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Florentine Zuccotto

Category: Deserts

Author: The Savvybearcat

Date: 1/1/2007

Rating:

(3.0) by 1 users

Ingredients:

10 oz Cake or lady fingers (can use a cake (up to 12 oz), such as pound cake or sponge cake. If you make a sponge cake, a 6-egg cake is about right)
3 tbsp Sugar, powdered (or more or less, to taste)
3 cup Whipping cream
1/4 cup Spirits (rum, amaretto or whatever you like, see below for quantity)
Assorted flavorings (chocolate, nuts, coffee, liqueurs, extracts...)
2 tsp Gelatin, unflavored (optional)

Instructions:

Line a large hemispherical bowl with the cake or lady fingers. If you
use cake, cut slices in half diagonally to make large triangles and
arrange them in a sunburst pattern. If you use lady fingers, cut some
in half diagonally and arrange in a flower-like pattern. Douse
generously with spirits; cake should be quite wet but not soggy.

Dissolve the gelatin in 2 tablespoons hot water in a cup; place the
cup in a bowl of very hot water so the gelatin melts. Check
occasionally to make sure the surrounding water stays hot. (I suppose
you could use a microwave for this, but I've never tried.)

Divide the cream into two very cold bowls. Whip each until stiff; if
the flavoring for either half isn't sweet, add powdered sugar to
taste at this point. Beat the dissolved gelatin into the cream.
Flavor each half separately. Spread one half around the inside of
the cake-lined bowl; fill with the other half.

Top with more cake and douse with more spirits. Since this part
doesn't show you don't need to be creative. Cover with plastic wrap
and chill overnight.

Turn out onto a platter and garnish with chopped nuts, grated
chocolate, or powdered sugar if desired. Cut into wedges; serves
about 10-20 people depending.

NOTES:

* Ladyfingers with cream and rum -- This makes a great dessert for a
party. It only takes about an hour to make (more if you bake a cake
yourself instead of buying one) and only requires a few seconds to get
ready when served. Yield: Serves 10-20.

* The most recent zuccotto I made used rum to flavor the lady
fingers. The first filling had powdered sugar, vanilla extract and
about 1 1/2 oz chopped semi-sweet chocolate. The second had about 5
oz melted semi-sweet chocolate mixed with about 2 t instant coffee
dissolved in a little boiling water, and another 1 1/2 oz chopped
semi-sweet chocolate. (Just chop 3 of the squares of chocolate and
melt the other 5). Chopped hazelnuts or almonds are also quite good.

* You can make a smaller one by using less, of course!

: Difficulty: moderate.
: Time: 60 minutes preparation, overnight cooling.
: Precision: no need to measure.

: paul asente
: decwrl!glacier!cascade!asente asente@Cascade.ARPA
: Is there a center for someone who feels he never knows what's going
on? : -C. Brown

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