White Cake - Biancomangiare (White-eating)

This delicious and simple recipe was brought to Sicily by the Arabs during their domination (year 800 – 1100) along with the Zibibbo grapes. It is the simpler and less expensive version of the Sicilian Cassata. Its more delicate taste is perfect to satisfy the sweet tooth without a lot of calories, and if you enjoy a glass of Zibibbo wine with it, it will be heaven.

Cooking tips: the White Cake can be decorated with many different ingredients like chocolate chips, colored sugar sprinkles (as in the picture), or candied fruit as in the Sicilian Cassata. When peeling the lemon, make sure to cut the yellow part only, since the white part will give a bitter taste.

Cooking Time:   Ingredients:
Preparation 5 minutes  4 cups cold milk
Cooking 10/15 minutes   1/2 cup sugar
Resting 3-4 hours 1/3 cup corn starch
    1 lemon peel
Difficulty: Very Easy 6-8 dry cookies
Serves: 10 2 tbls. Zibibbo Wine
Calories per serving:   145 Chocolate chips & colored sugar
         sprinkles for decoration

Directions:

Combine the milk, the sugar and the starch in a saucepan and whisk it well to avoid lumps, add the lemon peel, bring to almost boiling point the milk with a low flame and stirring constantly with a wooden spoon to avoid the cream to stick to the saucepan. When the cream becomes thick and almost boils, take the pan off the stove and keep stirring for one more minute and discard the lemon peel.

In a mold for cakes put 2 tablespoons of Zibibbo Wine to wet the mold, then pour half the cream in it, place the cookies and pour the rest of the cream. Let it cool, then refrigerate it for 3 – 4 hours.

Before serving, with a sharp knife detach the sides of the cream from the mold, place a serving dish over it and turn it upside-down, decorate with the chocolate chips and the sugar sprinkles and serve with a glass of Zibibbo wine.

       Buon appetito!