A white chocolate delicacy that takes on the tones of the Mimosa and a surprise double filling: Gino Fabbri's Torta Unica combines a souvenir-effect with an elegant minimalist line. We reveal the recipe of the great Bolognese dessert master.
The cake
In the vast catalog of showcase delights, the cake is probably the pastry chef's best “aphorism”: a kind of 3-D message of his confectionery vision, more or less prone to synthesis according to flair and type. The great ones, however, always start from the classics to seek modernity of form and content, touching all the nuances of expression of the product. This is the strength of Gino Fabbri, undisputed master of desserts and President of AMPI, who in his eponymous atelier in Bologna pays special attention to progress without sacrificing the memory of typical local end-of-meal.
It is not surprising, then, that for March 8 a semi-sphere “edible sculpture” appears next to the towering Mimosa (for which we have already provided you with the recipe), curiously minimalist thanks to its round, polished profile. Dressed in Total Yellow, the new Women's Day creation from the laboratory on Cadriano Street conceals a creamy core under the compact cover of colored white chocolate. The name? “Unique,” as is evident from the double filling: just below the surface we find in fact a creamy core of almond paste and white chocolate, while at the base a soft orange and lemon cake.
After all, it is precisely the citrus peels that give the taste a pleasant “spring” freshness, in a citric surge that contrasts the sugars of the covering. The perfect alternative to the Mimosa, despite the fact that the latter (made with a floral decoration instead of sponge cake cubes) is particularly in demand by the maison's customers, who for the occasion will also benefit from the boxes with pralines filled with an enveloping ganache.
Returning to “Unica,” “the exterior coloring echoes, precisely, the Mimosa; a dedication to the flower-symbol of the occasion,” they tell from the bakery. “Enriched with elegant chocolates, the cake focuses on contemporary aesthetics and the balance between sweetness and lightness.” The advice is to hurry to find the last ones left in the boutique; however, Gino Fabbri has given us his recipe in a simplified version, replicable with a few tricks even within the home.
Unica cake for Women's Day by Gino Fabbri: the recipe
Special thanks to Viviana Fabbri: among the best wedding planners in Italy ( also complicit in her passion for wedding cakes), the daughter of the master pastry chef recommended this recipe to us because of its aesthetic impact and the surprise effect of a dessert different from the usual Mimosa.
FOR THE ORANGE AND LEMON CAKE
- 105 g butter
- 105 g icing sugar
- 110 g egg
- 1 lemon zest
- 1 orange zest
- 3 g baking powder
- 70 g flour
Prepare the molds by buttering them.
Beat butter with powdered sugar and orange and lemon peels.
Add eggs slowly.
Sift flour and baking powder, add to whipped mixture. Bake in ventilated oven at 175 degrees for about 30 minutes.
Break down to positive temperature.
FOR THE ALMOND CREMINO
- 55 g white chocolate
- 48 g 100% almond paste
- 9 g clarified liquid butter
- 0.5 g salt
Melt the white chocolate at 45 degrees. Combine the liquid butter, almond paste and salt.
Temper at 24 degrees.
COMPOSITION
In a polycarbonate hemisphere mold, create a jacket with the white chocolate.
Once the chocolate has crystallized, add the cremino and insert the cake.
Allow to crystallize, unmold, and then drizzle with yellow cocoa butter.
Contact
Gino Fabbri Pastry Shop
Via Cadriano, 27/2- 40127 Bologna
T.+39 051 505 074
