Ricotta & Chocolate – Vanda’s cake

serves 6 people | 1.15h

What you need

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For the dough:

For the filling:

How

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The dough

Lay the flour on a board in a vulcano shape. Create a hole in the centre and fill it with the sugar, salt, lemon zest olive oil and eggs. Slice the butter in fine cuts and form a ring around the vulcano hole.

Use your hands to mix the ingredients until the pastry comes together into a smooth, elastic ball.

However, the most important thing when making it is not to overwork the dough when you knead. Otherwise, you will end up with a hard dough that’s difficult to roll out.

Let it rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Divide the dough into two pieces, one slightly larger than the other. Roll this larger one out to about 3 – 4 mm thickness to cover your baking dish. Form with additional dough the borders and puncture the bottom with the tins of a fork.

Preheat the oven at 180°C.

The filling

Mix in a bowl sugar and the eggs together to form a smooth cream.
Add ricotta and stir well. Note that if your ricotta is too watery and grainy first let it drain, then pass it through a sieve.

Cut the chocolate bar into rough pieces and add it to the ricotta mixture along with the rum.

Transfer the ricotta filling into your pastry shell.

The top

Roll out the rest of the dough and with a knife, cut long strips about 2 centimeters wide. Roll them on the brown sugar to have a crunchy top.
Arrange the strips of pastry in a lattice pattern over the top of the filling.

Bake in preheated oven for about 30-40 minutes. Check it often during the last minutes of cooking.
When the strips are golden on the surface, it is ready.

Take it out of the oven and let it rest for a few hours on a rack, until it cools completely.
Then serve and enjoy!