Torta del pane
No apologies for the fact that this lovely Swiss cake from the Ticino region is not usually made with olive oil, but you could use a delicately flavoured olive oil instead of the butter. Choose a wholemeal or dark bread and do not remove the crusts before weighing for the recipe. No need to test the interior of the cake as it should remain slightly wet.
Torta del pane: pic from Louise Pickford and Ian Wallace
Ingredients
- 200g stale bread
- 500m milk
- 100g sugar
- 50g butter
- 1 egg
- 25g cocoa
- 50g raisins
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- Grated rind of 1 lemon
- 1 small glass grappa
- 50g pine nuts
Method
- Set the oven to 170C and grease and line a small square tray-bake tin with baking parchment.
- Cut the bread into cubes and place in a bowl. Pour the boiling milk over the top and leave to stand for six hours or overnight. Crush the soaked bread with your hands, taking time to work all the bits of crust into the mixture. Do not use a good processor or the mixture will be too fine.
- Add all the remaining ingredients, except the pine nuts, stirring between the additions to get a smooth mix. Spoon into the prepared baking tin and sprinkle with the pine nuts.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes. Turn the heat up to 180C and continue cooking for a further 45 minutes.
- Leave to cook and then turn out to serve.
Date and pecan tray bake
This very English cake comes from a specialist importer who is also a mother. “My kids love to pack a piece of cake with their lunch boxes and this recipe is very healthy as it does not use any sugar and is made with one of the extra virgin olive oils which I import from Spain”, she says.
Ingredients
- 225g chopped dates
- 50g pecan nuts
- 125ml raisins
- 300ml water
- 80g extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- Salt
- 225g whole meal flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Method
- Set the oven to 180C.
- Place the dates and raisins in the water in a pan and bring to the boil. Boil for 2 minutes and then remove from the heat.
- Mix in all the remaining ingredients, adding a little more water if the mix is very dry
- Spoon into a square tin and spread out evenly.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until form comes out clean