Ricotta and Pear Cake

To prepare the ricotta and pear cake, start by melting 5 tbsp of butter over very low heat and then let it cool. Meanwhile, pour the eggs into a stand mixer with whisk attachment 1, add the sugar 2, 1/3 of the vanilla pod seeds, and start whisking at moderate speed 3; whisk for about 10 minutes.

On a sheet of parchment paper, transfer the Giffoni hazelnut flour, sift the all-purpose flour on top 4, and mix with a spatula to combine them 5. Once you have obtained a well-whipped, light, and frothy mixture of eggs and sugar 6,

pour the dry ingredients in two parts 7, mixing with the spatula from top to bottom to combine them without deflating the mixture 8, then slowly add the melted butter brought to room temperature 9.

Mix from bottom to top to incorporate it 10, then put the obtained batter into a piping bag with a plain nozzle 11. Preheat the oven to 400°F in static mode. Butter and flour two 9-inch diameter pans, then create a layer of batter on the bottom, starting from the center with a spiral motion 12

and gradually spreading over the entire surface: this way, you will get two perfect bases 13. At this point, with the remaining batter, you can make cookies that will be used for the final decoration of the cake: place a sheet of parchment paper on a baking tray, then start forming small disks with the leftover batter, spacing them a few inches apart, so they don't stick together while baking 14. You will get about twenty. Sprinkle them with chopped hazelnuts 15.

Now you also have the cookies ready 16. The bases should bake in a preheated static oven at 400°F for 13 minutes; the cookies for only 6 minutes. Once ready (17-18), let them rest to cool completely.

Wash and peel the pears with a vegetable peeler (keep the peels aside for they will be used later) 1; cut the pears in half 2, remove the core 3

and dice them 4. Place the pear cubes in a bowl; in another, pour the sugar 5 and the starch 6, mix them together

before pouring the mix over the pear cubes 7. Then add the lemon juice 8 and mix thoroughly 9.

In a large pan, pour a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and let it heat; add the pear cubes 10 and stir. Cook for a few minutes, then add a little water and flavor with the seeds of 1/3 vanilla pod; cook for a few more moments, stirring occasionally, and deglaze with the pear distillate 11. The pears should remain crunchy. Pour the cooked pears, still warm, into a bowl, recovering the juice well, and cover with plastic wrap. Let cool and meanwhile prepare the pear syrup.

Pour the water into a small saucepan 1 along with the sugar 2, the vanilla pod without seeds (which you will set aside), and the pear peels 3.

Cook until the sugar has completely dissolved 4, then remove from heat and let cool. Once cold, add the pear distillate 5 and the rum 6.

Mix, then you can strain 7, so you will have the syrup ready to soak the cake bases. In a bowl, place a whole peeled pear (leaving the stem) and cover it with sugar 8, rotate the bowl so the sugar is distributed over the pear. Then cover with plastic wrap 9 and place in the fridge for at least 1 hour. Then microwave it for 4 minutes at maximum power.

Place the gelatin sheets in a bowl with cold water 1. Meanwhile, take the buffalo and cow's milk ricotta left to drain from the whey (even overnight if necessary), pass them through a sieve 2, then add the vanilla seeds you set aside earlier and 80 g of sugar 3.

Mix everything with electric beaters 4. Place the gelatin (lightly squeezed) in a bowl over a saucepan to gently dissolve it in a bain-marie (5-6).

Take a little ricotta cream and in a small bowl add it along with the now dissolved gelatin 7, mix and then pour everything over the remaining ricotta cream 8. Mix everything well. In a separate bowl, pour the fresh liquid cream (the temperature should be about 39°F) and the remaining 1 tbsp of sugar 9.

Whip the cream and sugar with perfectly clean electric mixer whisks 10. Then add the cream to the ricotta cream, first with a spatula mixing energetically 11, then the rest, mixing gently from top to bottom not to deflate the cream. You will obtain your smooth and velvety cream 12. You can put it in a disposable piping bag with a plain nozzle.

Now you can move on to assembling and decorating the ricotta and pear cake: take an acetate disk the size of 9 inches (like the diameter of the two bases). Place it on a serving platter and lay one of the disks inside 1. Moisten with the pear soak 2, then create a layer of cream by distributing it with the piping bag first with a couple of turns on the edge, the rest in the center 3.

Distribute the cooked pears 4, then another turn of ricotta cream and smooth out to even the layer 5. Place the other disk on top 6,

soak again with the syrup 7 and place in the freezer for at least 2 hours. When it is well set, you can prepare the decorations: in a saucepan, pour water, honey, and sugar 8. Stir 9

and let it simmer until you obtain a blonde caramel. Take a sheet of parchment paper and crumple it; when the caramel is ready 10, pour a small part of it on the crumpled parchment paper 11 and let it spread to create an irregular base 12.

Let the remaining caramel rest for 1-2 minutes to thicken, and create a dome decoration by distributing caramel threads on a silicone sphere mold 13. Then pour the remaining part as a thread into a bowl with cold water and ice 14 so that as it solidifies, it creates other decorations 15.

After the 2 hours, remove the ricotta and pear cake from the fridge: to more easily remove the acetate disk, you can warm the outer edge with a hairdryer 16, then turn the cake over 17 and remove both the edge and the base 18.

Dust the cake with powdered sugar, then cut the base of the whole pear 20 and place the pear on the cake 21.

Place the solidified caramel decorations, those obtained with the parchment paper, with the ice, and the domes, then lay the cookies all around the perimeter of the cake 23. Let it rest in the refrigerator for about 4 hours to reach the ideal consistency, after which your ricotta and pear cake is ready to be served 24.