On the 8th of March International Women's Day is celebrated around the world. Every country has its own tradition and in Italy it is customary to gift a Golden Wattle flower - in Italian Mimosa.

What we feel is most important about this day is that it is celebrated to remember the rights obtained by women in the last century and those still to be obtained.

The tradition to gift Golden Wattle on this day is typically Italian: Do you know why?

 

In 1946, as soon as the war was over, Women’s Day was celebrated in Italy on March 8th for the first time in an official way. According to the stories of the time, some politicians wanted to use the violet as a symbol of the holiday, others, however, objected: the violet was an expensive flower, and Italy was still recovering from the war. Among them was Teresa Mattei, a former partisan who in the following years would continue to fight for women's rights. Mattei proposed to adopt a much cheaper flower, which bloomed at the end of winter and was easy to find in the fields: hence the tradition of ​​Mimosa -Golden Wattle - was born.

 

 

Not just a flower, Mimosa is also the name of a delicious Cake!

 

Here at BellaItalia we love to follow traditions but also to add our personal touch. For International Women’s Day I like to bake a Mimosa Cake, a delicious dessert wich resembles this flower, symbol of the women’s day in Italy.

For the Mimosa Cake all you need is two simple sponge cakes, a filling of Italian pastry cream, whipped cream and a lemon or orange liqueur to soften the sponge cake.

The first step is to slice the sponge cakes in 3 thin layers and remove the golden crust parts from the top and sides, then cut 2 layers again to create small square pieces and set them aside.

Mix the pastry cream with the whipped cream to create a lighter chantilly cream and assemble the cake making sure you still have ¼ of the cream left to cover the top and sides of the cake. Use the small cake cubes you created before to cover up the cake entirely: they will stick to the cream and create a perfect Mimosa look!

 

Laura’s secret: 

Mix your favorite liqueur with some milk or water and use it to wet each cake layer before adding the cream, this will give a delicious flavor to your dessert and help keep the cake super soft! 

For this recipe, I like to use Limoncello (sweet Italian lemon liqueur) or Cointreau (orange-flavored triple sec liqueur).

If you want to surprise the women in your life with some Italian treats, we have just what it takes.