Caffelatte is what Italians of all ages have for breakfast at home. For small children it is a cupful of warm milk lightly stained with coffee, the ratio of coffee to milk increasing with one's years. It is often accompanied by some store-bought biscuits, but not in my assistant Nadia's family. She lives on her father's farm outside Venice with her husband and small boy, and for her son Tommaso she bakes wholesome cakes with fresh fruit. He has some with his caffeelatte and takes another piece to school to eat for merenda, recess.
I was particularly taken with the cake Nadia makes when there is no more summer fruit on the farm. She uses pears and apples and always adds a banana she buys in town. The proportions of one fruit to another may vary, and indeed Nadia says they always do, but nothing much can go wrong or affect the cake's plainspoken, engagingly fresh taste.
The finished cake will keep fresh for about 5 days, wrapped with foil and refrigerated.
Recipe information
Yield
8 to 12 portions
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Turn on the oven to 375°.
Step 2
Choose a mixing bowl that can subsequently contain all the ingredients. Put in the eggs and sugar and beat them until they are foamy and form yellow ribbons.
Step 3
Add the salt, olive oil, and grated orange peel — making sure you haven't grated any of the bitter white pith beneath the orange skin — and mix thoroughly.
Step 4
Peel all the fruit. Core the pear and apple and cut them into thin 1/2-inch pieces. Slice the banana very thin. Put the fruit into a separate bowl and toss with the lemon juice.
Step 5
Combine the flour and baking powder and mix them into the beaten eggs, incorporating them thoroughly.
Step 6
Add the fruit to the bowl with the eggs and flour, mixing well to distribute it evenly.
Step 7
Smear the bottom and sides of the springform pan with butter, then pour into it the fruit batter. Level off by shaking the pan from side to side; do not press down on the batter.
Step 8
Bake on the middle level of the preheated oven for 50 to 55 minutes, until the top of the cake becomes colored a light gold.
