Soft rose cake

Bring the egg, yolk and butter to room temperature. The butter should be soft but not melted. Bring the milk to about 20–24 °C, weigh out 235 g and set the remaining 15 g aside. Fit the dough hook on the stand mixer.

Put the Manitoba flour, 00 flour and Caputo dry yeast in the mixer bowl. Add 235 g of milk, the whole egg and the yolk. Knead on low speed, roughly 1–2 out of 10, until you have a rough but even mass.

Raise the mixer to speed 2–3 out of 10. Add the sugar in three additions, waiting until each is absorbed before adding the next. Then add the salt, orange zest and vanilla seeds.

Add the 70 g of soft butter in 4–5 small pieces, keeping the mixer on speed 3–4 out of 10. Wait until each piece is fully worked in before adding the next.

Keep kneading until the dough is smooth, glossy and elastic and mostly comes away from the sides of the bowl. Pull off a small piece and gently stretch it with your fingers. It should form a thin, almost see-through film before it tears.

With lightly buttered hands, shape a ball and put it in a lightly greased container. Cover and let it rise at 24–26 °C until it has grown by about 80–100%.

While the dough rises, work the 110 g of soft butter with the 100 g of sugar and a little vanilla if you like, using a spatula. You want a smooth, easy-to-spread cream.

Gently turn the dough out onto the work surface and knock it back only as much as needed. Roll it into a rectangle of about 40 × 50 cm, 5–6 mm thick.

Spread the butter and sugar cream over the whole surface in a thin, even layer. Leave a 1–2 cm border clear along one of the long sides.

Roll up the dough starting from the long side opposite the clear border, until you have a log about 50 cm long. Gently seal the edge and cut the log into 12 roses about 4 cm tall.

Line a 26 cm round pan with baking paper. Arrange the 12 roses swirl side up, leaving a little space between them.

Cover the pan without pressing on the dough and let it rise at 24–26 °C until the roses are well puffed and almost touching.

Bake on the lower-middle rack of a preheated conventional oven (no fan) at 170 °C for about 35–45 minutes. After 25–30 minutes check the colour, and if the top is getting too dark, gently cover it with foil.

Let the cake settle in the pan for 10–15 minutes. Gently lift it out and move it to a wire rack. You can serve it still warm, when the centre is soft and the roses pull apart easily.