zuccotto

Zuccotto cake is a traditional Italian recipe from Umbria and Toscana regions. Serve it to your guests or simply make it for fun!

Chocolate Zuccotto Cake Recipe

Genoise sponge cake (23 cm-round)

ml Amaretto liqueur

300 ml thick cream

ricotta cheese

mascarpone cheese

g icing sugar (plus additional to dust)

g almonds

g mixed peel

chocolate

tbs unsweetened cocoa powder (plus additional to dust)

lemons (zest only)

Line a 1.2-litre pudding basin with cling wrap, leaving enough hanging over the edges to fold over the top of the pudding and cover securely.

Slice the cake horizontally into 3 layers, set aside 1 layer and then cut both of the remaining layers into 8 triangular slices.

Line the pudding basin with the cake slices, the pointed ends at the bottom of the basin.

Patch any holes with spare pieces of cake (you may not need all the slices) so the whole basin is lined with cake.

Use a pastry brush to brush the cake with 2 tablespoons of the amaretto.

Whip the cream until soft peaks form.

Place the ricotta, mascarpone, lemon zest and icing sugar in a food processor and process until smooth.

Add the ricotta mixture to the cream and stir in 1 tablespoon amaretto.

Transfer half the mixture to another bowl and stir in the almonds, mixed peel and half of the dark chocolate, set aside.

Melt the chocolate over simmering water or using the method you prefer, stirring occasionally and when  melted, remove from heat and cool slightly.

Stir this into the other half of the ricotta mixture.

Sift in the cocoa powder, stir until smooth and allow to cool completely.

Spread the melted chocolate and ricotta mixture over the sides of the sponge cake in a thick layer and fill the center with the almond and ricotta mixture.

Cover this with the reserved round of sponge, trimming the edges to fit the basin.

Brush the top with the remaining tablespoon of amaretto. Fold over the plastic wrap and cover tightly, weigh down and refrigerate overnight.

When it’s ready to serve, turn out the zuccotto carefully onto a plate.

Cut out 2 triangular templates from baking paper and dust the zuccotto with alternate triangles of cocoa powder and icing sugar, covering the dusted areas with the template as you go.

Serve zuccotto in slices.

This Zuccotto is delicate cake filled with sweet Italian cream, chocolate, and crunchy almonds. It stands as impressive as the cathedral dome it emulates.

Zuccotto Fiorentino: Italian Almond Cream Cake

Pound Cakes (sliced)

2½ Cups Whipping Cream (½ cup is for ganache)

Ounces Semi-sweet Baking Chocolate

Cup Amaretto

Cup Sugar

Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Cup Almonds (chopped, toasted)

Cup Powdered Sugar

Tablespoon Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

Chop almonds, leaving some larger pieces and some very fine pieces.

Place chopped almonds into a small pan and warm on medium heat. Stir occasionally for 3-5 minutes, until the nuts are lightly toasted. You will know the almonds are done when you can smell a faint scent.

Remove from the heat and let the chopped nuts cool completely.

Chop the semi-sweet chocolate bar into fine slivers and place in a heat resistant bowl. (The smaller the chocolate pieces are, the easier they are to melt)

Warm ½ of a cup of whipping cream in the microwave for 45 seconds. The cream should be hot, but not boiling. If the cream bubbles, then it is too hot and needs to cool before using because the excess heat will cause your mixture to split.

Make chocolate ganache.

Combine warm cream and chopped chocolate. Stir until all of the chocolate is melted and completely integrated into the cream. You will have a smooth ganache.

Cool to room temperature before using. (do not chill in the refrigerator because it will be too stiff to fold into the whipped cream.

Make sweetened vanilla whipped cream.

In a large bowl, whip 2 cups of cream, slowly adding sugar, and vanilla.

Whip until stiff peaks form.

Add cooled chocolate ganache to whipped cream and fold together until you have a smooth chocolate cream.

Cut very thin slices off of the end of each pound cake and save for patches and the bottom of the zuccotto.

Next, cut both cakes into 8-10 thin, even slices.

Take the square slices and cut them in half on the diagonal.

Brush one side of the diagonal slices with amaretto.

Line a 10 inch bowl with plastic wrap.

Then, starting at the center, lay the cake pieces in the bowl fitting them together like a puzzle. Fill the bowl nearly to the top.

Fill the cake lined bowl with chocolate cream.

Next, add a layer of toasted almonds.

Use the remaining pound cake to cover the cream and make the bottom of the cake.

Cover the zuccotto with plastic wrap and chill for two hours.

Once the chocolate cream cake is completely chilled, unwrap the bottom of the cake and turn out onto your cake plate.

Mix together powdered sugar and unsweetened cocoa powder and sift over the top of the zuccotto before serving. Slice and serve chilled with a hot cup of coffee.

This was such a hit! Thank you for this awesome recipe

Oh I love almond and chocolate! And this is so fun and pretty. Love how easy it is too :) Can't wait to make!

What a fun cake! It makes for such an impressive presentation, and that chocolate filling is divine.

This is a delicious cake dessert that is really simple to make, but looks so elegant. Perfect for the holidays.

I enjoyed making this delicious cake. My husband and family loved eating it! So tender. I'll be making this recipe again during the upcoming holidays.

Tipico della tradizione dolciaria fiorentina, è un semifreddo di origini rinascimentali, conosciuto all'epoca come "elmo di Caterina"

Zuccotto fiorentino

300 g di Pan di spagna

bicchiere di Alchermes

250 ml di Panna fresca

g di Zucchero a velo

300 g di Ricotta di pecora

g di Cioccolato fondente

g di Canditi misti a dadini

g di Cacao amaro

g di Zucchero semolato

bicchiere di Brandy

 Lasciate sgocciolare la ricotta. Montate la panna ben fredda con lo zucchero a velo. Setacciate la ricotta e incorporatevi la panna montata. Dividete il composto in due terzi e un terzo. Incorporate alla porzione più grande i canditi a dadini e il cioccolato tritato grossolanamente.

Mescolate il cacao amaro con lo zucchero semolato, il brandy e mezzo bicchiere d'acqua. Cuocete su fuoco basso, sempre mescolando, per qualche minuto. Lasciate raffreddare, quindi mescolate il mix al composto di ricotta rimasto.

 Foderate uno stampo da zuccotto della capacità di 1,5 litri con pellicola, lasciandola sbordare. Riducete il pan di Spagna a lunghe fette rettangolari e rivestite lo stampo completamente, senza lasciare buchi. Tenetene da parte qualcuna per foderare il fondo.

Con l'aiuto di un pennello, bagnate il pan di Spagna con l'alkermes diluito con qualche cucchiaio d'acqua. Spalmate in modo omogeneo su fondo e pareti il composto di ricotta bianco, lasciando una conca al centro.

 Riempite la cavità con il mix al cacao. Chiudete lo zuccotto con le fette di pan di Spagna rimaste e spennellatele con l'alkermes. Premete leggermente, richiudete con la pellicola e fate riposare in frigorifero per 1 notte.

Zuccotto is a traditional dome-shaped cake originating in the beautiful city of Florence. It&#39;s made with a classic Italian sponge cake soaked in liqueur and filled two delicious ricotta fillings including candied fruit and chocolate chips.

Zuccotto

eggs

65 g Italian 00 flour ((½ cup))

g corn starch (cornflour (½ cup))

130 g caster sugar ((¾ cup))

vanilla extract

salt

Butter (for greasing)

kg ricotta (drained (4 cups))

240 ml heavy (double) cream ((1 cup))

sugar sugar (½ cup))

orange ((½ cup))

cocoa powder

chocolate chips ((90 grams))

120 ml Alchermes liqueur

Pre-heat the oven to 160C. A static oven (no fan) is best for this recipe.

Grease the cake pan with butter and place a cut-out disk of baking parchment in the bottom of the tin so the cake doesn’t stick.

Put the eggs, vanilla, and a pinch of salt in a bowl of a stand mixer. Start whisking the eggs on a medium speed and gradually add the sugar in 3 goes.

Whisk the eggs for 15-20 minutes until thick, pale and fluffy. You’ll know the eggs are whisked enough when you can draw a ribbon in the mixture without it disappearing.

Sieve both flours into the egg mixture a third at a time making sure to gently fold the flour into the egg so you don’t remove too much air. Doing this in three goes will also help avoid lumps in the batter.

Once the flour is fully combined transfer the batter to the cake pan and bake on the lowest shelf of the oven for 35-40 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool in the tin for 10 minutes, remove then let it cool completely on a cooling rack.

To make the Pan di Spagna

Drain the ricotta in a sieve over a bowl to remove the excess liquid for at least 30-40 minutes. You can also leave it to drain in the fridge overnight.

Once drained, put the ricotta in a bowl and add the sugar. Whisk the sugar and ricotta together until smooth with no lumps.

In a separate bowl, whip the cream to soft peaks then gently fold it into the ricotta mixture ⅓ at a time.

Now it’s time to create two different fillings. Remove ⅔ of the ricotta mixture and place in another bowl. Add the chopped candied fruit and mix until combined then set aside.

Sift cocoa powder into the bowl with the remaining third of ricotta, add chocolate chips and mix until thoroughly combined.

To make the filling

Line an 8x4 inch bowl with cling film (plastic wrap).

Remove the top golden crust from the cake. You can either thinly slice it off with a knife or gently rub it off with your fingers.

Cut the cake into 1cm (½ inch) thick slices then arrange them in the bowl to create a layer. You can cut slices to fit your bowl and overlap edges if needed.

Next, brush the sponge with the Alchermes or liqueur of choice (see notes). Spread the white ricotta cream all over the inside of the sponge in an even layer then fill the middle with the chocolate ricotta cream.

Use the remaining slices of sponge to seal the top of the Zuccotto and brush with more liqueur.

Wrap the top with plastic wrap then refrigerate for at least 6 hours to overnight. Once chilled, remove from the fridge, unwrap the plastic wrap from the top and overturn the Zuccotto onto a plate.

Remove the plastic wrap completely then top with a dusting of cocoa powder, serve.

To Asemble the Zuccotto

https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/40MOYhdM.mp4

Zuccotto is a traditional dome-shaped cake originating in the beautiful city of Florence. It's made with a classic Italian sponge cake soaked in liqueur and filled two delicious ricotta fillings including candied fruit and chocolate chips.

Zuccotto is an easy showstopper of a recipe that comes together with just a handful of ingredients. Pound cake is formed around a whipped ricotta and left to set so when you unmold it  it makes a beautiful small dome of a cake.

cakes

rum + 1 tablespoons sugar, (whisked together)

ricotta

blood orange curd

sugar

hazelnuts (diced)

sprinkles

dulce de leche

Bowls

Plastic wrap

cocoa powder (optional)

This is a super loose recipe. The filling amount will vary depending on how big your bowl is. I used three soup-type bowls. Not serving size big. But you could make them that big, but of course you're going to need more filling and more pound cake.

Start by lining the bowl or bowls with plastic wrap, leaving enough slack so that you can wrap the pound cake at the end.

Slice the pound cake lengthwise. And then cut those big slices into strips. If the pound cake is a bit dry (you can test this by bending it slightly), you can brush the pound cake strips with a bit of rum and sugar mixture. This will add flavor and pliability.

Place the strips of pound cake into the bowl, creating whatever design you like. I ended up placing two strips on top of each other creating a X and then cutting the small square that's on top, creating an X that's completely flush to each other. Does this make sense? And then I added other triangles. There's no right way to do this, you just add, slice it up, add, until totally filled.

Add the ricotta filling and then top it with more slices of pound cake. Wrap the plastic wrap over the "bottom" of the cake and press it. Place it in the fridge to chill for at least 8 hours, ideally overnight. Repeat if you like, making as many as you like!

When you remove it from the fridge, unwrap it and turn it onto a plate. You may need to give it a few smacks to have it release from the bowl. Remove the plastic wrap and discard. Dust with cocoa powder or powdered sugar, if you like. Garnish with berries, if you like. Slice it up and enjoy.

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