Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/788859
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 19 FEBRUARY 2017 35 CARNIVAL is in full swing with two more days to go, and from a foodie perspective this only means one thing – prinjolata. As Catholics prepare for the forty days of Lent right after the Carni- val celebrations, this weekend is a ritual of decadence to proceed the days of fasting before Easter. And nothing screams decadence more than the prinjolata. Known as the King of Carnival cake, even from its outward appearance, this cake is a symbol of frivolity – a moun- tain of sugary icing, topped with green and red glace cherries an as- sortment of nuts and drizzled with dark chocolate, this cake gives you an impression of the carnival floats. The name comes from the word 'prinjol' which is the Maltese word for pine nuts. Though the recipe for this traditional cake varies from family to family (or establishment to establishment) it generally in- cludes sponge cake, biscuits, al- monds, pine nuts and citrus fruit and is held together with butter- cream and frosted with American frosting. In the past the prinjolata was covered with buttercream, though today the buttercream is generally only used to hold the pieces of the cake together and is now covered in fresh cream or American frosting. Published author Pippa Mattei gives MaltaToday her recipe. Fine food of the week Food Ingredients Kourambiedes • 200g lard • 500g self-raising flour • 100g almonds, roasted till turning pink them very finely chopped • 2 tbsp orange blossom water (ilma zahar) • ½ tsp mixed spice • ½ tsp baking powder • 75g (3oz) icing sugar Butter cream • 225g unsalted butter at room temperature • 300g icing sugar • A few drops of brandy • ½ tsp vanilla essence • A little tinned (evaporated) milk • 50g pine nuts • 50g almonds, roasted and finely chopped • 50g candied peel, finely chopped American frosting • 200g sugar • 75ml water • 2 egg whites • 1 tsp vanilla extract • 150g green and red glace cher- ries • 50g unsalted shelled pista- chios or 50g roasted chopped almonds • 50g pine nuts • 50g dark chocolate Method 1. To make the kourambiedes, melt lard in a medium sized pot (do not boil). 2. Mix in icing sugar, baking pow- der, orange blossom water and mixed spice, stir with a wooden spoon. 3. Add chopped almonds and flour slowly. 4. When you cannot stir with the spoon anymore, turn off heat and mix with your hands (having al- lowed to cool for a minute or so). 5. When the mixture does not stick to your hand anymore, shape into balls the size of a golf ball (this dose makes approx 24 balls) and put on a baking tray. 6. Bake in a slow oven – 150°sC till just turning brown. Take out of ov- en and allow to cool. Set aside. 7. If you are cooking these biscuits and not using them for the 'prin- jolata' –they are very good on their own - roll them in sifted icing sugar. 8. To make the butter cream, beat butter and icing sugar till pale and fluffy. 9. Add brandy and vanilla essence. 10. Continue beating, adding a little tinned milk to make a smoother and lighter cream. 11. Into this cream, mix in the pine nuts, candied peel and the roasted chopped almonds. Set aside. 12. To make the American frosting whisk egg whites till stiff. 13. Meanwhile, melt sugar in water over heat and boil until a transpar- ent syrup forms (this is called the soft boil stage, when a tsp of the mixture forms a ball when dropped into a glass of cold water, or a blob sticks to your finger when put onto marble). 14. Add this syrup very slowly to the beaten egg whites, together with the vanilla extract, and continue beating till a white frosting is made. Allow to cool. 15. To assemble prinjolata, prepare a flat cake plate. Build up tiers of your Greek biscuits starting with about five and ending with one at the top and bonding all the tiers together with the prepared butter cream. 16. Carefully cover the assembled biscuits with all the butter cream. 17. When firm, cover the mound with the American frosting using a spatula to smooth the sides. 18. Allow to dry slightly. 19. Chop the glace cherries into halves and place all over the 'moun- tain'. Next throw on the remaining pine nuts and the pistachios all over the frosted surface. 20. Finally either grate the dark chocolate over the prinjolata, or al- ternatively melt the chocolate and when melted, pour over the moun- tain in thin lines. 21. Allow the prinjolata to set and dry before carefully cutting and serving. Find this and more of Pippa Mattei's recipes in Pippa's Festa. Recipe of the week Prinjolata Pippa Mattei The King of Carnival: The Prinjolata