Mini Almond Cakes with Ricotta, Pears & Cherries

It all started with the neglected ricotta in the fridge.  I bought it for something I was planning to cook but I changed the recipe at the last minute and I didn't use it anymore.   Being fresh, it needed my attention fast or it goes straight to the dump.  I don't want that.  Something sweet and delicious my husband loves ordering at the restaurants jogged my memory.  The torta di ricotta & pere (ricotta & pear cake) lingered in our mouths & memories for so long that maybe, I can try to recreate it.

What started with one innocent dessert of ricotta & pear cake branched out to six desserts in one day.   I'll tell you why.

While I was cutting up the pear, my eyes fell on the box of cherries I just bought.  I tried one and because it was so sweet, I didn't stop eating anymore.  I thought that I can make a variation of cherries with ricotta among the three mini cakes I was preparing.  That was dessert number 2.

Dessert number 3 came out after I finished assembling the cakes, I still had a lot of ricotta with fruits left and the cake that got left behind after I cut up the discs.  I diced the remaining cake.  I got a couple of glasses, I poured the ricotta, sprinkled the cake & some quartered cherries.   I had a couple of trifles too.

When I took out my ice cream maker, I promised myself that the first ice cream that will come out from there will be for my kids.  I found a perfect chocolate ice cream recipe of my favorite gelateria (ice cream shop) with just three simple ingredients.  Then I added some amarena cherries because my son loves putting them together so much that I decided to put them together already to surprise him when he spoons his ice cream.  That's dessert number 4.  

I soaked my azuki, (Japanese red beans) the previous night and was really planning to do these ice pops.  Dessert number 5 was something that had been lingering in my mind for so long.  After I found some azuki at the bio store, I earmarked them for the ice pop recipe I found.  I grew up with these ice pops with fond memories of eating them, getting dirty and sticky with the drippings and just loving every single second of it. 

My 6th and last recipe for that day was another ice cream.  It's a recipe I bookmarked from a friend's blog that she grew up with instead in Japan.  I was curious about it and since it uses azuki as the main ingredient, it would have to taste similar to the ice pops I loved when I was a kid. 

I'll be sharing with you the recipes of the other 4 desserts I made after this.  They're really simple and easy.  They just require a lot of waiting time in cooking and freezing.  If I made all of them together in one day, you can also do them.  But not altogether I hope!  

Now let me tell you about these cakes.  I found a lot of recipes to make this cake but this particular one jumped out at me.   It seemed like the ones that my husband had in a couple of restaurants that were really unforgettable and the recipe came from a chef in Amalfi Coast.   Then it uses more almond flour than regular flour.  The cake itself should taste wonderfully almondy.  And I was right!  The cake was really, really good.  Between the cherry and the pear version, we both preferred the pear.  The cherry was excellent too, but the pear provided us with a delicacy in taste that married well with the almond cake and ricotta.

The original recipe was conceptualized for a big round cake of 26 cm.  I did not change the quantities of the ingredients of the cake.  I just poured the batter in a 36 x 25 cm. flat rectangular pan instead of two round ones and cut the 10.5 round discs to make mini cake versions.   If I had smaller round discs, I would have made them smaller because a 10.5 cake was an extra big portion for one person.   For the filling, I halved everything in this recipe.  I followed the full one but I was left with too much ricotta mixture.  Half the original amount should just be perfect.

Hope you all have a good weekend!

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Mini Almond Cakes with Ricotta, Pears & Cherries
Inspired by Misya's Torta di Ricotta e Pere (recipe in Italian)

Ingredients:
Makes 3 mini cakes of 10.5 cm. each


Cake:

• 4 eggs, separated
• 140 g. granulated sugar
• 40 g. icing sugar
• 140 g. almond flour (or finely ground almonds)
• 30 g. butter, softened
• 60 g. flour "00"

Filling:

• 150 g. ricotta di pecora (ricotta from ewe's milk) or any kind of ricotta if not available
• 35 g. sugar
• 125 g. cream, whipped
• 200 g. pear (or one medium pear),  peeled & diced + a few thin slices for garnishing or 3/4 cup cherries + some for the sides, pitted & quartered
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1 knob of butter
• icing sugar for sprinkling

Filling:

1. If putting cherry filling, go straight to number 4.
2. Put pears in a saucepan with the lemon juice, 1 teaspoon of sugar and a knob of butter.
3. Cook the pears for about 15 minutes, covered.  Mix frequently to avoid burning.  When the pears are soft, turn off fire and let it cool.
4. Mix ricotta and sugar in a bowl.  Let it pass through a strainer with a fine mesh by pushing it with the help of a rubber spatula or the back of a spoon. 
5. Mix in cooled pears.  If putting cherries, add quartered cherries instead.
6. Add whipped cream and fold gently with a rubber spatula.  
7. Refrigerate for an hour.

Cake:

1. Beat 3 egg whites until stiff then add icing sugar.  Set aside.
2. In another bowl, beat egg yolks and 1 egg white with granulated sugar until it becomes creamy.
3. Add almond flour & flour "00" little by little while still blending.
4. Add softened butter and continue blending until the mixture becomes smooth.  
5. Pour whipped egg whites and  mix with a rubber spatula gently.
6. Line a 36 x 25 cm. baking pan with parchment paper and pour mixture on it.  
7. Bake at 200 degrees Celcius at a pre-heated oven for 10 minutes.
8. Invert it and peel off parchment paper carefully.  Let it cool.
9. Cut discs with the food shaper.  You should have six 10.5 discs (if using this size).
10. Set aside remaining cake for use with other recipes like a trifle I am posting after this. 

Assemble the Cake:

1. Put food shaper on a plate.
2. Put one cake disc inside the shaper.
3. Spread some ricotta with pears or with cherries on it.  If putting the one with cherries, first, line the sides with quartered cherries before putting some ricotta mixture.
4. Cover with another cake disc.
5. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
6. Take away food shaper before serving.  Sprinkle with icing sugar on top.  Decorate with the fruit you set aside.

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