How to prepare the real Italian recipe of Mimosa Cake or “Torta Mimosa”

International Women’s day: 2 little thoughts very special and not to miss to properly Celebrate this special day: Flowers and Cakes, in this case they have the same name, a wonderful dessert, MIMOSA! Mimosa Cake, a sweet treat filled with a delicious custard cream, flavored with Italian lemon and Pineapple. A wonderful reminder that spring is here…

Ingredients

Custard or Crema Pasticcera
Sponge Cake or Pan di Spagna
250 ml Fresh Creme
100 grams of Chocolate Chips
1 Fresh Pine Apple or 2 Pine Apple Canned

Ingredients for Sponge Cake or Pan di Spagna

6 Eggs
250 grams of Flour
250 grams of Sugar
Grated Zest of 1/2 lemon

Ingredients for Custard or Crema Pasticcera

4 Egg Yolks
4 tablespoons of Sugar
2 tablespoons of Flour
1 Lemon peel (ideally organic – peel just the yellow part to avoid a bitter taste)
1/2 LT of Milk

Preparation Custard or Crema Pasticcera

In a bowl whisk 4 egg yolks with 4 tablespoons of sugar, ready when it will be frothy and the eggs will look a bit pale with the sugar melted in, add 2 tablespoons of flour and whisk for 1 minute.
Now pour the compose into a high pan (you can also just use a pan from the beginning to simplify) and add half liter of cold milk, add the milk slowly and keep mixing it, cut the zest of 1 lemon and add it to the custard previously prepared. Keep cooking it over low heat for 15 minutes, keep mixing it, turning gently with a spatula or a wood spoon, as those do not stick to the mixture, forming an 8, so that the cream will stay liquid and will not deposit at the bottom.
This cream is ready when it becomes from liquid to creamy and in general when the mixture start boiling. Do not keep boiling, just turn off the heat and enjoy warm or cold.

Preparation of the Sponge Cake or “Pan Di Spagna”

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Lightly butter and flour a cake pan.
Combine the whole eggs (important: eggs should be at room temperature, not cold from the fridge) and the sugar to a mixer and beat for 15 minutes, until the mixture become white and grows in volume.
Add the flour gradually into the egg-sugar mixture and mix delicately with a spatula scooping from the bottom up, so that all remains light and airy, after that add the egg yolks. Last, add the lemon zest.
Bake for about 30-40 minutes, until light golden. Do not over-bake it. It will dry and set as it cools.
Let it cool to room temperature.

Assemble the Mimosa Cake

Cut the sponge cake in 2 disks: one of that, the bottom cake layer cut it 3 cm high and place it on a serving plate. Moisten with the Pineapple syrup, add some pieces of pineapple previously cut, the custard cream and some chopped chocolate.
If you prefer, cut in 3 disks of 2 cm and make two layers of sponge disks and cream then go to step 3.
Get the last disk of sponge cake and cut it into cubes, note that you should cut just the yellow part.
Press the cake cubes onto the top and sides of the cake. Decorate with slices of pineapple. Enjoy!

Posted by Nicoletta and Tiziana