SICILIAN CANNOLI CAKE

By gaster16

Ingredients

• Cake:
• 8 large eggs
• 1-1/4 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups flour (sift as you use it)
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• Orange Rum Mixture:
• 1 navel orange sliced thin
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup dark rum
• Cannoli Filling:
• 2 lbs. ricotta cheese
• 3 cups confectioners sugar
• 1/4 chopped pistachio nuts
• 1/4 cup candied peel (1 use orange slices boiled in sugar water)
• 1/4 cup scraped bittersweet chocolate
• 2 tablespoons sweet marsala (or Madeira) wine
• Italian Meringue:
• 1-1/4 cups super-fine sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 2/3 cup egg whites
• 1-1/2 lbs sweet soft butter softened to room temperature
• 2 tablespoons of the orange rum liquid

Preparation

Step 1

Cake:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In double boiler, mix together sugar and eggs. With electric beater on low speed, whip until mixture reaches a temperature about 100 degrees. Remove from heat and turn beater to high speed. Whip until mixture cools. It will be at least double in volume. Slowly fold in sifted flour, about a quarter of a cup at a time, adding melted butter at the end. Pour batter in a buttered and parchment-lined (waxed paper will work) 10” cake pan, and bake for about 30-40 minutes, until a skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean. Invert cake on cooling rack, and gently lift off the paper. When cake has cooled, cut in three layers, brush orange rum mixture gently across each layer, and add cannoli filling, replacing layers back in the pan one on top of the other to hold their shape. Refrigerate for two hours, remove from pan and decorate with Italian meringue.

Orange Rum Mixture:

Mix sugar, water and orange together in a sauce pan, bring to a boil for 10-15 minutes, remove from heat and add rum.

Cannily Filling:

Let ricotta sit overnight in a strainer over a bowl to leach out excess liquid. Mix the sugar and ricotta until smooth, then add other ingredients. Place top layer of cake back into pan upside down, brush with orange run, add filling. Then add second layer the same way, and finally the last layer. Let cake refrigerate for two hours invert cake onto a plate and decorate.

Italian Meringue:

Add water and one cup of sugar to a sauce pan and slowly bring to a boil, until it reaches soft ball stage about 250 degrees on a candy thermometer. Beat egg whites with quarter cup of sugar until they are stiff meringue, and slowly, while still whipping at high speed, add the hot sugar-water mixture. Continue to whip the mixture until it is completely cooled. Then add the softened butter about a tablespoon at a time, followed by the orange rum liquid.