Subject: RECIPE: Florentine Zuccotto -- party dessert
From: [email-masked] (Paul Asente)
Date: 7 Dec 85 06:27:18 GMT
Newsgroups: mod.recipes

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.RH MOD.RECIPES-SOURCE ZUCCOTTO D "10 Jun 85" 1986
.RZ "FLORENTINE ZUCCOTTO" "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.
.IH "Serves 10\-20"
.IG "10\-12 oz" "cake or lady fingers" "250\-350 g"
(lady fingers, pound cake, or sponge cake.
If you make sponge cake, a 6-egg cake is about right)
.IG "3 cups" "whipping cream" "750 ml"
.IG "\(14 cup" "spirits" "60 ml"
(rum or amaretto or whatever you like. See step 2 for quantity hints.)
.IG "assorted" "flavorings"
(chocolate, nuts, coffee, liqueurs, extracts...)
.IG "2 tsp" "unflavored gelatin" "10 ml"
(optional)
.IG "3 Tbsp" "powdered sugar" "50 ml"
(or more or less, to taste)
.PH
.SK 1
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.
.SK 2
Douse generously with spirits; cake should be quite wet but not soggy.
.SK 3
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.)
.SK 4
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.
.SK 5
Top with more cake and douse with more
spirits.  Since this part doesn't show you don't need to be creative.
.SK 6
Cover with plastic wrap and chill overnight.
.SK 7
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.
.NX
The most recent zuccotto I made used rum to flavor the lady fingers.
The first filling had powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and
.AB "1\(12 oz" "50 g"
chopped semi-sweet chocolate.  The second had 
.AB "5 oz" "150 g"
melted semi-sweet
chocolate mixed with about 
.AB "2 tsp" "10 ml"
instant coffee dissolved in a little
boiling water, and another 
.AB "1\(12 oz" "50 g"
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.
.PP
You can make a smaller one by using less, of course!
.SH RATING
.I Difficulty:
moderate.
.I Time:
60 minutes preparation, overnight cooling.
.I Precision:
no need to measure.
.WR
-paul asente
decwrl!glacier!cascade!asente	[email-masked]
"Is there a center for someone who feels he never knows what's going on?"
	-C. Brown