Soft clementine ricotta bites

Super soft, super fresh, perfectly citrusy to conclude a dinner party! Yes, it does take a little time, but boy it's so worth it!

Ingredients (6 little cakes):

• 50gr plain flour

• 15gr cornflour

• 1 egg

• 60gr granulated sugar

• 25gr vegetable oil

• 30gr milk or soy milk

• 8gr baking powder

• 250gr ricotta

• 100gr icing sugar

• 1/2 tsp orange essence (acqua di fiori d'arancio)

• 1 egg

• 150gr orange candied peel

• Enough clementines and 1 orange to obtain 150ml filtered juice

• 2 sheets of gelatine

Method:

• Put the ricotta into a sieve and leave the sieve on a bowl turned upside down, so that all the liquid drains away

• Sift the flour, cornflour and the baking powder and mix them well together - set aside

• Whisk together the egg with the sugar until it changes colour to a pale yellow and doubles in size

• Gradually whisk in the flour mix, one Tbsp at a time

• After 3 Tbsp of flour, start alternating 1 Tbsp of oil and 1 Tbsp of flour, ensuring each addition is properly mixed

• After finishing the oil, continue alternating the flour to the milk

• Your resulting mix will still be quite fluffy

• Heat up the oven at 200 degrees C

• Prepare your little cake tins by lining them with baking paper (leave enough paper out of the borders, you'll trim it later)

• Pour the cake mix into the tins only up to half the depth

• Lower the temperature of the oven to 180 degrees

• Bake for 10 mins (keep an eye on them so they don't burn, this will not bring them to be completely cooked)

• Clean and dry well your whisk and bowl, then add the ricotta, the icing sugar, the orange essence and the egg - whisk it all up until well amalgamated

• Add 100gr of orange peel and mix with a spatula

• Pour the ricotta filling into the cooked cakes and level the filling with the back of a spoon. Note: it will overflow a bit and won't be even, don't worry about it!

• At this point you can trim the excess baking paper using your scissors

• Put it back into the oven for 30-40 mins (keep an eye on them so they don't burn)

• Bring them out of the oven and set aside in their tins until they reach room temperature (2 hours or so)

• After 1 hour time, start preparing the clementine jelly following the instructions on the packet, but use double the amount of gelatine sheets than recommended

• The liquid for your gelatine will be the clementine and orange juice, filtered well using a fine sieve - make sure you taste it and add a tiny bit of icing sugar if needed

• Once ready, leave it alone for 20 minutes, then stir it every 5 mins or so in order to identify when it's about to set - it might take 30 mins in the fridge, but don't let it set!

• In the meantime, remove your cakes from the tins and peel them super carefully from the baking paper. Note: they'll show to be quite of irregular shapes

• Now use a very sharp non-serrated knife and trim the edges. It helps to start on the very top of the side and go downwards, to preserve the top from detaching in bits

• Place the trimmed cakes back in their tins

• Pour half of the clementine gelatine over the baked cakes, now at room temperature

• Decorate with the remaining 50gr of orange peel

• Pour the remaining of the clementine gelatine all over

• Place the cakes in the fridge and leave to set for 2 hours or more

• At this point, gently lift the cakes from their moulds using a fish slice and place them onto your serving dish

TIP: they keep well in the fridge up to 3 days