Colomba Easter Zuppa Inglese Recipes

Steps:

• In a small bowl, drain cherry juice and add rum; set aside. Prepare vanilla and chocolate puddings in separate bowls, according to package directions. Allow to set up 5 minutes.
• In a 9x13 inch baking dish, place a layer of cookies on the bottom of the dish; cut a few of the cookies in order to create a tight fit, if needed.
• Sprinkle cookie layer with 1/3 of the cherry juice mixture and spoon vanilla pudding over the cookies, spreading to the edge of the pan. Repeat steps with cookies, cherry juice and chocolate pudding. Make final layer with cookies and remaining juice.
• In a medium bowl, whip cream and sugar together until soft peaks form. Top dessert with whipped cream, sprinkle with almonds, and garnish with whole cherries. Refrigerate for 2 hours or more before serving.

Steps:

• Cut the cake into 1/2-inch slices.
• In a bowl, combine the peaches with the jam and liqueur and stir until the jam is liquidy.
• In another bowl, beat the ricotta, mascarpone, and sugar until smooth and creamy. Fold in whipped cream to taste.
• Line the bottom of a 2-quart (2-liter) glass bowl with cake pieces. Top with some of the peaches and their liquid. Spread with a layer of the whipped cream mixture and sprinkle with chocolate. Repeat the layers, ending with the whipped cream mixture on top and reserving some of the cake for garnish. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
• Garnish with more chocolate and diced pieces of cake just before serving.

Steps:

• In a small cup or bowl, stir the yeast into water to soften. In a large bowl, cream the butter, almond paste and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the softened yeast, lemon peel, vanilla, salt, eggs, egg yolk, milk, and 3 cups flour to the creamed mixture. Beat vigorously for 2 minutes. Gradually add flour, 1/4 cup at a time, until the dough begins to pull away from the side of the bowl. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface. Knead, adding flour a little at a time, until you have a smooth, elastic dough. Put the dough into an oiled bowl. Turn to coat the entire ball of dough with oil. Cover with a tightly woven towel and let rise about 1 1/2 hours. Due to the almond paste, this recipe doesn't double in size. Turn the dough out onto a lightly oiled work surface and divide in half. Shape each half into a smooth ball. Cover and let rest 5 minutes. Shape one ball of dough into a half oval 12 inches wide and four inches high at the center. Place in the center of a parchment-lined baking sheet. Flatten the center slightly so that when the next piece of dough is laid across it, it won't be so thick. Shape the other ball of dough into an 8 by 16 by 16-inch triangle Keep the points of the triangle rounded rather than pointed. Lay the triangle, centered, on the flattened part of the half oval. Fold the narrow end over to make the head. Pinch with your fingers to form a beak into the top side of the dough. Fold the other end in the opposite direction to form the tail. Cut 2-inch slits along the bottom edge of the tail and wing tips. Fan them out as for feathers. Cover with a towel and let rise 45 minutes. Again, due to the almond paste, the dough won't rise as high as other types of yeast dough; however, it does rise high during baking. 1. About 10 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. 2. Just before baking, beat the egg white until frothy. Lightly brush the dove with the beaten egg white and place thinly sliced almonds, overlapping slightly, on the tail and wings to simulate feathers. Use a small bit of an almond to make the dove's eye (diagram 7). Carefully brush the almond "feathers" with the remaining beaten egg white then sprinkle the dove with granulated sugar. 3. Bake for 20 minutes. Cover the bread loosely with foil with the shiny side up. Continue to bake for 10 more minutes, or until the internal temperature of the loaf reaches 190 degrees. 4. Immediately remove dove from baking sheet and cool on a rack.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• In a large bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar until lemon colored.
• Add flour a little at a time, mixing well.
• Add vanilla and lemon rind, mix well.
• In a large bowl, beat egg whites until stiff but not dry.
• Fold egg whites into cake mixture.
• Pour cake batter into prepared pan.
• Bake at 375°F for about 40 minutes.
• Cake should be a golden brown and spring back when lightly touched.
• Remove cake from oven, turn cake onto a rack to cool.
• ----Pasticciera Cream----.
• In a 1 quart sauce pan, combine the sugar, egg yolks, flour, lemon rind, and vanilla and mix together well.
• In a second sauce pan, scald milk.
• Pour scalded milk over the egg yolk mixture, beating constantly with a rotary beater.
• Cook egg/milk mixture on low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until mixture reaches the boiling point.
• Cook 4 minutes longer, stirring constantly.
• Remove from heat, add butter and mix well.
• Pour cream into a bowl and let cool, stir it occasionally to prevent a skin from forming over the top.
• ---Fora Chocolate Pasticciera Cream---.
• Follow above recipe for pasticciera cream, omitting lemon rind.
• Add grated chocolate to cooked pasticciera cream and cook 1 minute longer, stirring constantly, until chocolate is blended in well.
• Cool as in above directions.
• ----ZuppaInglese-----.
• Cut sponge cake into half inch slices.
• Sprinkle half the slices with rum, and the other half with creme de cacao.
• Spread the bottom of a 10 inch oven proof dish with a little of the pasticciera cream.
• Place 2 layers of the rum soaked cake slices on top of the cream.
• Pour remaining pasticcera cream over the cake slices.
• Sprinkle the candied fruit over the cream layer.
• Cover the cream/candied fruit layer with 2 layers of the creme de cacao soaked cake slices.
• In a medium sized bowl, beat egg whites until stiff.
• Add sugar to beaten whites, and beat again (to dissolve sugar).
• Pile the beaten egg whites on top of the cake.
• Bake in a slow (300°F) oven for 20 minutes.
• Cool before serving.
• Refrigerate any leftovers.