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Mother's Day - Festa della Mama in Italy: a special Strawberry Cake

Mother's Day originated in the mid-1950s for two reasons: commercial promotion and religious reasons. It was established by Raoul Zaccari, senator and mayor of Bordighera, and Giacomo Pallanca, president of the Bordighera-Vallecrosia Flower and Ornamental Plant Fair Authority. It was also celebrated by Don Otello Migliosi, parish priest of Tordibetto di Assisi, in Umbria, in 1957. The festival took hold throughout Italy and was confirmed on the second Sunday of May, starting from 2001. On this day, children offer gifts to their mothers, such as drawings or other crafts, and recite poems dedicated to them.

 

At our family, we usually celebrated Mother's Day with giving mum a card, flowers and a prepared a special cake and dinner. Here some ideas. The soft strawberry cake is a simple but delicious dessert that will win your mum over just by looking at it. It is a soft fruit cake ideal for a delicious coffee and cake gathering and which, accompanied by whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, becomes a perfect dessert for after dinner with family or friends.


Torta soffice alle fragole - Strawberry Cake

Ingredients: 

2 eggs at room temperature; 160 g of granulated sugar + 1 tablespoon for sprinkling the strawberries; 1 untreated lemon; 60 g of butter; 250 g of cow's milk ricotta; 150 g of 00 flour; 50 g of cornstarch; 1 sachet of baking powder

450 g of cleaned strawberries; Acacia's honey

 

Preparation:

 

To prepare the soft strawberry cake, start whipping the eggs, sugar and grated lemon zest with an electric whisk until you obtain a light and frothy mass. Add the melted butter, mix it well and then add the ricotta and mix it too. Lastly, add the flour with the sifted cornstarch and yeast and continue to work with the whisk until the dough is smooth.  Add half the strawberries, which you will have previously cleaned and cut into 2 or 3 parts, and incorporate them, stirring very delicately so as not to break them. Transfer the dough into a 24 cm diameter springform pan, buttered and floured. Arrange the remaining strawberries along the edges and on the surface of the cake, without letting them sink into the dough, and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of sugar. Cook in a preheated oven at 180° for about 40/45 minutes. At the end of cooking, remove the soft strawberry cake and turn it out onto a cake rack, after letting it rest for about ten minutes. Let it cool completely and glaze it with acacia honey before serving. Grazie al Cucchaio d'Argento!


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