Ciao! Welcome to the Dolce Vita Diaries, a lifestyle scrapbook (of sorts), dedicated to the most delicious things in life, literally and metaphorically. I’m thrilled you’re here. Woohoo! If you know me already, you’ll know that I like to cook and eat, have lived much of my life in Italy, am happiest when sitting round my kitchen table with people I love, and write cookbooks for a living (here’s one for you to have a look at; and another that you might like; and you can find the latest one here).
so happy to have signed up to this. Love your Venice pics and now there’s more yippee! i’m back to venice for my birthday in 2 weeks. will be my 12th visit. have added Al Covo to our list. thank you Skye! xx
Ciao Skye, I have loved following your social media over the years. Your beautiful images of Venice and London capture the beauty and individuality of two of my favourite places. So lovely I can enjoy getting a little taste of Italia even though I’m so far away in sunny Perth Australia. Grazie mille. Xx❤️🇮🇹
Just made the pistachio and rose cake for my other half's birthday - it's delicious! But for some reason it didn't rise as much as I expected - is there perhaps an ideal amount of time you should mix it for once you've added the flour, or a best speed to use on the mixer?
I’m so happy you enjoyed the cake, Katie! It is quite a dense cake because of the pistachio butter so I wouldn’t too much. In terms of timings, I would try not to over-beat the batter once you’ve added the flour, so just enough to combine the ingredients: if you beat for too long it risks making the cake more stodgy. But give it a good mix at the start, so when you beat the butter and sugar together you want it to go really light and fluffy before you start adding the other ingredients. Hope that helps a little! Xx
My husband and I got lucky the last time we were in Venice and were able to grab a table at Al Covo without a reservation. I we were dressed for the occasion which I think worked in our favor but they were lovely about it and the only condition was that the service might be slower (it wasn’t).
Wasn’t about to test our good luck this time around and got a spot for our last night in Venice later this month. I can’t wait to go back.
Is the pistachio rose cake similar in method to the pistachio butter cake in Table for Friends? So can I make the pistachio cream as outlined there? Pistachios/white chocolate/caster sugar and vanilla. Thinking of making this one for Mother’s Day but obviously don’t have time to buy pistachio cream on line.
so happy to have signed up to this. Love your Venice pics and now there’s more yippee! i’m back to venice for my birthday in 2 weeks. will be my 12th visit. have added Al Covo to our list. thank you Skye! xx
Thank you so much, Natalie! That's so kind of you to say. I hope you have a wonderful birthday trip to Venice and please say hi to Diane for me! Xx
Ciao Skye, I have loved following your social media over the years. Your beautiful images of Venice and London capture the beauty and individuality of two of my favourite places. So lovely I can enjoy getting a little taste of Italia even though I’m so far away in sunny Perth Australia. Grazie mille. Xx❤️🇮🇹
Awww, thank you so much, Bridget! You're so kind. So lovely to think of you reading this on the other side of the world. Xx
Just made the pistachio and rose cake for my other half's birthday - it's delicious! But for some reason it didn't rise as much as I expected - is there perhaps an ideal amount of time you should mix it for once you've added the flour, or a best speed to use on the mixer?
I’m so happy you enjoyed the cake, Katie! It is quite a dense cake because of the pistachio butter so I wouldn’t too much. In terms of timings, I would try not to over-beat the batter once you’ve added the flour, so just enough to combine the ingredients: if you beat for too long it risks making the cake more stodgy. But give it a good mix at the start, so when you beat the butter and sugar together you want it to go really light and fluffy before you start adding the other ingredients. Hope that helps a little! Xx
Great, thank you. The pistachio and rosewater combination is so good, I never knew they paired so well!
So happy to find you here
My husband and I got lucky the last time we were in Venice and were able to grab a table at Al Covo without a reservation. I we were dressed for the occasion which I think worked in our favor but they were lovely about it and the only condition was that the service might be slower (it wasn’t).
Wasn’t about to test our good luck this time around and got a spot for our last night in Venice later this month. I can’t wait to go back.
Oh, I’m so pleased you made it to Al Covo! And that they found a spot for you. I love it so much! S x
Enjoyed every morsel of words reading this
Welcome welcome to Substack! I am so happy to see you here. I hope to see you in Venice soon (I just moved to around the corner from your old house)
Is the pistachio rose cake similar in method to the pistachio butter cake in Table for Friends? So can I make the pistachio cream as outlined there? Pistachios/white chocolate/caster sugar and vanilla. Thinking of making this one for Mother’s Day but obviously don’t have time to buy pistachio cream on line.
Yes! Absolutely: you can make the pistachio cream from the book and swap it out for the shop bought 💕 Hope your Mother enjoys the cake! 🍰