It’s called Zuppa Inglese but it’s an all-Italian dessert. There are several legends about his birth, in which he is credited with the invention in various regions of Italy, or others that give it a foreign origin, its diffusion is attested since the nineteenth century in Emilia-Romagna, Marche and Tuscany . It is a dessert with a spoon, composed of sponge cake, soaked in alchermes, the red liqueur typical of sweets, and covered with delicious vanilla and chocolate custard, often prepared in glass containers to show its beautiful layering.
Construction time: 2 hours
Degree of difficulty (from 1 to 5): 2
Portions: 8
Ingredients
For the sponge cake
3 medium eggs (150 g)
120 g of sugar
120 g of flour
Vanilla extract
For the wet
200 g of water
100 g of sugar
50 g of alchermes
For the cream
375 g of milk
105 g of sugar
55 g of egg yolks (3 medium)
35 g of cornstarch
For the vanilla cream
300 g of the prepared cream
25 g of butter
½ teaspoon of vanilla extract
For the chocolate cream
250 g of the prepared cream
50 g of chocolate
30 g of cream
3 g of cocoa
For Italian meringue
100 g of egg whites (average 3)
180 g of sugar
40 g of water
½ teaspoon of vanilla extract
Procedure to make the “Zuppa inglese”
Sponge cake
Whisk the eggs well with the sugar, add the flour, turning gently with the spatula moving from the bottom up to not disassemble. Flavor with vanilla. Cover the oven pan with parchment paper and spread over the dough to a regular layer about 1 cm high. Cook for 10-12 minutes at 170 ° C. Remove from the oven, allow to cool and remove from the paper. Coppare of the discs of the diameter of the cups where the cake will be assembled.
Alternatively, if you want to make a whole cake, bake the sponge cake in a 20 cm mold and then divide it into three discs.
Bagna
Add the cold ingredients and turn until the sugar melts.
For an alcohol-free alternative, use raspberry syrup instead of liqueur.
Cream
Bring the milk to the boil, except for two tablespoons where the starch should be dissolved. Mix the egg yolks, sugar and melted starch. Pour the milk over the milk, turning it with a whisk. Return to heat and thicken. Divide the cream into two bowls, one 250 g and one 300 g.
Vanilla cream
Add the butter to the 300 g of cream, let it melt inside and flavor with the vanilla. Cover with contact film and allow to cool.
Chocolate cream
Heat the cream with the cocoa, melt the chocolate and add the cream inside turning with a whisk to obtain a smooth and thick ganache. Pour the ganache into the cream and mix well.
Cover with contact film and allow to cool.
Italian Meringue
make a syrup at 118 degrees with water and sugar. Whip the egg whites and while they mount pour the syrup flush in, continue to whisk until cool and flavored with the vanilla.
mounting
- Put a disc of sponge in the cup and wet with the cream
- put on the vanilla cream
- another sponge cake and wet
- chocolate cream
- third disc of wet sponge cake
- seal with a little cream and decorate with meringue
Prima di servire fiammeggiare la meringa.
La ricetta è stata realizzata da Lyuba Radeva.
Before serving, flame the meringue.
The recipe was created by Lyuba Radeva.
