Giulia's Marbled Chocolate Cheesecake

Prepare for a recipe that will make everyone fall in love with you! It's easy, it always works, and its love-inspiring effects are guaranteed. Besides, ricotta is a low-fat cheese, so you don't have to feel guilty about it! Make sure you use good quality chocolate such as Bournville, Lindt, Cioccoblocco or Valhrona - the cake will taste so much better! - and, if you can find it, buy fresh ricotta.
This is the first cake I baked, and it is still the one my niece Giulia asks for more often. She has even learnt how to bake it herself because, she says, it makes her smile. 
And that one sentence, right there, is the reason why I do it.


Requirements: 

• a 20-cm deep springform tin, or a rectangular brownie tin

Ingredients:
for the base

• 125g plain biscuits
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 40g unsalted butter

for the filling

• 400g ricotta 
• 150g caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla essence (1-2 sachets of vanillina if you are in Italy)
• 150ml fresh cream
• 200g dark chocolate (60%+ cocoa contents works best)
• cream, to serve

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 160 °C. 

Put the biscuits into a clear food bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Mix the crushed biscuits with the cocoa powder.

Melt the butter and stir it into the biscuit mixture.

If you do not want to slice the cheesecake inside its tin when it's ready, line the bottom of your tin of choice with baking parchment (otherwise, simply rub the tin with butter and sprinkle some flour over it), then press the biscuit mixture onto its base. 
At the start, it will not seem enough to cover the base, but persevere and it will!

In a large bowl, beat the ricotta till it softens, then beat in sugar, eggs, vanilla essence and cream. You can do this by hand, using a wooden spoon or a whisk.

Melt the chocolate. Spoon one-third of the white mixture into a separate bowl and beat in the chocolate. Do not worry if it goes a bit lumpy: it will melt in the oven.

Pour the white mixture onto the prepared biscuit base, then place spoonfuls of the brown mixture on top of it. With a knife, swirl it to create a marbled effect.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the centre of the cake feels only just set. Make sure you do not overcook it - it is OK if the centre is a little wobbly. Let it cool, then transfer it to the refrigerator.

Serve warm with cream, and enjoy all the lovely 'mmmmhh' and 'oooohhh' you'll get from your happy customers. Then have a slice yourself, and smile :)

My Sister's Yogurt Cake

As a little girl, I was very fussy about food, and had my parents terribly worried. So, now and then, my sister, the first real baker in the family, would make something plain, sweet, only for me. The type of cake any child would like. When I grew up and started baking too, she kindly provided me with a recipe that still gives me the warm feeling of knowing that someone really cares about me. This cake needs no food scales (you use the empty yogurt pot to measure ingredients), and allows you to use different flavours of yogurt (banana suits it well).

Make it for someone you love!

Requirements:

• a 20-cm springform tin, or a mould of any shape, provided it is not too small. If the mould is too small and deep, the dough will not cook properly in the middle

Ingredients:

• 1 pot of yogurt (plain or banana) then use the pot to measure ingredients
• 3 pots of plain flour
• 2 pots of granulated or caster sugar
• 3 medium free-range eggs 
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence (or a sachet of vanillina if you are in Italy)
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder (or a sachet of Lievito Bertolini if you are in Italy)
• 1/2 (half) a pot of vegetable oil (I use weak olive oil)
• icing sugar to dust

Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 170 °C (fan assisted) or 180 °C (traditional).
In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients, alternating them (start with flour, then sugar, then one egg, then some oil, and repeat). You can do this by hand or using a food processor; however you do it, make sure you get rid of all the bumps. The result will be quite liquid.
Rub butter on the tin or mould you have chosen, then dust it with flour and get rid of the excess. This way, your cake won't stick when you turn it out.
Pour the dough into the tin and bake for 20 minutes, then check the cake by inserting a skewer into its centre. If the skewer comes out dry, the cake is ready. Otherwise, check again after 5 minutes. The top of the cake should look golden.
Let the cake cool for 10 minutes, then turn it out of the mould or tin.

Wait 10 more minutes, then sieve some icing sugar on top of it, and share the love!

TIP: You can use the same recipe to make delicious chocolate-chip yogurt muffins. Add a sachet of plain or dark chocolate chips, then line the holes of a muffin tray with paper cases. Bake for 15 minutes, then insert a skewer or toothpick in the centres of two muffins. If it comes out clean, they are ready. Otherwise, check again after 5 minutes.