FEDORA

"Youth had been a habit of hers for so long that she could not part with it." This is a brief introduction of Fedora on the poster of Billy Wilder's 1978 movie, starring my favorite actress. The movie didn't get enough positive reviews to become a success but the Italian cake of the same name is quite popular, owing much of its flavor to ricotta.

Not much is known about its origins though everyone agrees the recipe is from Sicily. Fedora is a layered cake filled and topped with the famous cheese but there are versions in which the filling is made of whipped cream. Either way, it's mixed with chocolate chips. The topping also varies: instead of a ricotta layer decorated with chopped nuts, some cakes are glazed with overlapping sheets of Gianduia paste that look like the hat of a diva. Fedora happens to be the story of a diva who resented getting old so I used to believe the cake was named the movie. But it appears that Fedora existed in art long before 1978.

Gemma Bellincioni, star of Fedora (the opera), in 1906

 

A 1882 French play that dealt with the life and tragic death of Russian aristocrat Fedora was already known in Italy by the end of the nineteenth century. The leading role had been played by Sarah Bernhardt and the brimmed hat called Fedora was inspired by her style. In the following decades the hat became a trademark of film-noir protagonists, including Humphey Bogart in Casablanca. In 1899, an Italian opera of the same name was modelled on the French play, with soprano Gemma Bellincioni as Fédora and Enrico Caruso in the role of her lover. It's unknown whether Fedora cake had anything to do with the opera, either.

There is a wonderful story behind Gianduia paste, which is often used in the topping. In plain words, Gianduia is the mixture of chocolate and hazelnuts but the industrialized version is really smooth and difficult to achieve at home. The original idea belongs to a confectioner from Turin, who mixed the ingredients by accident for lack of sufficient quantity of chocolate some time after 1806 when Napolean imposed the Continental System on Europe. The confection was named after Gianduja, a puppet character of the Italian theatre (commedia dell'arte), who is a peasant and too fond of drinking wine.

 

FEDORA

The hat-shaped cake is really impressive but I wanted to make Fedora entirely from scratch, without store-bought Gianduia paste. So the recipe below is adapted from the Sicilian Fedora that consists of two layers of sponge cake and two of ricotta. Instead of the almonds on top, I made a chocolate/hazelnut sauce as near Gianduia as possible in flavor and taste.

I n g r e d i e n t s

200g sponge cake

for the filling:

750g ricotta

150g powdered sugar

100g milk chocolate chips

for the syrup:

250ml water

100g caster sugar

60ml Triple Sec

for the glazing:

100g dark chocolate chips

100g caster sugar

100g hazelnut flour

2-3tbsp water

 

M e t h o d

1. Slice the cake lengthways and place each half on a dish. 2. To make the syrup, cook the ingredients to boiling point. Brush each cake with syrup while it's hot. 3. To make the filling, whip ricotta and powdered sugar. Add the milk chocolate chips and stir. 4. Place the first layer of cake on a serving plate, with a cake ring adjusted. Continue with a layer of filling, another of the cake, and then more filling. 5. To make the glazing, place the water in a non-stick pan at very low temperature. Combine the sugar with the hazelnut flour and cook very gently, stirring from time to time. Add the dark chocolate chips and remove when the mixture is smooth. Pour on the cake immediately. 6. Refrigerate when cool.

V a r i a t i o n

Increase the filling by one third and chill for 2-3 hours before assembling the dessert. When ready, make the layers as described above, using the extra filling to cover the sides. Decorate with almonds or other kinds of nuts (such as pistachios). Finish by sprinkling chocolate chips all over Fedora cake, if liked.

N o t e

Ricotta can give its place to whipped cream at any time and store-bought Gianduia paste will turn this lovely cake into a Hollywood diva.