Hiking the Dolomites and eating cake

On an earlier trip, I hiked to a rifugio (mountain hut or lodge) called Tiersr Alpl Hutte www.tierseralpl.com/en.html in the Dolomites, the Italian Alps in the Alto Adige region. It’s only accessible by hiking up glorious mountains, past open grassy areas of grazing cows wearing clanging bells around their necks. Tiersr Alpl Hutte is run by a family that has welcomed and fed trekkers for generations. Judith Perathoner gave me the recipe for Torta di Grana Saraceno served in their restaurant, a buckwheat cake filled with berry jam and topped with whipped cream. You see this cake throughout the Dolomites region, made with local buckwheat grain and using whipped egg whites instead of baking powder at such high altitudes. Judith’s recipe was in German so I had to translate it, figuring out what mixing the “cloud” into “cement” meant, and deciphering testing doneness with a “baby wood-stick”. Enjoy a slice of this dense cake with a cappuccino or glass of Moscato.