Yellow mimosa flower, a harbinger of spring; is the symbol of hope, purity and the endurance of the soul.
It is also the symbol of International Women’s Day in Italy and it is a custom to give women across the country bouquets of mimosa flowers on the 8th of March.
Mimosa cake is a popular sweet treat which is believed to be first made by a woman, a Roman pastry chef in the 1950’s for this special day and made look like mimosa flowers with the way it was decorated.
It is actually a very simple combination of Pan di Spagna (Italian sponge cake) and Crema Pasticcera (Italian pastry cream) and it is fairly easy to make but it takes a little time. I usually spread it to two days, first day I make the sponge and the pastry cream, the next I put it all together and decorate.
Pan di Spagna was first made in the 1700’s and it’s only connection to Spain is the fact that it was made in Spain for a banquet and the name “Bread of Spain” was given to honour the Spanish marqioness. It is not certain whether it was made by a Genoese chef or a young French chef who was in the service of the Italian ambassador. Being one of the basics of patisserie, it is used as a base for many desserts and cakes.
There are two methods to prepare the batter, first and the original one requires the eggs and sugar to be whisked over a double boiler (bain marie) until it reaches 45 C, afterwards the flour gets incorporated off the heat.
The second method, which separates into two again, is the opposite as there is no use of heat. One option is to beat the yolks and the whites separately then combine and the other and probably the most straight forward one is where the eggs are whisked whole. Whichever method we choose to go with, the most important thing is to beat the eggs for a good 15 minutes. Famous pastry chef Maestro Iginio Massari says that “well beaten eggs should grow six times from when you start”. If you noticed I haven’t mentioned the use of any raising agents like baking powder, because by whisking for a long time we will be incorporating so much air into the batter that we will end up with a beautifully raised and airy sponge without needing anything else. Whether you are using a stand mixer or a hand held one it should be at a medium speed. The other thing is that your eggs should be super fresh and at room temperature.
We will be using some extra egg yolks to make the pan di spagna for this particular cake, this way we will end up with a sponge which is richer both in taste and colour. After whisking our eggs we will incorporate the flour, previously mixed with potato starch, a little at a time, mixing only very gently so not to deflate the batter. After which we will bake it in two 8-10 inch cake tins. Ones we have our sponges baked and cooled we will trim the dark skin off of them and get three nice disks which will be the layers of our cake. The rest of the sponge needs to be diced for the decoration.
We will prepare the pastry cream according to the recipe in a previous post but up the measurements by half. Once it’s cooled we mix it with some whipped cream and what we end up with is called “Diplomat Cream”.
One more thing we need is a simple syrup to brush the layers of the cake before the addition of cream and filling. I added a little limoncello to my syrup, orange liquor or just plain rum will do too. If you prefer not to use any alcohol you can use a little lemon or orange juice to flavour the syrup.
- PAN DI SPAGNA
- 4 eggs
- 8 egg yolks
- 220 gr sugar
- 200 gr flour
- 40 gr potato starch
- zest of a lemon or 2 tsp vanilla extract
- .
- DIPLOMAT CREAM
- 1½ mesure pastry cream
- 200 ml cream
- 2-3 tsp icing sugar
- .
- SIMPLE SYRUP
- 100 ml water
- 30 gr sugar
- 3 tbs lemon or orange liquor
- We prepare the pastry cream and place it in the fridge.
- For the sponge we start by whisking the whole eggs with the sugar for 15 minutes then we add the yolks, a couple at a time whisking between each addition. We add the lemon zest or the vanilla extract and whisk for another five minutes.
- We sift the flour together with the starch a couple of times so they are well mixed. Then we sift it over the eggs, a third at a time and very gently mix it with the batter trying not to deflate it.
- We divide the batter between two prepared cake tins and carefully flatten the surface. Bake them at 180 C (350 F) for 25 minutes. Once they are cooled we trim the dark skin from all over the sponges and cut out three perfect disks for the layers of the cake and we dice the rest and put aside for later use.
- For the simple syrup, bring water and sugar to boil. After it's cooled down add the liquor.
- For the diplomat cream we whip the cream with icing sugar and put aside a couple of tablespoons, gently mix the rest with the pastry cream.
- We place the first layer of the cake on a platter and brush it with 2-3 table spoons of the syrup, then spread about a tbs of the whipped cream followed by a few tbs of the diplomat cream. Top it with the second layer of sponge and proceed as before. Place the last layer and brush it with a few tbs of the syrup.
- We cover the whole cake with the rest of the diplomat cream and place the diced sponge all around, pressing gently.
- Wrap the cake loosely with cling film and place it in the fridge for a few hours.
Feel free to make vanilla or lemon pastry cream.
You could make the pan di spagna a few days ahead and keep it in the fridge tightly wrapped with cling film. It also freezes well.
I made my cake upside down in a round bowl to ensure the dome shape.
You can freeze the egg whites if you won't be using them straight away. When I separate the eggs I never put all the egg whites in the same bowl, I do groups of 2,3 and 4 egg whites and then freeze them. This way I can take out the exact number of whites I need.
Pan di spagna recipe by Italian pastry chef Salvatore De Riso.
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