Elderberry grows at the edge of almost every forest and many people today make their own syrup from the fragrant flowers. They give the juicy mascarpone elderberry cake its special aroma: a promise of summer with a touch of caramel and sea (salt) as a tasty finale.
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When making many Italian cakes, we do our best to get the dough as fluffy and high as possible. To do this, beat the eggs, sugar and butter until they are creamy and then sift in the flour. Another Italian tradition favours flat cakes with a crispy, compact dough. This dough is often covered with cream cheese such as ricotta and mascarpone or with crema pasticcera, a type of pudding, and fruit. In Italy, these shortcrust pastry cakes are called crostata.
Using hands and water
For the crostata, all ingredients for the dough are quickly mixed and kneaded. Air should not be worked into the base or the filling at this stage. This is best done by mixing the ingredients - both those for the dough and those for the filling - by hand. This cake will definitely taste better if you do not use a food processor. Some Italian shortcrust cakes are baked, others are prepared in combination in the oven in a water bath. This keeps the filling nice and juicy.
📖 Recipe
Mascarpone Elderberry Crostata
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 235 g butter
- 225 g flour
- 40 g cornstarch
- 75 g sugar, whole cane
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 egg yolk
For the filling:
- 400 g yoghurt
- 400 g mascarpone
- 30 g corn flour
- 120– 150 ml elderflower syrup
- 2 eggs, medium sized
- 2 lemons, grated peel
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 170° C (upper and lower heat).
- For the base, mix the dry ingredients and then crumble with the cold, chopped butter. Add the yolk and knead the dough, briefly and vigorously. Evenly spread the dough flat on the bottom of the spring form pan, pressing up small edges on the sides. Prick the dough several times with a fork. Cover the surface with aluminium foil or baking paper and line it with dried chickpeas or beans. Bake the base blind for 30 minutes, then let it cool down.
- Meanwhile, mix all the ingredients for the filling, and again the eggs are added at the end.
- Pour the mixture into the spring form pan on the pre-baked base.
- Bake the crostata in the oven at 180° C (upper and lower heat) on the lowest shelf for about 75-90 minutes. To ensure that the cheesecake is still nice and white after baking, cover it with aluminium foil but only loosely as the hot air should still find its way to the cake. Immediately after baking, loosen the edge of the cake with a sharp knife. Let it cool down in the switched off oven. Then place in the refrigerator. When cooled and left to stand for a few hours - preferably overnight - the mascarpone elderberry crostata is also easier to cut.
Nutrition
For the water bath method
To bake the cake in a water bath, line the spring form pan well with aluminium foil inside and outside to make it waterproof. There should be no holes in it. Or you can use a baking mould with a waterproof silicone sealed base, which means that you can save on the aluminium foil. Place the springform pan on a deeper baking tray or in a larger, fireproof form and fill it up with a little water. The water should be about 2.5 cm high at the edge of the spring form pan. Continue baking as above.
Tip:
To determine if the cake is ready, all you need to do is test it with a toothpick. The wooden stick should leave a hole in the surface of the cake. Only then switch off the oven and let the cake cool down in the switched off oven. Elderberry syrup can be replaced by any other syrup, for example with currant, raspberry or blackberry. Have fun finding out which one will be your favourite crostata
Buon appetito!
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