Recipe Details
. Difficulty: Medium
. Cheese: Taleggio PDO
. Servings per: 4 people
. Cooking: 10 min
Intolerances
Without crustaceans
Ingredients
for the sponge cake with Piedmont Hazelnuts PGI
100 g Piedmont Hazelnut PGI flour
40 g extra fine soft wheat flour
3 medium-sized eggs
70 g sugar
40 g butter
for the Taleggio PDO cream
200 g ricotta
200 g Taleggio PDO
100 ml cream
5 ml full-cream milk
1 vanilla pod
2 g isinglass
for the caramelized pears
1 large Williams pear (weight 200 g)
70 g sugar
20 ml pear distillate
juice of ½ lemon
1 knob of butter
for the syrup
100 ml water
30 ml pear distillate
70 g sugar
for the decoration
icing sugar
for the pans
flour and butterPreparation
For the sponge cake, beat the eggs with the sugar for 15 minutes until you obtain a frothy mixture four times its original volume. Sieve the wheat and Piedmont Hazelnut PGI flour twice and add a little at a time to the beaten mixture, folding in with a spatula working from the bottom upwards. Lastly, add the warm melted butter. Pour the mixture into two 20 cm cake tins, previously buttered and floured, and bake in a hot oven at 180°C for approx. 10 minutes.
You can also cook the sponge cake in one single cake tin and cut it in half, after turning it out and cooling completely.
For the cream, soften the isinglass in cold water.
Remove the rind from the Taleggio PDO and cut into small cubes.
Heat the milk in a saucepan, add the Taleggio PDO cubes and melt on a low heat, mixing with a wooden spoon. Then squeeze the water out of the isinglass, add it to the saucepan and melt. Leave to cool, mixing frequently to prevent the cream from congealing.
Drain the whey from the ricotta and add the sieved sugar and vanilla. Then add the Taleggio PDO cream and, lastly, the whipped cream. Keep in the fridge, covered with cling film, for at least 2 hours.
In the meantime, prepare the syrup: in a small saucepan, mix while still cold the water and the sugar, bring to the boil and simmer for approximately one minute. Switch off the heat, add the pear distillate and leave to cool.
Peel and core the pears and cut into cubes. Melt a knob of butter in a small saucepan, add the sugar, the lemon juice and the pears and cook until translucent. Add the pear distillate and remove from the heat. Lay the pears on a damp plate or on a sheet of greaseproof paper and leave to cool.
Assemble the pears with the ricotta and Taleggio PDO cream.
Arrange a layer of sponge cake with Piedmont Hazelnuts PGI on the bottom of a cake ring and soak with the syrup: pour the cream on top, level well with a spatula and cover with the other disc of sponge cake. Soak with the syrup and place the cake in the freezer for at least two hours. Remove the ring and leave the cake in the fridge until it is time to serve.
Decorate with the icing sugar.