Our friend Dolly Goolsby gears up for her next Italian trip with a little baking (and she’s a killer cook):
Hi, Everyone.
It is mid-winter. Cold, foggy, depressing. I had to think of something better to do with my days than going to bed, covering my head, and wait for nicer weather.
Fortunately, I have a pretty busy schedule now, so that going to bed thing wasn’t going to happen, anyway. I wanted to try an Italian dessert recipe, cannoli cake, so my good friend, Susan, suggested we make one, just to see how it turned out.
So often, I find recipes that intrigue me, with no idea of how these dishes are supposed to taste. In these cases, sometimes ignorance is bliss…the dish might taste really good to me, but bears no resemblance to what others, who are familiar to the dish, think it should be. Therefore, today Susan and I made a cannoli cake. Susan had told me, that growing up in Chicago, for her birthday each year, her family would order a cannoli cake from their favorite Italian bakery. So she knew what the cake should be.
I researched, via the Internet, looking for the perfect recipe. Susan and I decided on one, and away we went today. We started by making a delicate sponge cake, then split the layers, covered each piece with a simple orange flavored syrup. The filling consisted of ricotta cheese, cream cheese and mascarpone. The cake then was covered with a cream cheese-whipped cream frosting, toasted almonds and chocolate chips.
Believe it or not, Susan and I did find time to go over some Italian vocabulary this afternoon.
Now, much as we would like, we could not exist on cake alone. Therefore, I made a pot of soup for us….pasta e fagioli. Another dish I had never made before. But Susan had grown up with it.
Susan said the soup was “different” from what she remembered, but it was still pretty good. I had to apologize to Susan, as the red wine I had open was French, not Italian, but it was very good, too.
Then we got to the cake. I still don’t know if it measured up to Susan’s expectations, but it turned out pretty darn tasty.
Yumm! This is definitely a recipe to keep.
Susan did ask me why I keep making recipes that I have no idea of what they are supposed to taste like. I told her that those things make life adventurous. How boring if I only made things that I have made before. I especially love cooking and baking Italian dishes. I seem to be thinking of Italy all the time….and in anticipation of returning to Italy, I simply must eat Italian food.
As long as this gloomy weather continues, I will be trying more new recipes. Look for further posts. If you want, you could send me some ideas! I am always open to suggestions.
Ciao for now,
Dolly
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