Bensone

A dense S-shaped ring cake made deliberately dry, because it exists to be dipped in wine.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg, dairy (butter), dairy (milk).

Ingredients

• 400 g plain flour
• 150 g caster sugar
• 120 g butter, melted and cooled
• 2 eggs
• 100 ml milk
• the zest of 1 lemon
• 10 g baking powder
• 1 egg yolk, for brushing
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, for the top

Method

1. Mix the flour, caster sugar, baking powder and lemon zest.
2. Beat the eggs with the milk and melted butter and stir them in until you have a firm dough. Work it as little as possible.
3. THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE DRY. It is a dipping cake: it goes into a glass of wine and holds together there, which a moist crumb cannot do. If the dough feels like cake batter you have too much liquid in it.
4. Roll it into a sausage about 50 cm long and curve it into a loose S on a lined tray.
5. Brush with the yolk and scatter the granulated sugar heavily over — it stays crunchy and is most of the pleasure of the crust.
6. Bake at 180C for 35 minutes until deep gold and firm all through.
7. Cool completely. It keeps a week and is better on the second day, by which time it is drier still.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes