Ricotta cheese tart with pistachio mousse

• 4 hours to prepare • 35 minutes to cook • Serves 12

Happy birthday

There's no excuse for a birthday without cake.
Even if the original idea was celebrating it at a nice restaurant in the countryside, and the rainy weather decided to ruin your plans. There's no excuse.

This was the genesis of today's dessert: a fridge almost empty, a party organized last minute at home...and the will to provide a special birthday treat anyway. (By the way, auguri Acaro!!!)

The tart is composed of 2 layers: a baked Cassata-like, ricotta cheese based layer, and a pistachio mousse. Everything lying on a crispy pastry.
The mousse is the same as already tasted here. I guess I do not need to add anything else...

I am notorious for remembering I’m supposed to bring something few hours before an event happens.
Today I was lucky, this cake came out of leftover ingredients, but it didn't fail to earn me compliments.
No one guessed I made this at 6 a.m. in a panic, ha-ha!

Here are ingredients for a 12-serving recipe (20-cm diameter baking pan):

For the pastry

200 g flour 00
100 g sugar
100 g butter
4 g baking powder
1 egg
salt


For the stuffing

250 g  ricotta cheese
50 g sugar
25 g candied orange peel


For the pistachio mousse

200 g pistachio cream
2.5 g gelatine sheets
200 ml fresh cream
40 g sugar
20 ml Cointreau liquor

1. Start preparing the pastry: cut the butter into cubes and place it in a bowl. Add sugar, a pinch of salt and knead it quickly
2. Stir in the egg, then mix again. Finally add flour, and vanilla baking powder, all sifted. Knead it again
3. Form a ball, wrap it with plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for 1 hour
4. Drain ricotta cheese in a colander and store it in the refrigerator
5. When we are close to the the 1-hour resting time of the pastry, preheat oven to 180°C
6. When ricotta cheese is dry, sift it and mix it in a bowl with sugar and candied orange peel
7. Preheat oven to 180°C
8. Grease and flour the baking pan, then cover bottom and sides with the pastry cut into a flattened disc-shape, about 5 mm thick
9. Pour the ricotta cream into the pan, and level it well
10. Bake at 180°C for 35 minutes. Then, let it cool down
11. Meanwhile, prepare the pistachio mousse: pour 1/2 cup of water in a medium bowl and dunk the gelatine sheets in it. Let them soften about 5 minutes
12. Drain the gelatine sheets and place them in a small pan with Cointreau liquor.  Melt them over low heat and keep aside
13. Pour the fresh cream into a bowl. Use a whisk to whip the cream with wide strokes and continue to whip until soft peaks form
14. In another bowl, place the melted gelatine and the pistachio cream. Add the whipped cream and stir gently with a spoon to mix well
15. When the mousse is ready, take the tin out of the fridge. Pour the pistachio mousse over the ricotta layer and level it. Decorate with some chopped pistachios - if you like - and place the tin back in the fridge to rest for at least 3 hours

Nutrition Facts are detailed in the table below. Data is provided per serving.

Birthday cake calories don't count.