
- Whole milk 500 g
- Sugar 100 g
- Egg yolks 85 g
- Cornstarch 25 g
- Rice starch 20 g
- Pine nuts 40 g
- Powdered sugar (garnish) to taste
Preparation
- 1
Cut 250 g of butter into cubes and work it in a bowl with 150 g of powdered sugar, the zest of half a lemon, and 1 pinch of salt.
- 2
Add 110 g of eggs to the mixture and mix well.
- 3
Incorporate 500 g of all-purpose flour and 4 g of baking powder, kneading quickly until a smooth dough is formed.
- 4
Wrap the dough in parchment paper, flatten it slightly, and let it rest in the refrigerator.
- 5
Heat 500 g of milk with the zest of half a lemon until it almost reaches a boil.
- 6
In a bowl, whisk 85 g of egg yolks with 100 g of sugar, then add 25 g of cornstarch and 20 g of rice starch.
- 7
Pour the hot milk into the egg yolk mixture, removing the lemon zest, and mix well.
- 8
Cook the cream over low heat, stirring constantly until it thickens, then cover with plastic wrap in direct contact.
- 9
Roll out 2/3 of the shortcrust pastry to a thickness of 7-8 mm and line a 24 cm cake pan, pricking the bottom with a fork.
- 10
Pour the pastry cream over the pastry base and level it well with a spoon.
- 11
Roll out the remaining pastry to a thickness of 5 mm and cover the cake, sealing the edges well.
- 12
Prick the surface, brush with water, and distribute 40 g of pine nuts.
- 13
Bake in a preheated static oven at 180°C on the lower rack.
- 14
Let cool completely and decorate with powdered sugar before serving.