Sweet pizza is a pleasure that sometimes we're a little afraid to indulge in. It’s time to let go of the feeling that a simple, classic slice of pizza with hazelnut cream is an irresistible sin.
Elevating pizza to a dessert is totally possible: Salvatore Lioniello, already famous for a pizzeria bearing his name in Succivo in the province of Caserta, and for his unmistakable hat, did it.
During last year Milan’s Food Week event, Lionello presented a pizza that meets American pastry: the red velvet pizza, prepared in collaboration with his pastry chef Gianluca Ranieri.
What does it look like? Let's start with the cake. Red velvet is one of the most popular desserts made in the USA and is literally a soft and velvety cake, red in color, filled with a sweet cheese cream. How do you get that beautiful deep red color? Some people make it with artificial dye and others the natural way, using beetroot juice or puree.
Lioniello's red velvet pizza opts for the natural approach, focusing everything on raspberry, which is even present in the pizza dough, as well as in the form of jam. The filling is the classic cake one, that is the cream cheese. To finish off, berries and a sprinkling of real red velvet sponge cake for that final touch of red.