The Cookbook Junkies

Frankie Avalon’s Italian Family Cookbook, Cannoli-Rum Layer Cake and #giveaway

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Frankie Avalon’s Italian Family Cookbook written with Rick Rodgers is a collection of Avalon’s family recipes.

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The book focuses on simple Italian family cooking. All the classic recipes are covered along with some interesting dishes such as Salami-Stuffed Mushrooms, Chicken Soup with Cheese Custard and Calamari Meatballs with Spaghetti. The desserts chapter is a stand out for me – including recipes for Cannoli-Rum Layer Cake, Limoncello Pound Cake and Italian Puffed Cookies.

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Fans of Italian home cooking will love this book and Frankie’s fans will love the photos and stories. Thanks to St. Martin’s, we can all try the Cannoli-Rum Layer Cake.

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Cannoli-Rum Layer Cake

Serving Size: 10 Servings

Every Italian American loves cannoli—the crisp tubes of fried pastry filled with sweet ricotta. The pastry is not easy to make at home, which is why we usually buy our cannoli at bakeries. Instead, we use the ricotta cream to fill layers of Mom’s sponge cake. Mom’s cake is made with oil, which is a great trick because butter-based cakes get hard when refrigerated, and this dessert should be served chilled.

Ingredients

    CAKE
  • Softened butter and flour, for the pans
  • ¾ cup whole milk
  • ½ cup vegetable oil
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon fine table salt
  • 7 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1½ cups granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
    FILLING
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • ½ cup confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 pound fresh ricotta cheese, drained (see page 6)
  • 1 cup mini chocolate chips
    WHIPPED CREAM
  • 1½ cups heavy cream
  • 3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
  • 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 8 tablespoons golden or amber rum
  • 10 large strawberries

Instructions

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly butter the insides of two 9-inch round by 2-inch deep cake pans.

Line the bottoms with wax or parchment paper rounds. Dust the sides with flour and tap out the excess.

Heat the milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until tiny bubbles form around the edges. Remove from the heat. Stir in the oil and vanilla and let cool until warm.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Beat the egg yolks in a large bowl with a handheld electric mixer on high speed until they begin to thicken. (Or whisk them by hand.) Gradually add the granulated sugar and continue beating (or whisking) until the mixture is pale and thickened, about 3 minutes (or 5 minutes by hand). With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in thirds, alternating with two equal additions of the warm milk mixture, beating until smooth after each addition, and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed with a rubber spatula.

Using clean beaters (or a clean whisk), whip the egg whites in a large clean bowl until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue whipping until the whites form stiff, shiny peaks. Stir about one-quarter of the whites into the batter to lighten it, then fold in the remainder. Divide the batter evenly between the cake pans and smooth the tops.

Bake until the cakes are golden and spring when gently pressed in the centers, about 30 minutes. Let cool in the pans on wire cake racks for 5 minutes. Run a knife around the inside edge of each pan and invert and unmold the cakes onto the racks. Peel off the wax paper. Turn the cakes right side up and let cool completely.

To make the filling: Whip the heavy cream, confectioners’ sugar, and vanilla in a chilled medium bowl with an electric mixer until the cream is stiff. Add the ricotta and whisk together just until the mixture is smooth. Fold in the mini chocolate chips.

To make the whipped cream: Whip the heavy cream, confectioners’ sugar, and vanilla in a chilled medium bowl with an electric mixer until the cream is stiff. Transfer about ¾ cup of the whipped cream to a pastry bag fitted with a ½-inch star pastry tip.

Using a long serrated knife, cut each cake layer in half horizontally. Place a cake layer on a serving platter and slip strips of wax paper underneath it to protect the platter from the cream. Brush the cake layer with 2 tablespoons of the rum. Spread with one-third of the filling. Repeat with the remaining cake layers, rum, and filling, ending with a cake layer and rum. Spread the top and sides of the cake with the remaining whipped cream. Pipe 10 large rosettes around the perimeter of the top of the cake, and place a strawberry on each rosette.

Refrigerate the cake, uncovered, for at least 1 hour and up to 1 day. Slice and serve.

http://thecookbookjunkies.com/frankie-avalons-italian-family-cookbook-cannoli-rum-layer-cake-and-giveaway/

GIVEAWAY:  Special thanks to St. Martin’s who is providing a copy of this title for one of you. This giveaway is open to U.S. Addresses only. Please leave a comment here telling me about your favorite Italian meal. A random winner will be chosen on October 15th. Good luck.

 Random Number Generator chose comment #32 – Susan Broughton. Susan, I have sent you an e-mail.

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Comments

  2. 2

    It would start with calamari, end with Tartufo and in the middle we’d share a plate of mussels pasta. Oh, and bread.

    Reply
  10. 10

    My favorite Italian meal begins with a nice stuffed artichoke, veal cutlet, roasted peppers. eggplant parmigiana with pasta marinara, and crusty bread. A gelato would be nice for dessert. Espresso, biscotti, and family conversation would make the meal perfect for me.

    Reply
  17. 17

    I love Frankie Avalon! All those beach movies with Annette Funicello…
    My favorite Italian meal is Oven Toasted Ravioli.
    Thanks for the chance to win.

    Reply
  21. 21

    My favorite Italian meal – where do I start? Either my chicken parmigiana or my eggplant Bolognese.

    Reply
  28. 28

    Home made ravioli is my favorite. My mom tells me often of the ravioli her mom used to make for my Italian grandfather. I never got to have any but from all accounts, it was delicious. My mom’s is certainly so, and mine? We have yet to see.

    Reply
  32. 32

    I would love to have a copy of Frankie Avalon’s new cookbook! My favorite Italian meal is the Lasagna. My whole family can sit down and finish of a large one!

    Reply
  34. 34

    My ex came from a large Italian family, and what I miss most is the Seven Fishes feast on Christmas Eve (followed, of course, by Midnight Mass)

    Reply
  35. 35

    We are lucky enough to live near Philadelphia where Italian food is amazing. One single meal? Difficult. We had a wonderful time at Dante & Luigi’s a few weeks ago. A good friend from Atlanta (which doesn’t have real Italian food) was in town. I had a wonderful Alfredo and my friend had a pasta dish with all sorts of seafood with a light marinara sauce. Both were delicious and the company made the meal that more special.

    The desserts you mentioned sound amazing. I need to make that Limoncello pound cake. I know the book will be a keeper because Rick Rogers was in on it.

    Reply
  37. 37

    My sicilian mother in law used to make such wonderful meals! Every celebration started with a simple escarole soup. Sunday dinners were an all day affair. Monday morning would bring eggs cooked in left over red sauce and toasted italian bread. Pure heaven!

    Reply

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