This recipe brings me back to my Venetian origins. The “fregolotta” is a bake from the Veneto region, perhaps the most popular cake/tart/dessert after tiramisu’ and pandoro. Just a simple and humble cake/tart/dessert. But. Full. Of. Flavour. The type of flavour that despite its simplicity keeps you coming back for more and more.
But, a bit of history first.
*Majestic soundtrack in the background*
The crumbly fregolotta tart takes its name by the word “fregola”, which literally means “crumb” in Venetian dialect. It became very popular at the beginning of the XX century thanks to “Zizzola”, a veeeeery good bakery located in Salvarosa, a village near Castelfranco Veneto. The tart is often confused with a similar one that originated in Mantova and is called “sbrisolona”, which also means “crumbly”, just in another dialect. Ah, Italian dialects, love and hate of many. Anyway, truth is, they are two very different bakes, the fregolotta being a much simpler one, that literally only has three ingredients: flour, sugar and cream.
*End of majestic soundtrack*
Ok, now we all crave some fregolotta, or at least I do. Without further ado, here is my recipe. But, of course, with a twist. For this version, I draw some inspiration from another humble – but simply delicious – English bake, the fig rolls. I have made them many times at home, and one of my absolute favourite versions is this sticky toffee fig rolls recipe that you can find on one of my absolute favourite everything-food-and-cooking websites, BBC Good Food.
Two layers or crumbly fregolotta tart filled with a sticky fig filling and a buttery toffee sauce for the perfect balance of simplicity and indulgence. An absolute favourite moreish tart/cake/dessert to have for breakfast, lunch, dinner (it’ll go pretty quickly, you’ll see).
Makes 1 x 24 cm tart
Ingredients
FOR THE STICKY FIG FILLING
- 300g dried figs, chopped
- 150ml water
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 90ml lemon juice
- 60g muscovado sugar
FOR THE TOFFEE SAUCE
- 300g double cream
- 100g caster sugar
- 100g unsalted butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
FOR THE FREGOLOTTA TART
- 500g plain flour
- 140g caster sugar
- 250ml double cream
- 1 pinch of salt
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
- Food thermometer
Method
MAKE THE STICKY FIG FILLING
- Combine all the ingredients for the filling in a small saucepan and bring to the boil over a medium heat, then lower the heat and let simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, let cool down for a few minutes and the blitz to a smooth paste using a food processor until you reach a sticky and thick consistency. Set aside.
MAKE THE TOFFEE SAUCE
- This step requires a food thermometer. Put the double cream in a small saucepan, then add the rest of the ingredients. Bring to the boil over a medium heat, stirring frequently to dissolve the sugar and butter and to prevent anything from catching.
- When the mixture starts to boil, stick the thermometer in it and let it simmer until it reaches 104°C. It may take several minutes to reach the right temperature, but resist the urge to crank up the heat, or you will risk burning everything. Once the mix reaches the desired temperature, remove from the heat, pour in a bowl and leave to cool.
MAKE THE FREGOLOTTA TART
- To make the fregolotta, be ready to get a little messy. Combine the flour, salt and sugar in a bowl and give it a good stir. Pour the double cream into a separate bowl. Dip your fingertips into the double cream and start rubbing it into the flour mix until the cream has fully absorbed. Keep going until there is no more flour left and the mix has a coarse, crumble consistency. Weigh the mixture and divide it into 5 equal parts. Take two bowls and put 2 parts in one bowl and the remaining 3 in the other.
- Pre-heat the oven at 170°C. Take a 24cm cake tin and line it with butter and flour. Take the bowl with the smallest amount of tart mix (2/5) and put that in the tin. Spread it around evenly to cover the base and lightly press it down with your fingers.
- Take a piece of baking parchment and cut a circle the same size of the cake tin. Spread the fig paste over the parchment disc to form a 20cm disc (you should leave about 1.5cm space all around the edge of the parchment). Flip the disc over the centre of the tart base and gently peel off the parchment. Weigh 250g of the toffee sauce and evenly spread it over the fig filling.
- Take the remaining tart mix and evenly distribute it all over the filling, carefully filling the sides and pressing down slightly to compact and level out the top. Bake for 40-45 minutes until lightly golden.
- Let to cool completely before taking it out of the cake tin. Sprinkle some caster sugar over the tart, slice and enjoy with a nice cup of your favourite tea.