Only a few weeks ago my beloved Blog turned three years old, like I said in my birthday post, a lot has happened in three years, I have learnt so much, my baking has progressed and my Blog has become extremely popular. Over the years I have loved using Blogger and made a few changes here and there, but the Geek Team at Gelsomina’s Cucina have been putting a lot of pressure on me to change over to WordPress. I am a creature of habit, I don’t like change and I like to be in control, with Blogger I knew it inside out, WordPress to me seemed just so complicated.
So after much nagging, they finally convinced me… what changed my mind you may ask, well there were quite a few things, the first one being that when I actually looked at WordPress and started to use it I realised that it wasn’t as complicated as I first thought and it also had so many other fabulous functions that would make my life easier than blogger, for example, uploading photo’s is so simple.
What I really want to tell you about is how great the new blog looks, how easy it is to use and tell you about some great new functions that you are just going to love. We have a search button, this I am already putting to good use and can not imagine not ever having one now, we have a fantastic online shop called, ‘Kitchen Shop’, here you will find a ‘Book Shop’ with all my favourite cookery books, the ones that I can not live with out, that are tried and tested, time and time again, a ‘Product Shop’ with all my kitchen must haves and an ‘Ingredients Shop’ that allows you to see what ingredients I prefer to use and with all of this comes a link to Amazon where you can buy everything, its crazy!
Other fantastic features are, everything is listed alphabetically and because I have viewers in over 70 countries now, we have also added a translate button,you can now read the my blog in any language you want. I must admit to be a little overwhelmed by it all and I am just so pleased with it, I have to say a fantastic thank you to my Hubby who has put a massive amount of hours and patience into what was a very complicated transfer. It was a case of not what you know, but who you know, I am lucky to be married to an amazingly talented Geek.
So incase you have had any issues viewing the blog over the last week, I would like to apologise, there were times that we were going from the old to the new and back again, whilst testing the site, but today I am very excited and proud to officially launch ‘GELSOMINA’S CUCINA’S new WORDPRESS WEBSITE, fanfare please !!!!!!!
In true Gelsomina’s Cucina style I couldn’t make an announcement without a celebration bake and a little ceremony, so I baked this gorgeous Limoncello and Strawberry Balsamic Sponge Cake, with a British and Italian twist it sums up my blog so well, so with some bubbly and a massive cheers to the team I would just like to say…well done everyone!
I really hope that you all love it, find it a pleasure to use and if you have any problems, please feel free to contact me and let me know what they are via our new ‘Contact Us’ page and we will do our best to sort them. So big launch done, time to drink bubbly, eat cake and that can only leave me only one more thing to say, Buon appetito !
FOR THE SPONGE:
175g unsalted butter, softened
175g caster sugar
3 free-range eggs
1 teaspoon good quality vanilla essence
1 tablespoon Limoncello (or 2 teaspoons lemon juice)
175g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon cornflour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon milk
FOR THE FILLING:
400g fresh strawberries, hulled and quarterer length-ways
2 tablespoons Limoncello (or 1 tablespoon lemon juice)
2 teaspoon top-quality balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon caster sugar
Small handful fresh mint leaves, very finely chopped
200ml mascarpone
100ml pouring cream
Icing sugar for dusting
Pre-heat oven to 180˚C.
Sift flour, cornflour and baking powder into a bowl and set aside.
Grease and line 2 x 20cm spring-form round baking tins.
Cream butter and sugar together until pale and a super creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing in-between each addition. If the mixture looks curdled, don’t worry, it will be fine when you add the dry ingredients.
Add the vanilla essence then the sifted dry ingredients in 2 or 3 additions and fold in gently to combine followed by the Limoncello and milk. When batter is thoroughly combined, divide between the 2 pre-lined baking tins, spreading out evenly with a small angled spatula, give the tins a light tap on a counter to remove any air bubbles.
I just added all the dry ingredients, milk and Limoncello to the food mixer and gave it a quick mix, I also didn’t tap the tin to dislodge air bubble, I always feel this is a waste of time and the cakes turned out perfectly.
Bake in the oven for 20 – 25 minutes until the tops are golden brown and a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake.
Allow to cool in tins for 5 minutes before removing and transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
While cakes are baking, add the strawberries, sugar, Limoncello and balsamic into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over a high heat, then reduce to low, add the chopped mint and allow to simmer gently for 7-8 minutes. Don’t over cook the fruit, it should be softened, not falling apart. When fruit is nice and soft, strain the fruit into a bowl retaining the syrup. Set the strained fruit aside and allow to cool slightly.
Return the syrup to the same saucepan, set it over medium heat and allow to simmer and reduce by half. Remove pan from heat and pour over cooked fruit, the smell is amazing.
While the fruit and sponge are cooling, fold the cream into the mascarpone and stir until smooth. I found this was too running, so I gave it a quick whisk in the food mixer to thicken it up and I must confess added some icing sugar to sweeten it.
To assemble cake, spread mascarpone cream over the top of the bottom cake and top with the fruit. Cover with the second sponge and liberally dust top with icing sugar. Add enough syrup so it gently dribbles down the side of the cake, just stunning.
This recipe was taken from the cookery book ‘What Katie Ate’, which is on my wish list to buy soon. This recipe is amazing, it takes a very simple Victoria sponge & gives it the WOW factor, the strawberries cooked in the Limoncello, mint and balsamic are amazing. It is a perfect summer treat, just needs a nice glass of Pimms.
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