Ever wondered what to do with the leftover, stale bread other than bin it? My grandma would say: make cake! This recipe is a very simple way to re-use not only stale bread but other cupboards ingredients as well.
The name of this cake is a dialect word from the province of Vicenza which literally translates into beat the hunger. The name refers to the fact that this is a rather heavy cake and it WILL stifle your hunger. The beauty of this cake originates from the concept of re-using and using up cupboards ingredients and leftovers, to avoid wastage. For this reason each family has a slightly different version of it, made with ingredients ranging from sultanas, raisins, peel fruit, dried figs, almonds and many more. These are the fancier ingredients - the base ingredients are rather "poor" ones and the staple is really leftover and/or stale bread, alongside some milk and eggs. You don't have to necessarily use stale or old bread - fresh bread will work just as well. As you can see from my photo above, this cake is not really supposed to look perfect or refined - it is a simple, rustic dish, so focus on the taste rather than the looks.
Ingredients for a square tin 20X20cm
(yields about 9 large square portions)
Ingredients
- 300g of stale/old bread (not mouldy!) - you can also use fresh bread if you prefer
- 500ml of milk (I used almond milk as lactose does not agree with me)
- 2 apples (I used golden, but any kind will do)
- 2 large eggs
- 60g of raisins (or sultanas)
- 2 tablespoon of unrefined sugar (plus a little extra for sprinkling)
- 1 tablespoon of honey
- some grappa for soaking (or rum, or brandy, depending on what you have available)
Method:
Put the raisins in a bowl and soak with the alcohol. In my case I used brandy as I did not have grappa available - my mum and gran would normally use grappa. Set the bowl aside.
Cut the stale bread into cubes and place in a bowl. Separately, warm up the milk in a saucepan - be careful not to boil it as it will quickly catch at the bottom ruining the flavour of your cake.
Pour the warm milk over the bread and leave to soak.
As you wait for the bread and raisins to soak, pre-heat the over to 160C.
Peel the apples and dice them - if you want you can use a little. lemon juice to stop the apple turning black is you are waiting for a while.
Make sure all of the bread is coated and soft - use your hands or a wooden spoon. Use your hands to squeeze out the excess milk and re-coat any dry bits of bread.
Transfer the bread to a large bowl; add the eggs, sugar, honey, apple and raisins. Before adding the raisins, drain any excess alcohol if they haven't absorbed it all.
Amalgamate all of the ingredients evenly.
Line a cake tin with baking paper - I used a square 20X20cm tin as I find this cake is more traditional for me when cut into squares rather than slices. Pour the mixture into the tin and sprinkle the top with a little extra sugar to get some extra crunch on top. Cook in the oven for 40-50m, depending on your oven type and cake thickness (if you have selected a larger tin and you content is spread thinner, you might need less cooking time) - your Macafame is ready once golden and firm.
Some extra tips
You can be creative in the ingredients you add to your Macafame - some good examples are:
- Dried figs
- Almonds
- Pine nuts
Just be mindful that if you pack more things in, you might need to reduce the raisins quantity or/and up the wet ingredients to obtain a soft, uniform mixture before the cake goes in the oven. It should not be too stodgy, as it will dry out when cooking and will turn out too heavy and dense.
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