CookEat Recipe
Zuppa Inglese
A chilled moulded dessert of vanilla pastry cream, lightly liqueur-moistened savoiardi and fruit preserve, with alternating pale and alchermes-coloured biscuits.
Method
Steps
Step 1
Gather the ingredients: 500 ml whole milk; 85 g caster sugar; 40 g wheat starch; 4 egg yolks; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 130 g savoiardi biscuits; 80 g apricot preserve; Prepared clear rosolio for lightly moistening the biscuits, about 60 ml; clear Cedro rosolio is suitable; About 30 ml alchermes for the alternating coloured side biscuits; 10 g cold butter for the mould; A little water only if needed to soften the preserve.
Step 2
Beat the sugar with the four yolks, mix in the wheat starch and gradually add the milk, whisking smooth. Heat while stirring continuously. As steam rises, lower the heat and keep stirring to prevent lumps and scorching. Once thickened, continue over gentle heat for 8–10 minutes, keeping the mixture moving and reaching at least 74°C. Stir in the vanilla. Spread in a shallow bowl, cool promptly and refrigerate as needed; the cream must be cold before assembly.
Step 3
If the apricot preserve is too firm, warm it with 1–2 tablespoons water just until spreadable, then cool completely. Grease a roughly 1–1.2 litre fluted mould thoroughly with the cold butter. Spread the cold preserve across its bottom, then add a layer of cold pastry cream and a layer of savoiardi lightly dipped in clear rosolio.
Step 4
Line the grooves around the sides with savoiardi, alternating biscuits lightly dipped in alchermes and in clear rosolio. Fit the number to the mould; eighteen grooves would use nine of each colour. Add more pastry cream, then more clear-rosolio biscuits, repeating until full and finishing with biscuits. Use the total 130 g biscuits across the base, sides and inner layers. Moisten lightly so they hold their shape and do not release excess liquid.
Step 5
Cover and refrigerate at 4°C or colder for at least 3 hours until firm. Dip only the outside of the mould briefly in warm water to loosen the butter, keeping water out of the dessert, then invert onto a plate. Serve cold and keep refrigerated; use within 2 days.
Step 6
For the flour version, replace the 40 g wheat starch with 40 g plain flour and cook the pastry cream with the same mixing sequence and full 8–10-minute gentle cooking after thickening. Peach or quince preserve can replace the 80 g apricot preserve, or omit the preserve entirely and begin with cream. If the dipping rosolio is excessively sweet, replace 15 ml of it with 15 ml rum or cognac. All remaining quantities and the layering and chilling method stay the same.
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