Rice cake

This rice cake is a local treat from the southern part of the Netherlands. Officially it's eaten with sweetened, whipped cream and chocolate shavings on top, but I've had to cut some calories somewhere after eating too much baking's lately. (That's what happens when starting a food blog...)

Even without the cream and chocolate, it still tastes delicious. This recipe takes a wee while to finish, but it's definitely worth the effort. Eat this cake cold, straight from the fridge. This cake freezes really well, that is if you can stand the temptation of eating the whole lot at once.

Serves 8-10.
Ingredients:
For the dough;
- 200 gr High Grade Flour
- 12 gr fresh yeast
- 100 ml milk, lukewarm
- 20 gr butter, soft
- 20 gr sugar
- 1 egg
- pinch of salt
- extra flour for dusting

For the filling;
- 500 ml milk
- 100 gr Arborio rice (risotto rice)
- 130 gr sugar
- 10 gr custard or flour
- 3 eggs

Garnish (optional);
- 250 ml cream
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp vanilla sugar
- 20 gr dark chocolate

Utensils:
- medium pot
- wooden spoon or spatula
- measuring spoons
- teaspoon
- cup
- fork
- metal mixing spoon
- sieve
- mixing bowl x3
- electric mixer
- clingfilm
- rolling pin
- spring form pan
- grater or vegetable peeler


Preparation:

Preparing the dough:
Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm milk. Sift the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the center and add butter, sugar and the egg. Then add the yeast mixture and start kneading until combined. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured bench/work top and knead for about 8-10 minutes until the dough feels soft and satiny and bounces back when lightly pushed with a finger. If you're not really into kneading by hand, you can also use a handheld mixer with dough hooks or a kitchen aid. When using an electric device, knead the dough for a minute or two by hand after mixing it.
If the dough feels really sticky, then add some more flour. Is it too dry, add some more milk. Just play with it. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave to rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes up to an hour or until doubled in size.
The filling:
Bring the milk in a pot to the boil, add the rice and 100 grams of sugar. Stir until the milk comes back to the boil again. Lower the heat, cover and boil the rice for approximately 20-30 minutes or until cooked. (I always taste if the rice is cooked. I like to have a bit of a bite instead of cooking the rice to a complete mush.) Stir occasionally to prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Be careful not to cook the rice too dry otherwise the rice will burn. If the rice is cooked, but there's still some milk left, add some custard mixture. (To make the mixture; combine the custard or flour with a little splash of cold milk in a cup. Stir with a teaspoon until all the lumps have dissolved and add this to your hot rice-milk mixture.) When adding the custard keep stirring until the rice-milk mixture becomes more difficult to stir and let it boil for a few seconds. Keep on stirring otherwise you will burn the milk. Take it of the heat and let it cool almost completely.
Turn the dough onto a floured work top and press gently with your fingers to flatten the dough. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into a circle big enough to cover the spring form pan. Roll the dough onto your rolling pin and gently 'un roll' it over your spring form pan. You can either choose to cover only the base of the pan or you can cover the base and the sides. I like to have a crust on the sides as well. If you choose to cover the base only, then roll with the rolling pin over the base of the tin to cut off excessive dough. When opting for sides as well, leave the dough that hangs over the sides of the pan. (You can cut this off later. If you do this now the dough might collapse inside the pan and it will be a real nuisance to pull it back out as it won't stay up... trust me!) Use a fork to pinch some small holes in the dough (only the dough that's on the base of the tin, not the sides) and cover with the clingfilm again. Leave to rise for another 30-40 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200ºC (electric oven to 220ºC, gas on 4-5). The rice has had time to cool a bit and is now ready to finalise. Separate the eggs. Cream the egg yolks with the remaining 30 grams of sugar and add the rice. Mix until combined. In another bowl beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and fold half of the whites gently into the rice mixture.
Take the spring form pan and pour half of the rice mixture into the pan. Then add the remaining egg whites to the rest of the rice and again fold in gently. Pour the whole mixture on top of the first layer. If you choose to have a side crust, then cut the remaining dough from the top of the sides.
Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes or until both the rice and the dough are golden brown and the crust comes loose from the sides of the tin. Check after 20 minutes if the cake starts to brown evenly. You may need to turn the pan to create an even colour.
Let the cake cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before taking of the ring and base. Let it cool completely before decorating and place in fridge before serving.

Decorating:
Whip the cream and sugars until stiff peaks form that fall over. Divide the cream all over the top of the cake in an even layer. Grate the chocolate in big curls or use a vegetable peeler and sprinkle over the cream. Cut in pieces any size you like and enjoy!


Variations:
- When cooking the rice, add some vanilla sugar or a split vanilla pod with the seeds scraped out and added to the milk.
- Before decorating with cream and chocolate, use a cherry filling on top of the rice cake. To make the cherry filling; Drain a 500ml can of cherries and keep the juice. Use 7 grams of potato starch for every 100ml juice. Put the starch in a small bowl and add some of the cherry juice to create a liquidy substance. Put the remaining juice in a pot and heat to the boil. Add the potato starch and stir until combined. Bring back to the boil and cook for a minute or so, stirring continuously. Add the cherries and stir. Take off the heat and let the cherries cool a bit before pouring over the rice cake. When cool, finish the cake off with whipped cream and the chocolate shavings.