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Pies and Tarts
Pasticcio a Sorpresa
Surprise Cake/Pasticcio a Sorpresa (Foil dough covered custard made with rice flour, sugar, butter and eggs)
Originated from: Italy
Occasion: Special times
Contributed by: Taken from "Italian Cook Book" by Pellegrino Artusi (1945)

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Ingredients

Surprise Cake
Milk, 1 quart
Rice flour, 7 ounces
Sugar, 4 ounces
Butter, 3/4 ounce
Eggs, 6
Salt
Vanilla flavoring

Foil dough (No. 341 B)
Flour, 9 oz.
Butter, 4 1/2 oz.
White sugar, 3 1/2 oz.
Egg, 1
Egg yolk, 1



Directions

Pour the eggs, the sugar, the flour and the milk little by little into a casserole. Stir continually so that no lumps are formed.

Put the casserole on the fire and continue stirring: add the butter, the vanilla and the salt before removing the cream from the fire.

Let it cool off and then pour it into a metal dish, to that it is rounded at the top.

Cover it with foil dough No.341, B, ornament it in some way, gild it with egg yolk and bake it in the oven.

Serve warm, sprayed with powdered sugar.



Foil dough

Grind the sugar finely, mix it with the flour, and soften the butter by working it with a wet hand. Now make a loaf of all the ingredients by using the blade of a large knife in mixing them. Do not work it too much or too long. Whenever possible, it is advisable to prepare this crusting the day before, as time is in its favor, and when baked it is softer and mealy.

When about to use the crusting for the pastry, flatten it to the desired thickness with a rolling pin. If you wish to give it the appearance of fancy pastry, use the "grooved" rolling pin on the side of the crusting which goes outside in your last touches. The use of powdered sugar in stretching the dough will make it easier to handle. Adding a few drops of white wine or Marsala wine to the leavings and mixing them with the main loaf will make the crusting softer.


Notes

This recipe (#380) was taken from "The Italian Cook Book" adapted from the Italian of Pellegrino Artusi by Olga Ragusa. It was published by S.F. Vanni in New York in 1945. For the complete copyright cook book see www.archive.org. Photo: Mary Melfi.

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