RECIPE / RALPH SCHELLING

Torta di pane

This classic bread cake from Ticino is an excellent sweet snack. Make sure you have a springform tin with a diameter of about 22cm. Our Swiss chef insists that this cake tastes best if you let it rest for a day, so that it becomes nice and moist. We weren’t as controlled in our consumption as Ralph.

• Ingredients:
• 250g bread from the day before
• 100g amaretti biscuits
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 vanilla pod
• 700ml milk
• Oil and flour for the pan
• 100g butter
• 150g sugar
• 75g cocoa powder
• 100g pine nuts
• 100g light raisins
• 100g candied orange peel
• 1tsp cinnamon
• 1tsp ground cloves
• 1tsp nutmeg
• 3 eggs
• 20ml grappa

• Method:
• 1. Preheat oven to 180C.
• 2. Chop the bread into small 1cm cubes and crumble the amaretti. Combine in a large bowl and add salt. Cut the vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Heat both with the milk. Pour milk over bread, mix and let soften a little for 5 minutes. Remove the pod and discard.
• 3. Cover the closed springform tin with baking paper. Brush the pan with oil and dust with flour. Melt butter and set aside to cool a little.
• 4. Finely mash the bread mixture with a fork then mix in the sugar, cocoa powder, half of the pine nuts, raisins, candied orange peel, cinnamon, clove powder and nutmeg.
• 5. Mix butter with eggs and grappa until well blended. Fold into the bread mixture.
• 6. Pour the dough into the prepared tin. Sprinkle remaining pine nuts on top. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 1 hour. It will be done when a skewer comes out clean. Let it cool a little, remove from the tin then tuck in.