copyright 2010, Maria Liberati

Apologies  for not gettting this out sooner but think that you still have time to make this for your Easter dinner. I have been scouring my recipes and looking for just the right one for our community of  ’foodies’..not too difficult-some of the Italian Spring Holiday breads can be so time consuming and something well a little unique.. So for a little bit of inspiration and no Easter egg shaped something… I decided to go with one of my favorite cakes. … a recipe I learned in Austria, the cake is named after a famous Austrian-Italian Prince-Prince Eugenio of the Royal Family of Savoia.
Although he doesn’t have anything to do with Easter..the cake is really a special one..it is made with lots of chocolate ..which always reminds me of Easter..and not too ordinary-as a Holiday dessert should be- and great to have with a glass of bubbly Brachetto d’Acqui or with some dessert coffee or .. alone.. And to make it even more interesting here is some info on Prince Eugenio
Buon Appetito and Buona Pasqua! Please write and let us know how your  torta turns out!

Prince Eugenio’s Cake

( This cake was created  in Austria and named after Prince Eugenio who was born in France to royalty related to the Royal Savoia Family . His mother was Italian. He became a high ranking soldier in the Austrian army and protected Italy from some of their military rivals in the early  1700′s. He was an aficionado of art and this ‘torta’ or cake was created many years ago in homage to this Prince)

16 ounces unsweetened dark chocolate (containing at least 60% cocoa)

1 1/2 cups crushed almonds

1 ¼ cups sugar

2 tablespoons butter

6 eggs

1 tablespoon rum

1 tablespoon brandy

butter for pan

Topping:

2 cups raspberries

1 tablespoon sugar

6 ounces milk chocolate

½ cup whipping cream

1 tsp vanilla

Beat softened butter,sugar and egg yolks until creamy. Melt chocolate in double boiler or microwave. Add the chocolate into the egg yolk mixture,then add in ground almonds,brandy and rum.

Beat egg whites till soft peaks form. Fold into the egg yolk mixture gently till well blended.. Butter and flour a low cake pan and bake for 35 minutes in oven at 350 degrees.

Remove from oven. Leaving a 1 /12 “ border around cake, cut out the interior cake , to make about ¼ cup of crumbs. Place crumbs in oven on cookie sheet for to dry and become crisp, set aside., to use as crumble on topping.

Cook raspberries and sugar over low heat for 2 minutes let sugar melt. Let cool. Place whipping cream and vanilla, sugar in bowl. Whip cream till peaks form, add in grated chocolate. Place cooled raspberry mixture in cavity of cake made from digging out crumbs. Top with whipped cream mixture in center of raspberries. Sprinkle with cake crumbs and top with whipped cream and serve.

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April 14th-Free Library of Philadelphia-Book signing

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 Maria

at marialiberati.com

where food meets art, travel and life!!

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The Holidays always have me daydreaming about my visits to the Christmas markets in Vienna and Strasburg, in Austria.  On New Year’s Day I am always in Rome where we eat New Year’s day dinner at home  with the traditional New Year’s Day concert from Vienna on TV… So Vienna always brings back special memories for the  Holidays and besides the spiced wine you drink whilst strolling in the main squares in Vienna  and Salzburg..there is Viennese coffee.  If you can’t get to Vienna for the  Holidays you can have a  Viennese experience in your kitchen with a cup of this hot tasty drink (for the full effect, play some Mozart while enjoying this):

If you missed our Holiday Gift Guide, here it is http://tinyurl.com/yzyb4r4

Viennese Coffee

(serves 4)

4 ounces of dark chocolate- melted

1/2 cup of whipping cream

4 cups of dark espresso or espresso style coffee

1 tsp sugar

powdered cocoa

cinnamon

In large heat proof pitcher - blend cream and melted chocolate till creamy.  Add in boiling hot coffee, sugar, stir and divide into 4 coffee cups, top with some whipped cream, dash of powderd cocoa and dash of powdered cinnamon..don’t forget the Mozart!

You still have time to get a copy of the award winning book 

 The Basic Art of Italian Cooking-Holidays & Special Occasions-winner of the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards for Best Italian Cusisine Book in America for 2009.

If you missed our Holiday Gift Guide for best products selected for their artisan quality and the ultimate experience they provide the consumer, here it is:

Holiday Gift Guide 2009

http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1jim0/HolidayGiftGuide2009/resources/index.htm?referrerUrl=

 Tanti Auguri (Best Wishes) for a Great Holiday

Maria

http://twitter.com/Marialiberati

copyright, 2009, Maria Liberati, The Basic Art of Italian Cooking  

Today, (here in the mountains of Abruzzo, Italy) while I was enjoying my colazione (breakfast )with radio station centocinque (105) and listening to Betty give her gossip and advice I began to plan out the recipe for today..sacher torte…

While  the conversation on today’s radio program was about the new website in Japan that talks about places around the world that have memorable aromas (good and bad)  I began thinking of the great perfume of chocolate that will soon be filling The Basic Art of Italian Cooking Kitchen here (in Italy).

Yes that’s right..the famous Austrian  Sacher Torte.. I learned this scrumptious dessert while studying a bit of Austrian delights in Austria a few years back and have been promising to make this for Alfonso’s birthday for a few too many years.

 Now that The Basic Art of Italian Cooking kitchen is here in Italy also and I have some extra hands to assemble everything ..well I decided to begin this experience.. This morning we made and baked the cake, and tomorrow we willassembled the cake.. The smell from the ovens were heavenly…. if you love the odor of melted butter and rich dark chocolate. I am guessing that many people do since we had some locals come by and ask what was ‘in the oven’ today?

Sacher Torte was ‘born’ in Vienna, Austria but is loved all throughout Europe and why not.. it is just as beautiful as it is delicious a dessert and made primarily with dark European chocolate ,butter ,eggs and apricot marmelade and of  course some sugar and flour. No preservatives, chemicals just real ingredients..

It has been awhile since I had my culinary classes in Austria and have not made a Sacher Torte for awhile and almost forgot how laborious a dessert this is..but well worth it.

First to locate ‘farina di frumento’ the flour that will give the cake some substance. Not an easy flour to find, but after a trip to the local shop for professional baker’s in town…I found it..

 Next the measuring out of all ingredients with our scale, then the melting of the dark chocolate on the ‘bain-marie’ (double boiler). Then the creaming of the butter and melted chocolate, then half the sugar. Then beating the egg whites till peaks form.. gently folding in the egg whites and flour and …almost there…..butter and flour the spring form pans, place in batter and cook for about 1 hour at 180 degrees centigrade or 360 degrees fahrenheit.. Well in our oven here they took less than an hour to bake. But the whole process took up all morning into afternoon..

This more than filled our day and by 2 PM we were ready to sit down and eat ‘pranzo’ (lunch). Stay tuned for tomorrow and the assembling of the Sacher Tortes. … and my recipe for the Sacher Torte

For more great recipes get your copy of my best sellling book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking at http://www.marialiberati.com

Mangia Bene, Vivi Bene,

Maria