Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [274]
1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. When the oven reaches the preset temperature, put the peeled almonds on a baking sheet, and place it on the uppermost rack of the preheated oven for 5 minutes. Watch the nuts to make sure they don’t burn. (Do not turn the oven off when you take the almonds out.) Chop the almonds rather coarse by hand, or in the food processor, turning the blade on and off.
3. Put the shelled hazelnuts on the baking sheet, and roast them in the hot oven for 5 minutes. Take them out and use a dry, rough towel to rub off as much of their skin as comes easily away. Chop rather coarse, as you did the almonds.
4. Line the inside of the round bowl with a layer of moistened cheesecloth.
5. Cut most of the pound cake into slices ⅜ inch thick. Divide each slice diagonally in half, making two triangular pieces, each with crust on two sides.
6. Combine the Cognac, Maraschino, and Cointreau in a small bowl or deep saucer. Use a spoon to sprinkle some of the liqueur mixture over each piece of cake, reserving some of the mixture for later. Line the inside of the bowl with moistened pound cake, the narrow end of each piece facing the bottom of the bowl. As you lay the pound cake triangles side by side, have a side with crust next to one without. When you unmold the zuccotto, the thin crust lines will form a sunburst pattern. Make sure the entire inner surface of the bowl is lined with cake. If you need to slice more of the cake, do so. If there are gaps, fill them with small pieces of moistened cake without worrying about the pattern they form. A certain measure of irregularity has its appeal as indication of the handmade character of the dessert.
7. If using chocolate drops split them, if using squares, chop them rather coarse.
8. Take the mixing bowl out of the freezer, put in the heavy cream and the confectioners’ sugar, and whip with a whisk until the cream is stiff. Add to it 3 ounces of the chocolate, and all the chopped almonds and hazelnuts, distributing them evenly. Spoon one-half of the whipped cream mixture into the cake-lined bowl, spreading it uniformly with the back of the spoon or with a spatula over all the cake lining. You should be left with a hollow in the center.
9. Melt the remaining 2 ounces of chocolate in the top of a double boiler as described. Fold the melted chocolate into the remaining half of the whipped cream mixture, and spoon it over the cake, filling the hollow. Trim away any pieces of cake that protrude past the top edge of the bowl. Work out how many more slices of cake you will need to cover the top of the bowl, moisten them with the remaining liqueurs, and place them over the cream. Their outside edge must meet the top edge of the cake lining the sides of the bowl, thus sealing the zuccotto. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or up to 2 days.
10. Upon taking the bowl out of the refrigerator, remove the plastic wrap and turn the bowl upside down onto a platter. Lift the bowl away, leaving the zuccotto on the platter, and carefully pull off the cheesecloth. Serve while still cold.
Variation: Zuccotto with Ice Cream
From the ingredients and materials in the basic recipe above, omit the double boiler, the whipping cream, the confectioners’ sugar, and the bowl in the freezer. Have on hand 1 cup premium-quality dark chocolate ice cream (see Marcella’s Italian Kitchen, page 320), and 1 cup homemade egg custard ice cream or premium-quality vanilla ice cream.
• Follow the directions in the basic recipe through Step 7, until you have split the chocolate drops or chopped the squares. Mix the chocolate drops or chopped squares together with the almonds and hazelnuts. Divide the mixture into 2 equal parts.
• Put the chocolate and the vanilla ice creams in separate small bowls or saucers, and soften them to spreading consistency with a fork, but do not allow them to melt.
• Add the chocolate ice cream to one half of the chopped nut mixture, and the vanilla or egg custard ice cream to the other half.