Cioccolato Fondente

By Matthew Luca

It's more than just a luxurious dessert, it's a return to childhood

Ingredients

200g 70% Dark Chocolate (Broken into pieces)

200g Unsalted Butter

300g Caster Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla extract

4 large eggs (beaten)

175g Plain flour

20g cocoa powder

50g melted butter

1 tbsp Popping candy

Method:

fill a saucepan quarter full with water and bring to the boil, in a glass or metal mixing bowl add the 200g butter and dark chocolate pieces and place over the pan of boiling water and gently melt, stirring occasionally until smooth and glossy, remove from the heat.

In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs, 300g sugar and vanilla essence and beat with an electric whisk until doubled in size. Slowly pour in the hot chocolate sauce stirring in to the eggs gently until combined, then fold in the flour, cocoa powder, gently keeping as much air in the cake mix as possible. Pour into Dario moulds (small individual cake tins) that have been brushed on the inside with melted butter and then coated lightly in cocoa powder and leave in the fridge for 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180c, cook on the middle shelf for 12-15 minutes, using a tea towel/oven glove. remove from the oven and gently score around the edge with a knife and place upside down on a serving plate, lift up the tin to reveal the fondant. Dust with some cocoa powder and top with a little popping candy just before serving.

Strawberries & Cream Semifreddo

Ingredients

250ml double cream

8 large strawberries

2 Basil leafs

Method:

Place all ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth, place into lockable freezer bag and freeze for 2-3 hours, while occasionally taking the bag out and squeezing it gently in your hand to churn. When its firm it's ready to serve.

Pictured above: I have served mine with the Strawberries & Cream semifreddo and some pulled sugar.

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Amaretti di Saronno Cheesecake

By Matthew Luca

A deliciously quick no bake cheesecake, using an Amaretti biscuit base instead of the traditional digestive. This devilishly created dessert is mouth watering and can be plated in a number of inspiring ways.

Ingredients (serves 4)

200g Amaretti Biscuits

100g Butter

200g Caster Sugar

250g Mascarpone Cheese

250ml Double Cream

1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Method

Put the Amaretti biscuits into a food processor and blend until crumbs form. Place amaretti crumbs into a microwave safe bowl and add 50g butter, 100g sugar then heat on full power for 10 second intervals until the crumbs, sugar and butter begin to combine. Add more butter a little at a time if required. The Amaretti crumbs should be hot and sticking together being careful not to burn the butter.

Using either a cake tin, small pie dishes or round pastry cutters on a baking tray press a layer of Amaretti crumb to the base to around half inch thick then leave to cool in a fridge for 10 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl, add the Mascarpone, Double Cream, 100g Sugar, Vanilla Extract and lemon juice. Using an electric whisk, mix until combined and very thick (You almost want it to be over whipped).

Take the Amaretti base out of the fridge and spread a thick layer of the Mascarpone Cream evenly on top, You could also transfer the cream into a piping bag if you prefer. Place back in the fridge for around 30 minutes until ready to serve. If you used pastry cutters or circular cooks rings to make the cheesecakes, carefully remove them in an upward motion prior to serving.

I made a few variations of this dessert (see pictures below) with some piped Mascarpone cream to form peaks and broken amaretti biscuits and an Amaretti macaroon. Also spinning some sugar for visual effect.

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Lazy Mary's Tiramisu

By Matthew Luca

This recipe is dedicated to an Italian restaurant that served me Coffee Cake when I ordered a Tiramisu, how I held my head down is disbelief at that atrocity.

I wanted to make the best Tiramisu recipe I know and started off separating egg whites from yolks and made a technically challenging mousse combining this with mascarpone cheese then leaving it to set in the fridge for 8 HOURS!!! and after making it I honestly though it was a totally unnecessary process. My philosophy is beauty is in the simplicity of cooking and my second version proved far superior in texture and taste without waiting a day to eat it. Oh and I named this dish after a famous Italian tarantella by Lou Monte "Lazy Mary"

Ingredients

16 ladyfingers (sponge fingers)

500g Mascarpone cheese

400ml Double cream

50ml Vin Santo dessert wine (or Masala wine or Amaretto Liqueur)

1 tablespoon Vanilla extract

200g Caster Sugar

1teaspoon icing sugar

2 large cups filtered coffee "double shot" (using instant coffee is an Italian form of disrespect)

1 Orange for grating zest

100g Dark chocolate for grating

Cocoa powder for dusting

Method

In your favourite dessert dish with shallow sides lay the sponge fingers covering the base of the dish, add 25ml of the vin santo wine to the coffee and pour over the sponge fingers a bit at a time and allow them to soak it up but not get drenched, put in the fridge for 5 minutes to cool.

In a mixing bowl add the Mascarpone cheese, sugar, 25ml of Vin Santo, a tablespoon of the double cream, vanilla extract and a grating of orange zest. Using an electric whisk combine until loose and smooth in texture.

In another mixing bowl add the double cream along with a teaspoon of icing sugar and using an electric whisk, mix until thick and stiff peaks form.

Gently fold the whipped cream into the mascarpone cheese until combined and then spoon on top of the sponge fingers in the dish, evenly spread to cover the sponge. then simply dust generously with cocoa powder, grate over some more orange zest and a grating of the dark chocolate. It's now ready to serve and can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days.

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Panna Cotta

by Matthew Luca

One of my favourite desserts is Panna Cotta and I'm surprised it does not appear so often in Italian restaurants because its actually quite simple to make.

Ingredients

650ml double cream

250ml full milk

150g caster sugar

4 leafs gelatine

1 vanilla pod (or 1 tbsp. vanilla extract)

Method

In a bowl of cold water submerge the gelatine leafs and leave to soften for 5 minutes.

In a large heavy based pan add the cream, milk, sugar and seeds scrapped from the vanilla pod. cook on a high heat stirring occasionally until just before boiling point (do not let it boil). remove from the heat, add the gelatine leafs one at a time into the hot mixture stirring in until dissolved and then let the mixture cool stirring occasionally. When cool transfer mixture to a measuring jug or a water jug (I tend to pass the mixture through a fine sieve into the jug to remove any possible lumps), place in fridge for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally (until you see the vanilla seeds are not sinking to the bottom and holding in position) now that the mixture has thickened pour into moulds, I use a plastic ricotta cheese container as its the perfect size and smooth on the inside, you can also pour the mixture into dessert or wine glasses as pictured below (this is less fussy). leave to set in the fridge for around 3 hours before serving.

Serving suggestion: if your planning on serving the panna cotta as pictured above and you want to turn the dessert onto a plate you'll need a separate bowl with hot water where you'll dip your mould 3/4 into hot water for around 10 seconds until the panna cotta frees itself and then place a plate over the top and flip upside down.

Balsamic strawberry sauce

Ingredients

400g strawberry (cut in halves)

1 tbsp cornflour or plain flour

75g caster sugar

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Method

Put all ingredients into a saucepan and put on a moderate high heat, stirring gently until combined and strawberries have softened slightly and a sauce is forming, remove from the heat and leave to cool, (Tip) leave in the fridge to chill before serving on the panna cotta.

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Cannoli recipe

by Matthew Luca

A world without cannoli is like a world without the earth beneath our feet, it would be impossible.
The first Cannoli I tasted was at the world famous Carlo's Bakery in Hoboken New Jersey ( home of THE CAKE BOSS hit TV show). The owner (Buddy Valastro) really works his magic creating these Italian and now American favourites with various fillings. I'm basing my recipe using some traditional Sicilian methods and my own travel influences as well as taste preferences, I hope you like them. You'll also need (Cannoli forms) these are the thin metal tubes that you use to make the shells, I purchased mine from eBay.

Ingredients

For the Dough (Cannoli Shells)
275g Plain Flour (plus extra for dusting)
2 Eggs
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Cocoa Powder
1 tsp Salt
50g Butter
10ml White wine vinegar
30ml Amaretto Liqueur

(2 litres of Vegetable or Sunflower oil for frying) Peanut oil is preferred but quite expensive for deep frying.

Method
In a mixing bowl add the flour, salt, cinnamon, cocoa and butter then mix together until you have reached a breadcrumb type texture. Put in the eggs and butter then mix together to form a dry dough. Add the white wine vinegar, knead into the dough then add the amaretto liqueur and contine to work into the dough. At this stage the dough will be quite wet so using some extra plain flour 1 tablespoon at a time, add to the dough until it becomes dry enough to knead without it sticking to your hands.
Knead the dough ball on a lightly floured surface for 4-5 mins until elastic and combined well, shape into a ball then wrap tightly in cling film and leave to firm in the fridge for around 1 hour.

Remove dough from the fridge and cut a slice off around 1/2 inch thick and with a rolling pin roll out the dough until paper thin.
Cut out circles (4-5 inches in diameter) and roll each one around a cannoli form (tip: use a little egg white to stick down the fold of the dough around the form) then set aside on a floured surface.

In a large heavy based pan or fat fryer, fill up to around 4 inches (ensuring their is at least another 3 inch gap to the rim of the pot, if not use a larger pan). heat oil to around 180c or until a piece of bread takes 10 seconds to turn golden brown. then carefully add the cannoli forms into the hot oil (only two at a time in the pan) and fry until golden brown, this will take around 1 min. remove from the oil being careful to ensure all the hot oil has drained out of the form tubes and then set aside on some kitchen towl for 5 minutes until cool.

When the form tubes are cool, slightly bang the forms in an upright position on a work surface then gently remove the cannoli shell away from the metal form. repeat this process until complete.

For the Filling
Ingredients
500g Ricotta cheese (Drained)
100g Icing Sugar (plus extra for dusting)
40g chopped glace fruit
1/2 vanilla pod (seeds only)
1 tsp orange zest
1 tsp amaretto liqueur

Method
In a large mixing bowl combine the ricotta, sugar, vanilla seeds, orange zest and amaretto with a whisk until smooth and silky. Add the glace fruit and fold in gently. Place filling into piping bags or sandwich bags ready for piping (if using the sandwich bag just snip a 5 cm hole in the corner and push down.

To make the cannoli, pipe some filling into each side of the shell/tube, you can garnish the ends with candied fruit of you like then sprinkle over some icing sugar for decoration.

Watch the YouTube video for a recipe walk through

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Italian Gelato recipe

By Matthew Luca

Bring the taste of Italian summers to your home with this tantalizing Gelato recipe, its not easy to find good quality Gelato in a supermarket and what's great about making it yourself is that you know it has no additives, oils or preservatives. I will add recipes for two more flavours (Strawberry & Tutti Frutti ) plus an Affogato below, you'll be able to make these using the base Vanilla Gelato and then adding the flavours. It's a good idea to make the gelato at least a day before you plan to use it.

Ingredients: (Vanilla based Gelato)
500ml Double cream
500ml Full fat Milk
300g Caster sugar
8 Egg yolks
1 Vanilla pod

Method
In a large mixing bowl pour in the sugar, egg yolks and then whisk until it appears as a runny liquid, set aside.
In a heavy based pan, add the milk, cream and seeds from the vanilla pod and cook on a high heat until small bubbles begin to form around the inside rim of the pan. (just before it begins to boil) then turn off heat (do not let boil).
Add a very small amount of the hot milk to the eggs and sugar and stir gently until combined then add a bit more in stages slowly increasing the amount of hot milk you whisk into the eggs. When finished pour the mixture back into the pan and cook on a medium to high heat stirring constantly until the mixture thickens and begins to stick to the back of a spoon.
Remove from the heat and transfer into a mixing bowl and leave to cool, when cold cover with cling film and place in the fridge until chilled.
Once chilled thoroughly empty the mixture into one or two sealed sandwich bags and double bag them for extra strength, then place in the freezer, every hour or so give the sandwich bag a gentle squeeze to help churn the Gelato until its firm enough to remove from the bags easily. Empty the gelato into a freezer proof plastic container and now you have your own homemade Gelato for whenever you need it. (Video recipe below).


Tutti Frutti Gelato
Add some candied chopped mix fruit and a couple of drops of orange essence to some Vanilla Gelato, mix gently and allow to re-firm in the freezer.

Strawberry Gelato
Simply add some chopped strawberries to the Vanilla gelato and mix thoroughly and allow to re-firm in the freezer.

Affogato

This is an Italian favourite, simply pour an espresso shot over vanilla gelato and serve with a crisp wafer. Mine is also garnished with crushed pistachio. (please only use fresh filtered coffee ), I used my espresso machine as it adds a good crema to the coffee. (Lavazza) :-)

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