Eggless Italian Rose Cake / Torta Delle Rose Del Garda

When I first saw this Italian Cake of Roses, I was dumbfounded by its beauty. When I read through the recipe, I found out that it had so many eggs. But still I had it bookmarked. And for this month's Baking Eggless Challenge, I suggested this for the members. It is a yeasted cake flavoured with candied orange. There are so many variations of this recipe available on the web. Some even had an almond filling. This cake is a cross between croissants and pull apart rolls. They are so buttery, soft and have a beutiful orange flavoured crust.

This took two days for me to complete the cake. I used curd and baking soda mixture as the egg substitute. Every stage of the dough usues egg, so I prepared the mixture and had it ready at the beginnning.  There are three doughs in the recipe. Each dough is left for 1-2 hours for tripling and once the final dough is done, it is then allowed for another rise. Then comes the laminating the dough with butter. It is done three times and then the dough is rolled out filled, rolled again, cut into slices and arranged in a baking pan. And this was all done in one day. Muffin cases are used to line the pan to avoid the sticking of rolls in the pan. And it proved to be a great tip. I just left it in the fridge overnight as it was too much work and I was in no mood for mid night baking. The very next day, I took the pan out of fridge and let it proove for 4 hours before baking. And finally after 5 hours the rose cake was ready. As the height of the cake is more, you need to tent the cake with a foil to avoid burning of the crust. Any how the crust will be darker in colour while compared to the other parts. 

My nephew was watching me doing the whole preparation and was so eager to taste it. He is in eighth standard and is so much interested in cooking. Every time he visits us, he will eagerly askl me so many questions regarding cooking. The crust was so crisp. The hot cake needs to be brushed with a sugar syrup. But I used the syrup which I had reserved after making candied orange peels. It was bursting with orange flavour and it gave the cake a nice flavour. Finally I dusted it with icing sugar. We couldn't wait to taste the cake. When I pulled a roll from the cake, my reaction was WOW!!!! It was so soft and absolutely delicious. And it is worth all the work. It was so buttery and the layers were vivible in the crust. The original recipe suggested baking in a 10" pan but I only had an 8" pan. So my cake was high. I had to extend my pan using baking paper so that the rose cake maintained its shape. I was so happy of the outcome. Linking this to Yeastspotting.

Recipe Source: A Kingdom For a Cake

Ingredients:

Egg Substitute:

Curd-1 1/8 cup

Baking Soda-1 tsp

Starter:

Yeast-1 tbs

Flour-50 gm

Warm Milk-5 tbs

Second Dough:

Flour-5 tsp

Egg Substitute-3 tsp

Third Dough:

Egg Substitute-4 tsp

Butter-1 1/2 tsp

Sugar-1 1/2 tsp

Flour-5 tsp

Main Dough:

Flour-400 gm

Egg Substitute-1 cup

Butter-1/2 cup

Sugar-80 gm

Salt-1 tsp

Honey-4 tsp

Candied Orange Peel-1 tbs

Orange Zest from one orange

Vanilla-1 tsp

For The Laminating and Rolls:

Butter-150 gm

Sugar-100 gm

Muffin Cases-8

Syrup:

Sugar-200 gm

Water-200 ml

Orange Zest-1 tbs

Procedure:

For The Egg Substitute:

1. Mix together curd and baking soda and set aside until bubbly. Use it in the recipe at different stages.

For The Starter:

1. Mix flour, yeast and milk to form a sticky dough.

2. Cover with a cling wrap and set aside until it is triple its original volume. This may take fro 1-2 hours depending upon the temperature of the place you live.

For The Second Dough:

1. To the tripled starter, mix flour and egg substitute.

2. Cover with cling wrap and set aside until triple.

For The Third Dough:

1. To the second dough mix flour, sugar, butter and egg substitute.

2. Mix well to form a soft and slightly sticky dough.

For The Final Dough:

1. Add the flour, butter, egg substitute, sugar, salt, vanilla and orange zest.

2. Run the candied orange peel through mixer to make crumbs out of it.

3. Add it to the bowl and with a mixer with dough hook mix it until all the ingredients are incorporated.

4. Dust the counter with flour and knead the dough for 20 minutes. Do not skip this step as this ensures the perfect texture of the final cake. Keep a timer handy.

5. Place the dough in an oiled bowl. Cover with cling wrap and set it aside for 4-5 hours.

Laminating and Baking:

1. Punch down dough to release air.

2. On the counter, roll the dough into a rectangle.

3. Divide the butter into 4 equal portions.

4. Apply one portion of the butter on the rolled out dough.

5. Fold it twice to get three layers.

6. Place it in fridge for a minimum of 20 minutes to firm the dough.

7. Remove from fridge, place the folded side facing you, roll into a rectangle.

8. Apply another portion of butter and fold it twice.

9. Refrigerate and repeat the buttering and folding once more. Refrogerating the dough between buttering is ver important as it makes the dough firm and rolling easier. And alos the butter will not ooze out while rolling.

10. Now roll the dough into a rectangle measuring 12" * 16".

11. Apply the remaining portion of butter and sprinkle the sugar evenly.

12. Starting from the 12" side roll it into a tight log.

13. Slice into 8 equal portions. Each slice must be 2" wide.

14. Using two srips of baking paper increase the height of the 10" round pan. Grease it with butter.

15. Arrange 8 muffin cases, with one in the centre and 7 surrounding it.

16. Place a roll in each muffin case, cover the pan with a cling wrap and refrigerate overnight.

17. The next day remove it from the fridge and let it sit on counter for 4-5 hours.

18. Preheat oven to 180C.

19. Bake the rolls for 35-45 minutes. Cover the top with foil once it starts browning.

20. Remove from oven and let it sit on counter for a while.

For The Syrup:

1. Mix together sugar, water and zest.

2. Bring to boil.

3. Let it boil on low flame until the syrup is thick and sticky.

Finishing the Rose Cake:

1. Apply this warm syrup on the rose cake while still hot.

2. Remove the cake from the pan and place it on a wire rack.

3. Allow it to become warm.

4. Dust with icing sugar and serve immediately. It can also be served at room temperature.

Prepare the egg substitute.

Mix ingredients for the starter.

It will be quite sticky.

Let it triple.

Add the ingredients for the second dough.

Again it will be sticky. 

Allow it to triple.

Add in the ingredients for the final dough. I forgot to add the candied orange peel at this stage.

Once incorporated it looks very sticky.

Knead it for 20 minutes. It is still missing the candied orange peel.

Take the peel in a mixer. These are the home made peel I prepared two weeks back.

Fianlly adding it to the dough.

Place the dough in an oiled bowl.

Let it dit for 4-5 hours.

Punch down dough.

roll into a rectangle.

Apply one portion of butter.

Fold it like a letter and refrigerate.

Repeat the above step twice more.

This is the final fold.

Now using strips of baking paper, increase the height of the pan. Grease the pan.

Place the muffin cases as shown.

Place each roll in a muffin case.

Pull a roll out and Enjoy!!!

They were super soft and so so so yummm...