Cakes for Mother's Day , there couldn't be a better gift, dedicating a cake to your mother, prepared with love. And why not a very special cake, which may take a bit time to prepare but it will be sensation when presented on the table, with family around. This time we travel to Sorrento to discover a famous specialty, called La Delizia al Limone. It is of Campania origin and was created for the first time in 1978 by Carmine Marzuillo, a pastry chef from the Amalfi coast, and immediately became one of the best known and most appreciated desserts .
Delizia di Limone - Lemon Delight Cake - Specialty from Sorrento
Usually the Delizia al limone is prepared as individual small cakes or zuccotta (the shape), but in this recipe - it is presented as one single large cake. The Delizia al limone is prepared with a spherical-shaped sponge cake and filled with a flourless and starch-free milk and lemon cream that is combined with lemon curd with a very marked lemon flavor. The combination of the two creams creates a very particular , delicate and not too sweet filling . The icing is prepared with lemon curd and cream, very fragrant and with a marked lemon flavor. To top it all off, a bath or soaking with Sorrento limoncello. Another famous version is prepared by Sal di Riso, an institution on the Amalfi Coast.
Ingredients:
For the sponge cake (18 cm zuccotto mold); 180 g Eggs (approx. 3 medium-large eggs); 100 g Sugar; 75 g Flour
25 g Corn starch (cornstarch); 1 Vanillin sachet; 1 pinch Salt
For the milk and lemon cream
250 ml Whole milk; 2 yolks (egg); 1 egg (whole); 100 g Sugar; 10 g Gelatin in sheets; 1 Lemon (grated zest); 1 pinch Salt
For the lemon curd
80 g egg yolks; 80 g Sugar; 2 lemons (juice); 2 lemons (grated zest); 80 g Butter
For the Bagna al limoncello
50 ml Water; 50 g Sugar; 75 ml Limoncello;
For the lemon glaze
100 g Lemon cream (lemon curd); 200 ml Fresh liquid cream; 50 ml Whole milk; And then…
100 ml Fresh liquid cream (for the cream); 3 tablespoons Limoncello (for the cream); 250 ml Fresh liquid cream (for decoration); 1 tablespoon Powdered sugar
Preparation:
We prepare the sponge cake in the shape of a zuccotto. First you need to prepare the sponge cake. For this you beat the whole eggs and add the sugar, vanilla, lemon zest and a pinch of salt. Continue to beat well until the dough becomes fluffy. Sift the flour and cornstarch and add them little by little to the mixture, stirring gently from the bottom upwards so that they do not fall apart. Grease and flour a cake pan and pour the mixture, leveling the surface with a spatula. Bake in a preheated oven at 170 ° for approx. 30 minutes. Let it cool and cut it into layers for the filling.
Then we'll prepare the milk and lemon cream.
In a saucepan, heat the milk with the addition of the grated rind of a lemon. Separately, mix the egg, egg yolks, sugar and a pinch of salt with an electric mixer. It will take a few minutes. They will just have to blend and not mount. When the milk is about to boil, turn off the heat. Wait 5 minutes and filter the milk with the help of a colander, in order to separate it from the lemon zest. Pour the vanilla milk directly into the egg and sugar mixture. Beat for 2 minutes with a whisk and put all the mixture back on the heat (moderate heat). At this time, soak the gelatine in cold water for approx. 10 minutes. The milk and egg mixture should not boil, but will only have to heat up for approx. 10 minutes on low heat. Keep mixing. After 10 minutes, add the squeezed gelatin and turn off the heat. Let it cool completely to room temperature, stirring occasionally.
We prepare the lemon curd.
Grate the peel of the lemons and infuse it in the juice of the two lemons. Work the yolks (which you will have to weigh) with the sugar with a hand whisk. Then add the lemon juice and zest and mix everything together. Pour everything into a saucepan and cook everything over moderate heat until it reaches 80 ° (it took me 6 minutes). Turn off the heat, add the butter into small pieces and mix everything with an immersion blender for a few minutes. Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes .
Let's prepare the Bagna al limoncello:
Pour the water and sugar into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Let it cool and add the limoncello. For a non-alcoholic dip, boil the limoncello with the water and sugar. In this way the alcoholic part will evaporate, leaving only the lemon taste. Assembly of the Delizia al Limone cake in the shape of a zuccotto.
Take back the milk and lemon cream and put it in a bowl. Add 125 g of lemon cream and mix with an electric mixer. Add 3 tablespoons of limoncello and 100 g of whipped cream. Mix everything together. The filling cream is ready.
Once the pumpkin-shaped sponge cake has cooled, turn it over on the work surface. Wash and dry the mold and cover it with cling film. Put the zuccotto back inside. With a serrated knife cut the upper part (which will be the base), leaving 1 cm from the edge and without reaching the bottom, in order to empty it. Keep the extracted part aside. Wet all the inside with the limoncello syrup and pour inside a layer of a few centimeters of milk and lemon cream with lemon curd that you prepared just before. Place a layer of sponge cake taken from the scraps on top of the cream, wet with the syrup and pour over the filling cream up to one centimeter from the top. Grazie a Giallo Zafferano!
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