Let them eat cake

Surely too beautiful to eat - Caffe e Dolce

Cake fills the gap nicely between lunch and dinner in Bologna, a gap of six or seven hours. You will see luscious displays of chocolate and fruit cakes  as well as some over-dressed fantasies involving layers of cream and crystalised fruit  in the windows of Atti, Zanarini and Gamberini.  They and others also sell mignon – miniature French-style beauties – singly or weighed by the kilo. You can enjoy them on the premises or take them home.  Other good places to try are

The display at Pallotti

• Caffe e Dolce on the corner of Carbonesi and  Massimo, 
• Colazione a Bianca at the beginning of  Santo Stefano,   
• FP    risto Pallotti, on the corner of Irnerio and  Alessandrini,  good for breakfast, and very convenient if you’re desperate for a mid-afternoon snack after a visit to the Botanical Gardens. 
• Lo Sfizio, via Riva de Reno 100A, has a wonderful range of Bolognese cakes, pastries and biscuits  - to buy to take away only.

Zanarini - where smart babies go for their brioche con crema

Zuppa Inglese

Layers of squidgy, liqueur soaked sponge, custard and raspberry jelly, topped with dark chocolate shavings - add whipped cream if you can take it

Zuppa Inglese is essentially layers of liqueur-soaked sponge cake, custard, chocolate and maybe whipped cream. Harder to define the origins of the name. However, the soggier versions do bear an uncanny resemblance to an English trifle. My version aims for simplicity but because it is rich I prefer to take it in small doses. In Bologna they often stain the sponge a vivid red with a liqueur called Alchermes. Instead, my recipe uses Marsala – for flavour - and a raspberry jelly for flavour and colour. The zuppa is made in a 15cm square (6 inch) cake tin with a removable base. I don’t top it with whipped cream but you can if you prefer. Incidentally, while the photo shows two layers of sponge, I've decided that the recipe works better with just one layer.

Try it.

Serves 4.

Ingredients



200g sponge cake or sponge fingers

100ml Marsala

170g raspberry jam

2 sheets of gelatine

4 egg yolks

100g caster sugar

25g flour

1 lemon’s zest

500ml milk

25g dark chocolate



Method

1. Line the cake tin with cling film.

2. Prick the sponge all over on both sides with a fork. Trickle half the Marsala over one side; turn over and repeat with the other side.

3. Make the custard by whisking together the eggs, sugar, flour and lemon zest in that order, then gradually adding the milk that you have heated up, stirring it constantly over a low heat until it starts to bubble and thicken. If it becomes lumpy use a hand held processor to break it up. Cool the custard.

4. Soften the gelatine in a bowl of cold water.

5. Place the raspberry jam in a bowl over a pan containing a few centimetres of simmering water. Strain the gelatine and stir in.

6. Sieve the mixture through a fine mesh and allow to cool.

7. Assemble the zuppa by carefully spooning the custard into the cake tin to create a level layer. Next comes the raspberry jelly, then the cake. Wrap the cling film over the cake and refrigerate.

8. Leave overnight if possible for the flavours to develop and  for the zuppa to firm up.

9. To serve, unwrap the clingfilm, and allow the zuppa to slide out onto a plate. Carefully remove the clingfilm and grate over the chocolate.

In search of the ultimate…chocolate ice cream

Stefino - a cause for concentration even if it's not chocolate

La Sorbetteria - is this the ultimate?

If you’re ever at a loose end in Bologna, one of the most profitable ways of spending your time is in tracking down the ultimate – in our case – chocolate ice cream. It’s a perfect way of spending a summer’s day, and then, as Margherita Bianchini says, in the winter debating which was the best. Bianchini’s invaluable 101 Things to do in Bologna at least once in your life helpfully pinpoints the gelato giants of the city.

Funivia, now in Piazza Cavour, benefits from the advantage of location. You can buy an ice cream and eat it under the trees in the piazza. There’s even a fountain to wash your hands afterwards. But currently we are torn between Stefino and La Sorbetteria. As always, the ultimate test has to be chocolate ice cream, truly difficult to get right, as Fergus Henderson admits in Nose to Tail Eating where he is driven to appeal for a recipe that works. Stefino’s moro – chocolate with almonds – is a good match for La Sorbetteria’s bitter extra fondant. You could also be tempted by Stefino’s Sicilian cannoli with fresh ricotta or La Sorbetteria’s wonderful array of sweets and chocolates.

What do you think? Maybe you prefer Gianni or Gelatauro. There’s a lot to think about.

Hear Bianchini talking about her book in Italian http://www.123people.it/ext/frm?ti=person%20finder&search_term=margherita%20bianchini&search_country=IT&st=person%20finder&target_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DwIY6o_lFWdQ&section=video&wrt_id=68

Stefino

Via Galliera 49b

Closed: winter



La Sorbetteria Castiglione

Via Castiglione N° 44

Open every day until late

Budino di riso con salsa mou - Rice pudding with toffee sauce

Budino di riso con salsa mou - made in individual moulds to avoid excessive greadiness

This is Marcello dall’Aglio’s mum’s recipe for rice pudding, as she wrote it out for me when we came for lunch one bitterly cold day in Bologna around Christmas 1990. An apt dish for winter. A perfect accompaniment is salsa mou, toffee sauce. Make more than you need and store it in the fridge. The addition of the eggs makes this a denser pudding than the English version. It needs to be sliced rather than spooned onto the place.

Dare I say that you can improve the method by boiling the rice in water until it is soft and most of the water has evaporated, then adding the rest of the ingredients? That way, the rice is less likely to stick to the bottom of the pan. Otherwise, you must watch it like a hawk.

Ingredients

for the rice pudding

1 lt whole milk

2 tbl rice for risotto

pinch salt

1 zest of a lemon

150 g sugar

50 g vanilla sugar

2 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

for the toffee sauce

300g sugar

150ml single cream

Method

1. Boil the milk and add the rice, salt, lemon zest and the sugar.

2. Simmer carefully for about an hour until the rice is soft. Allow to cool.

3. Beat together the eggs and add to the rice mixture.

4. Tip into a buttered oven dish and place in a bain-marie half full of water.

5. Bake in a medium oven for about 2 hours until the top only just begins to brown.

6. Heat the sugar in a pan until it begins to caramelise. Remove from the heat.

7. Heat the cream in another pan. Slowly and carefully add to the sugar, combining the two with a wooden spoon.

Panna cotta with raspberry sauce

The key thing with panna cotta is the wobble. If it’s too firm, you’ve used too much gelatine and that’s bad for the flavour as well as the appearance. Start your meal preparations by making panna cotta  first because it needs time in the fridge to set. It may be easier to unmould the panna cotta if you first place a small disc of greaseproof paper in the bottom before filling the mould.

Ingredients

5 gelatine leaves

250ml milk

250ml double cream

1 vanilla pod, split lengthways, seeds scraped out (keep the pod and use it to flavour caster sugar)

50g sugar

For the raspberry sauce

175g sugar

50ml water

½ lemon

350g raspberries (fresh or frozen)

icing sugar to dust the panna cotta


Method

1. For the panna cotta, soak the gelatine leaves in a little water until soft.

2. Place the milk, cream, vanilla pod and seeds and sugar in a pan and bring to the simmer. Remove from the heat. Remove the vanilla pod.

3. Squeeze the water out of the gelatine leaves, then add to the pan. Stir until the gelatine has dissolved. Strain contents of pan through a fine mesh into a bowl.

4. Divide the mixture among four buttered ramekins or metal moulds. Leave to cool, then transfer to the fridge until set.

5. For the sauce, place the sugar and water in a pan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the sugar has dissolved and you have a smooth syrup.

6. Take the pan off the heat and add the raspberries. Simmer for two or three minutes until the fruit is soft. Take the pan off the heat and using a hand blender, blend it until smooth. Pass through a fine sieve into a bowl. Transfer to the fridge.

7. To serve, unmould the panna cotta by passing a knife heated in boiling water around the inside of each one, then turn each one out onto a plate, tapping it sharply if necessary. Spoon around the sauce and dust with icing sugar.

Pears baked with marsala, vanilla and cinnamon with chantilly cream

This dessert has exactly the right ratio of investment and outcome. Preparation is minimal, cooking requires little attention, and yet the result is lovely. If you’re making a complicated meal – as Cormac and I were doing the other day – when the main course (lasagne) entails a lot of work and the first course (leek custards) is tricky, then this is perfect. The only problem is that they were so good, we forgot to take a photo.

Ingredients

5 pears (an additional in case of accidents)

100g caster sugar

500ml marsala

1 vanilla pod

1 cinnamon stick

300g double or whipping cream

75g caster sugar

Method

1. Peel the pears, leaving the stalk if there is one.

2. In a small casserole with a lid, melt the sugar with the marsala and add the vanilla pod and the cinnamon stick.

3. Place the pears in the casserole, on their side and spoon the sauce over them.

4. Place the casserole in the bottom of a medium oven and leave it for an hour.

5. After an hour, remove the casserole, turn the pears over and again spoon the sauce over them.

6. Give the pears another hour in the oven.

7. Meanwhile make the chantilly cream. Beat the cream, adding the seeds scraped from the vanilla pod and the caster sugar, until it is light and fluffy and holds its shape.

8. Check that the pears are tender. If not leave them for a while longer. Otherwise remove from the casserole. Also remove and discard the vanilla pod and the cinnamon stick.

9. In a cup mix a tablespoon of arrowroot with a few tablespoons of the sauce, add the mixture into the sauce, and heat gently, constantly stirring with a wooden spoon until it thickens. Pur the sauce over the pears and leave to cool.

10. Place a pear upright on each plate and spoon over it some of the sauce. Pass a bowl of chantilly cream (or yoghurt if you prefer).

Bavarese alle fragole - Strawberry bavarois

Once you’ve got the hang of the bavarois – bavarese in Italian – you can apply it to any fruit. I prefer to make them in small one portion ramekins.

Enough for 8

250ml milk
3 eggs
150g caster sugar
25g powdered gelatin
500g fresh strawberries, pureed
300ml double cream, whipped
150g fresh strawberries

Method

1. Whisk the eggs and sugar until thick and pale.

2. Bring the milk to the boil in a saucepan.

3. Reserve half a cup of the milk, pour in the gelatine and stir it thoroughly to dissolve the powder.

4. Gradually add the milk to the egg mixture, whisking as you do it. Then whisk in the gelatine mixture.

5. Add the pureed strawberries and then carefully fold in the whipped cream.

6. Pour into the ramekins and refrigerate until set in about 2 hours.

7. Unmould the bavarese by running a knife around the edge of the ramekins.

8. Serve with fresh strawberries.

Strawberry semifreddo

The strawberry season is upon us. When you tire of strawberries and cream, this semifreddo will reawaken your love for that most quintessential summer fruit. A semifreddo is a frozen dessert, like an ice cream, but not churned, that can contain cake (unlike this one). The puree served with this one is sharpened with a touch of lemon juice. You can use other fruits such as raspberries or blackcurrants instead of strawberries. Or you could twin raspberry puree with the strawberries of the semifreddo. Or you could add roughly broken up meringue.

6 Eggs

500g Caster sugar

500g Strawberries

750ml Double cream

1 Lemon



1. Whisk the eggs with half the sugar in a bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water until the mix thickens. Remove from the heat and continue whisking while it cools.

2. Whip the cream and mash half the strawberries. Mix together the egg mixture, the strawberries and the cream. At this stage you could add the meringue.

3. Line a rectangular loaf tin with cling film, pour in the mixture and smooth the surface.

4. Make a puree by forcing the remaining strawberries through a fine wire sieve, adding in sugar and the juice of 1 lemon.

5. Freeze for at least four hours.

6. To serve, turn out and remove the cling film. Slice and serve with a spoonful of the puree.

Chocolate and chestnut torte

Not enough puddings, you complain. Your impatience is awarded.  Ridiculously easy to make, this torte goes well with crème fraiche or amaretto ice cream. You can make it with whole vacuum packed chestnuts or the puree.

300g Chocolate 70%

200g Butter

300g Chestnuts

100ml Milk

4 Eggs

2 Yolks

125g Caster sugar

20ml Liqueur – Amaretto, Cointreau as you prefer

25g Icing sugar



1. Heat the oven to 175 degrees C. and use a few grams of butter to grease and line a 23 cm. springform type tin.

2. Melt the chocolate and butter together in a basin over simmering water.

3. If you are using whole chestnuts, heat them with the milk until simmering, then mash them or process them to a rough puree.

4. Separate the eggs, put the yolks in a bowl and mix with caster sugar. Stir in the chocolate mixture and the chestnut until you have a smooth, well blended batter. Add the liqueur.

5. Whisk the egg whites until stiff and fold them carefully into the batter. Transfer the mixture into the cake tin and bake in the middle of the oven for about 35 minutes. Check after 30 minutes with a skewer. It doesn’t need to come out clean – the cake needs to be a bit moist when it’s taken from the oven.

6. Leave it to cook before releasing it from the cake tin. Sprinkle with icing sugar. Serve with a spoonful of crème fraiche and or of ice cream.