Not only is Roman cuisine indebted to the ancient Jewish community but also pastry making. The ricotta and sour cherry cake - a favorite in the capital - originated right in the Ghetto, the area between Largo Argentina and the ruins of the Portico d'Ottavia. Here, for over two and a half centuries, the Limentani family's workshop, today known as Forno Boccione, has been active, delivering one of the best interpretations every day.
At the end of the Second War, a very dark period for the entire community, the shop began working as a bakery at full speed, focusing on simple and distinctive pastries that still attract tourists and Romans from every neighborhood. Today the Forno Boccione Bakery is usually closed on Saturdays, while on Sunday mornings it is literally crowded for the ricotta and sour cherry cake. There are brioches - rustic, very different from French-style flaky croissants - cream donuts, a repertoire of biscuits, including almond macaroons and cinnamon ones. Then the Ginetti, "biscuits" with raisins, also in the chocolate variant, as well as the ancient Jewish pizza; called "di Beridde".
The Boccione bakery's best seller: the ricotta and sour cherry cake. Yes, it is a Cake not a tart. Because the generous filling of cow's milk ricotta and sour cherry jam is not covered with the usual strips of dough, but with a second compact layer of shortcrust pastry, which covers the bottom but also the top.Each of the cakes is slightly imprecise, irregular, with its trademark dark dome. The opulence of the ricotta blends well with the acidity of the sour cherries; a cross between black cherries and cherries, with a rightly sour flavour. The Boccione cake can obviously be bought whole or taken away in slices, carefully packaged in the classic wrapping with a bow (€24 per kg). Finally, it may be that dark chocolate has become essential in modern desserts, keep in mind that they also make the ricotta cake with dark chocolate.
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