Raise your hand to those who have never eaten the paradise cake. In its simplicity it is one of the best and softest cakes that exist and its recipe is really easy to make.
There are many variations of cake paradise, but not everyone knows that the original was born in Lombardy, more precisely in Pavia. The story tells us that this sweet paradise was born from the hands of Enrico Vigoni, a famous pastry chef from Pavia from the nineteenth century. Right in front of the main entrance to the University of Pavia, the confectioner opened his workshop and laboratory in 1878, after learning the trade in Milan.
Among the first important customers to put their trust in Enrico Vigoni, we have the Marquis Cusani Visconti, who asked him to invent a special cake for an equally special occasion. From the wisdom and commitment of the young confectioner, a very particular cake was born: friable but exquisite, with the ingredients expertly dosed so that the cake could be kept fresh and tasty for several days. To taste for the first time this dessert was a noble lady of the area that immediately defined it as the Cake of Paradise. From that moment on, Vigoni became one of the city's most famous pastry chefs, inventing as divine sweets as the Lord's Kisses, the April Fish and the San Sirino.
The Vigoni pastry shop still exists, now in the hands of the great grandchildren who have reached their fifth generation. Despite the fact that the laboratories have been modernized, entering Vigoni it is still possible to taste the traditional recipes of the master pastry chef who, to date, still retain great wisdom and craftsmanship.
If you don't have the opportunity to take a trip out door to Pavia, to taste the original paradise cake recipe, here's how to make it comfortably at home following tradition. Discover it with us!
Paradise Cake Recipe: the ingredients
For the paradise cake in a 24cm diameter mold, you will need the following ingredients:
Butter softened 170 grams;
Sugar veil 170 grams;
Sugar 40 grams;
Salt up to a pinch;
Potato starch 70 grams;
Powdered yeast powder for desserts 3 grams;
Flour 00 100 grams;
1 vanilla pod;
Yolks 80 grams;
Whole eggs 100 grams;
Stress of half a lemon;
Half orange peel.
Finally, you'll need a lot of icing sugar to sprinkle the cake.
The procedure
To prepare the traditional paradise cake, you'll have to start by sieving the 00 flour in a bowl, together with potato starch and yeast, stirring well to ensure that the ingredients blend well together.
In another bowl you will have to put the softened butter cut into pieces together with half a vanilla berry flesh and untreated grated peel. With the electric whips, start to work the mixture until it reaches a soft and airy consistency and add the egg yolks and salt, continuing with the whips until you get a soft and creamy creme.
Take now a third bowl where you can pour whole eggs and caster sugar. Still work with the electric whips until you reach a smooth and fluffy compound. At this point incorporate the latter to the cremina obtained with butter and vanilla, then adding also the powders set aside, little by little and stirring very well with a spatula, to avoid the formation of lumps.
The key to obtaining a crumbly consistency is the alternation of a few liquids with a few powders, continuing to add and mix little by little.
At this point, it will be necessary to moisten the mould and flour it slightly, in order to better accommodate the mixture of the paradise cake (I recommend, level it slightly with a spatula). Cook the cake for about 45 minutes in a oven preheated to 170 degrees and, to know if it is cooked well, absolutely do the test of the toothpick.
Before removing it from the mould, I recommend that you wait about twenty minutes and then turn it upside down in a serving dish. Allow to cool for about an hour and sprinkle the entire surface with sieved icing sugar. Et voilà the paradise cake is ready to be enjoyed!
Paradise Cake Variants
For a paradise butterless cake, you can replace the ingredient with an emulsion consisting of 85 grams of oil, 80 grams of yolk and icing sugar; For a paradise gluten free cake, replace the 00 flour with rice flour. The paradise cake keeps for about a few days well sealed.