What!?? You’re saying, this is not a cabbage!!

Hallo, Darlings!!

While grocery shopping online have you ever mistakenly bought a Radicchio instead of a red cabbage. I did so today because I was rushing through the selection of leafy vegetables and shopping by sight and not reading.

Red Cabbage on the left. Red Radicchio on the right.

Well, my first thought after I felt the little rascal in its plastic bag was, “Geez, this is the smallest red cabbage in the world”.” The store had to be joking”. Then I removed it from the bag, and in my surprise I thought it was an exotic cabbage of some kind. I then was ready to seek a refund because I could not have possibly bought this thing.

But, I did. My grocery list said so. And this being the case, I decided to keep it, and to discover just what type of cabbage family it belonged to.

I discovered it was not a cabbage at all, but instead was Italian chicory, and that it has a very bitter taste. To my pallet a raw Radicchio is very, very bitter.  

Now that I knew what I ordered, I now needed to know what to do with it. Because it was pretty, I considered dumping it in hot wax, and preserving it on an end table. Smile. Instead, I searched the almighty world wide net, for a suitable recipe. After going through what seemed like an ended array of recipes for roasted, grilled, sauté, baked and salad Radicchio, I finally found one that stated, “Torta di Radicchio (Radicchio Cake with White Chocolate Glaze)”.

I was intrigued. I was excited. I had to make it, but lo and behold, I did not have all of the ingredients. D__n it.

However, like any good cook, I would not be out done by a recipe just because I was lacking and ingredient or two. It was now …Substitution Time.

And, oh my darlings, the results turned into one of the most delicious snack cakes that my husband and I ever ingested.

Check out my version of a Torta di Radicchio, I call it: Radicchio Cake with Ginger Glaze, and the recipe is below,

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Radicchio Cake with Ginger Glaze

Ingredients

1 stick (100 grams) softened butter, divided

¹/₃ cup (125 grams) granulated sugar

¹/₃ cup packed light brown sugar

1 lemon, zest and juice

5 ounces (150 grams) head of round red radicchio

3 eggs

1/4 of a teaspoon pre-ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup (125 grams) all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

Ginger Glaze Topping

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350° F and prepare a cake tin (8-inches in diameter) by greasing it with a teaspoon of the butter and lining it with baking paper.
2. Bring a saucepan of water to boil, add 2 teaspoons of the sugar and all the lemon juice to the water. Pull off the radicchio leaves in from their head and blanch in the boiling water for 2 minutes. Drain very well, then chop finely.
3. Cream the remaining butter and sugar in a bowl, adding the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition until smooth and creamy. Add the lemon zest, vanilla, nutmeg and then gently fold in the flour and baking powder. When just combined, add the chopped radicchio.
4. Pour into prepared cake tin and bake for roughly 45 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before removing from the tin.

Ginger Glaze Topping

6 tablespoons milk

¼ cup sliced ginger

2 cups confectioners' sugar

Chopped candied ginger, for garnish

Directions

1.       Heat milk and sliced ginger in a saucepan over medium heat

2.       when began milk bubble  remove from heat and let cool;

3.       Then discard ginger, or make a pot of milk tea with it.

4.        Stir confectioners' sugar in the ginger milk.

5.       Finally, Drizzle over cooled warm c Radicchio Cake.

6.       Sprinkle chopped candied ginger on top, optional

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This is not a quick and an easy cake recipe, but it is so good that it can be considered a labor …of love.

Click to enlarge images.

 

Enjoy!

And until next time,

      Chow, Darlings!

Download the PDF.