Florentine Zuccotto

---------- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.02

Title: FLORENTINE ZUCCOTTO
Categories: Desserts, Usenet
Yield: 1 batch

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 T Sugar, powdered (or more
-or less, to taste)
3 c Whipping cream
1/4 c Spirits (rum, amaretto
-or whatever you like;
-see below for quantity)
Assorted flavorings
-(chocolate, nuts, coffee,
-liqueurs, extracts...)
2 t Gelatin, unflavored
-(optional)

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

: Copyright (C) 1986 USENET Community Trust

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