Pine Nut Cake - Pinolata
November 13, 2009
I love this cake because you can have it after dinner as a dessert or you can have it in the morning with coffee and it's great either way. The traditional way to make this cake is very simple which is just mixing up the batter and pouring it into your pan. But thanks to Andrew Carmellini of Locanda Verde in New York City, I use a different method. He's a master at taking classic dishes and giving them a new twist and that is what he did with this cake. In his terrific book, Urban Italian, he makes the usual batter but then he whips up a meringue and folds that into the batter. It makes for a wonderfully light cake. He also adds lemon zest and juice to the cake, making it even more special. He likes to slice this cake and makes an ice cream sandwich out of it, with chocolate ice cream! Now there's an idea.