This cake originated in Veneto and Lombardy, home to illustrious pastry chefs, and there are many versions of this recipe. The ‘rose cake’ or ‘cake of roses’ reminds me a lot of a very dear family friend. Hers is sublime and very soft and – I confess – mine doesn’t reach the same level. Sometimes she puts in those chocolate chips that make you eat one slice after another.

My absolute favourite version is the simple rose cake made with butter and sugar. At the most, with a layer of apricot jam, perhaps homemade in season. The doses have been revised during Luca Montersino’s pastry course I took.

Ingredients for 6 people

Fot the cake:

• 250 g Manitoba flour
• 250 g of flour
• 8 g dry brewer’s yeast
• 70 g sugar
• 10 g honey
• 1 tablespoon of rum
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs
• 80-100 g milk (depending on how much the flour absorbs)
• 180 g butter
• orange or lemon peel or the seeds of the vanilla pod to taste

For the filling:

• 100 g sugar
• 100 g butter
• rum, apricot jam, chocolate, vanilla, etc…

Preparation methodology

Prepare a small biga with 50 g of flour and 30 g of water and the yeast.

Leave to rise for half an hour or until doubled. The dough must be covered and at a temperature of at least 18°C.

Add the remaining flour, eggs and milk at room temperature and your favourite flavourings. Finally, add the butter in small pieces.

Knead the rose cake vigorously, preferably with a dough mixer with a spiral hook. The dough should be soft and a little sticky and should come apart because of the fat.

Let the dough rise for an hour or until it has doubled in size.

Roll out the dough with a rolling pin to make a rectangle about 3-4 mm thick. Help yourself, if necessary, with a pinch of flour. Although the fat in the dough should make it non-stick.

In the meantime, work the butter at room temperature with the sugar for the filling until it is soft and warm. Add dark chocolate chips or a little apricot jam if desired.

Spread the butter and sugar mixture over the pastry rectangle using your fingers or a spatula. Leave a little space at the sides.

Roll up the pastry rectangle, making as many turns as possible. Cut the rolls at least 6-7 cm, better 10 cm.

Place the roses on the 26 cm diameter Ghisanativa hotplate.

Brush with milk at room temperature. If you want more colour, add an egg yolk.

Leave the dough to rise again for an hour or until it has doubled in size.

Bake in a static oven preheated to 140 degrees, with a damp chamber if possible (a 10cm x5 pyrex bowl with a little water in the oven will do) for 20 minutes.

Raise the temperature to 160°C for another half an hour or so until the cake is golden brown on the surface.

Dust with icing sugar when it has cooled down a little.

Roberta de Salvador

“Bellunese doc, omnivorous and publicist journalist with a passion for food and wine. She graduated in Communication Sciences and then did a 10 kg master’s degree at Gambero Rosso, kilos she lost with a healthy diet and lots of walking in the mountains. The recipes she shares with us revisit traditional Italian cuisine and are repeatable even for those who are not PRO cooks.”

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