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