Buongiorno Zucotto And Tiramisu!

It was all about the desserts of Italy today in class as we prepared two desserts that were Italian in nature: Zucotto and Tiramisu . I'm sure that you recognize the Tiramisu (what Italian restaurant doesn't have Tiramisu on its menu), but the Zucotto was a new one for me and I'm guessing it might be for my faithful blog followers as well. Zucotto (Zoo-cot-o), which apparently means 'shaped like a pumpkin' in Italian, is a bit of a process to make. You take pan di spagna cake (remember, we made that last week) and you cut four-inch circles out of it. Then, using a spherical-shaped mold, you line the spheres with the cake. The mold is then filled with a ricotta cream that has gelatin (to firm it up) and chocolate and pistachios (to make it taste yum, yum, yummy) folded into it. After it is filled, you take another cut out little circle and place it on top of the filling. The second circle will eventually act as the base from the little Zucottos to sit on.


Spherical mold full of pre-frozen Zucottos full of filling and topped with their bottoms!


After freezing the Zucottos to set them, you unmmolded the little nuggets


Then you ice them with whipped cream, scatter them with chopped pistachios and enjoy!


A view inside/a Zucotto being enjoyed!

The Tiramisu was actually pretty simple to put together. We made a zabaione sauce by whisking coffee, Marsala wine, egg yolks and sugar over a double boiler till they were thick and frothy and then we whisked the zabaione till cool in a kitchen aid. We then folded whipped cream and mascarpone into the mixture and spooned it on top of some espresso and brandy-soaked pan di spagna. This "layer" of cake and zabaione was topped with another layer of cake and filling and then chilled till it was firm enough to pipe whipped cream onto. Then, after the Tiramisu was unmolded, we ate it. So delicious and so fattening.