Gubana

Who doesn’t like cakes? Well, Giulia and I like them a lot! Cakes are obviously not the healthiest foods of all, but, “as a nutritionist, I believe a balanced diet should also include some cheat foods every now and then… and —let’s be honest— Christmas is all about cheat foods!” said Giulia

Our choice for this Christmas was Gubana cake from Friuli Venezia Giulia, a region in the North-East of Italy. Bordering with Slovenia and Croatia, it is not that surprising that this cake has a lot in common with cakes from these countries.

In order to make a dessert less “bad for you” from a nutritional perspective you can easily cut down on the amount of sugar you put into it — usually, if I’m baking for a party, I use 1/3 less sugar compare to original recipes; and 1/2 less sugar (I also use honey) if the cake/biscuits I’m making are for my household. This is a quick effective suggestion that can make a massive impact on your health if you eat sweet foods regularly.

Also, to slow down the absorption of sugars from your digestive tract, adding fibre to your cake is a very smart move!
Fresh or dried fruit and nuts such as almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts and pine nuts are a great source of fibre! And this is what we did, we researched and picked a traditional Italian dessert that would have a good amount of nuts and raisins in the recipe.

Nuts also contain a number of vitamin and minerals such as phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, vitamin E and K, so don’t be afraid of adding them to your Christmassy cake!



Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 30-40 minutes

Total Time: 1.30 minutes 

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE DOUGH

350 g strong bread flour

150 ml  milk

80 g sugar

10g instant yeast

1 medium egg

70g butter, melted

Finely grated zest of one lemon

1 vanilla bean, split and scraped of seeds

FOR THE FILLING

150 grams raisins

70 ml marsala wine

20 ml honey

40 g peeled almonds

40 g walnuts

30 g hazelnuts

20 g pinenuts

10 g butter

1 lemon zest

2g ground cinnamon

1 egg yolk for brushing 

INSTRUCTIONS

To start soak the raisins in the marsala wine and set aside. 

For the dough bring the butter outside the fridge to soften. Then in a large bowl or a mixer, if you have one, combine all the dry ingredients together except the salt. Add the egg and the butter, and keep mixing with your hands until everything is well incorporated. Pour in the milk a little at the time and keep kneading until you reach the right consistency. The dough should be smooth, firm but soft and elastic. 

Cover the bowl with a cloth and set aside to rise in a warm place. 

For the filling preheat the oven to 150 ºC and roast the almonds for 10minutes or until they become lightly coloured.

Blend the raisins in a food processor with the marsala wine, lemon zest, honey, sugar and ground cinnamon. 

On a chopping board, crush the nuts lightly and add them to the filling mix.

Take a circular baking tray of about 18cm in diameter. Spread a little bit of butter all around the inside with your hands and lightly dust some flour with a fine sieve. This is to avoid the dough from sticking into the tin while cooking. A good trick I discovered some time ago is to use rice flour instead of wheat flour.

Now scatter some flour on a large flat surface where you will roll the dough with a rolling pin. The aim is to create a rectangular shape. Our rectangle was about a 48x25cm and about 4mm thick. With a knife or spatula spread the filling over the dough, leaving a small border all around. 

Roll the dough up along the longest edge, you will obtain a long cylinder. 

Then roll the cylinder around itself into a spiral shape and place in the baking tray. 

Let rise in a warm place for about 2-3 hours or until it is doubled in size.

Brush with an egg yolk over the top and bake at 180 ºC for 30-40 min.

To check if the cake is ready, I suggest using a long skewer to poke the cake. If it comes out clean then it means your cake is ready.