Soft clementine ricotta bites

Updated: May 5

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):

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