Pasta Flora is a dessert my mother used to make quite often and she usually used whatever homemade jams she had. We loved it especially with strawberry or quince jam!
Note: the above is the original Pasta Flora I made. The post has been updated with more recent photos.
The word “pasta” does not have the meaning all of you know but pasta in Greek is synonymous to “a piece of cake”.
The name “Pasta Flora” is likely a mistranslation of the dessert “Pasta Frolla“. Even this name is not entirely accurate, as the term “Pasta Frolla” refers only to the dough. The correct name is Crostata.
Although I have been meaning to make this cake for a long time now, I kept postponing it.
Although my mother made it often, I did not have a recipe for it.
I searched the net and I made the first one I found, as I was in a hurry and did not have much time to look at various recipes and make up my mind which one to choose.
The recipe I found was a very simple one.
I followed the basic instructions, but added butter instead of margarine, the zest of the lime and two spoonfuls of lime juice.
If lime was not one of the key ingredients of the joust, I would have probably added vanilla essence or lemon zest.
I think I am just making it in time for the Left Over Queen’s Joust again!!! I’ve tried hard to find the three “magical” ingredients which are: almonds, lime and raspberries.
That was a real challenge as two out of three ingredients are not easy to find as they are not local.
I went to several big supermarkets and of course almonds are easy to find, as they grow in Greece.
Limes were more difficult to find and very expensive but eventually found some at a big supermarket chain but there is no way to find fresh raspberries in Greece.
I looked in the section for frozen products but did not find any and was very disappointed.
However, yesterday when I visited Nuria’s blog I saw that she used raspberry jam and I was so excited, as it clicked to me immediately that it was time to make Pasta Flora.
I am submitting this recipe to Jenn, the LeftOver Queen for this month’s Joust.
Pasta Flora
Pasta Flora is a dessert my mother used to make quite often and she usually used whatever homemade jams she had
Ingredients
- 225 grams (8 tablespoons or 1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled and diced
- â…“ cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 medium eggs
- 450 grams all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Zest of 1 lime, grated
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 10 blanched almonds , split in the middle
- 370 grams (1 jar) raspberry jam
Instructions
- Sift the flour with baking powder and mix in the salt and zest.
- Beat the butter until it begins to lighten in colour and add the sugar, eggs, and lime juice.
- Add the flour and mix to make a dough, which does not stick on your hands.
- Line a 28 cm tin with parchment paper. Reserve 1/3 of the dough and spread the remaining evenly in the tin, pressing it with your hand. Spread a layer of jam over the pastry.
- With the remaining dough form 1 cm thick cords and arrange in a criss-cross pattern over the jam. Any leftover can be placed around the rim.
- Decorate with blanched almonds.
- Bake in a preheated oven to 180° C for approximately 45 - 55 minutes, depending on your oven, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. I baked mine for 55 minutes.
Notes
If you like you can glaze the cords with an egg wash before baking, as it will give it a better colour.
Nutrition Information
Yield 10 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 456Total Fat 20gSaturated Fat 12gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 7gCholesterol 81mgSodium 199mgCarbohydrates 63gFiber 2gSugar 20gProtein 6g
Kopiaste and Kali Orexi!
Cakelaw
Sunday 1st of June 2008
Yum Ivy! When I saw the title of this dish, I thought it was going to be a savoury dish (ie pasta), but this is way better. Could you please save me a piece ;)
Erika
Sunday 1st of June 2008
I am so glad I found your site! (from Swati: Sugarcraft India) I went to a greek festival in Washington DC last weekend and had some Galaktompoueko and have been dying to try to make it. Love the rest of your site too!
Ben
Saturday 31st of May 2008
Very nice entry. Good luck!
Nikki Miller-Ka
Saturday 31st of May 2008
I love Bonne Maman marmalades and jams :)
Hooray and good luck to you and your entry in the joust!
Ivy
Saturday 31st of May 2008
Thanks Val and Peter.
Diane (or is it Todd?) Thanks very much. For those who have not yet visited Diane and Todd they have a video with their garden which is like Paradise.http://whiteonricecouple.com/blog/?p=156