Ingredients for 6-8 people3 eggs120 g cane sugar90 g plain Flour40 g potato starch1 vanilla pod1 pinch of salt400 g fresh sheep’s milk ricotta250 g fresh whipping cream30 g unsweetened cocoa powder150 g icing sugar65 ml Vin Santo (1)
First of all prepare the sponge cake (a tip: if you make it the day before, you’ll save time and it won’t crumble when you slice it). In a bowl, use an electric whisk to beat the eggs with the sugar, the vanilla seeds (obtained after slitting the pod open, lengthwise, with a sharp knife) and a pinch of salt. When the mixture is light and frothy, sift in the flour and potato starch together, and then amalgamate delicately, stirring from bottom to top – so as not to deflate it – until smooth and homogenous. Grease a round 22 cm cake tin with butter, then dust it with flour and pour in the mixture. Bake in a preheated oven, at 180 °C, for 30 minutes. When the time is up, try sticking a wooden toothpick into the centre of the cake, if it’s cooked, the toothpick will come out dry. Leave the sponge to cool down.
To prepare the filling: press the ricotta through a sieve into a bowl and mix it with the icing sugar. Whip the cream – for a good result whisk, bowl and cream should all be cold – and combine it with the ricotta, mixing them together well. Transfer ½ of the mixture into another bowl and stir in the sifted cocoa powder. Now take the sponge – it must have cooled down completely – and cut it into slices 1 cm thick. Use them to line the inside of a hemisphere mould, or a glass bowl roughly 18 cm in diameter and 9 cm deep (if you prefer you can use ramekins and make individual portions), making sure the slices are as close together as possible. Dilute the Vin Santo with 200 ml of water and brush this liquid over the slices of sponge. Now pour in the cream and ricotta mixture with cocoa, then the “white” one. Use the blade of a large knife, or a spatula, to level the surface. You can close the Zuccotto by covering the filling with other slices of sponge cake and brushing them with the Vin Santo and water, or, if you prefer, you can put the remaining slices in the food processor to reduce them to crumbs, and then use those. Cover the surface with cling film and press down slightly with your hands to compact the filling. Put your Zuccotto in the fridge for at least 6 hours and then, before serving, put it in the freezer for about an hour. When it’s time to take the Zuccotto out of the mould, remove the cling film, turn it upside-down on a plate and... it’s ready to serve.
The Zuccotto was created in Florence, in the 16th century, in honour of Catherine de’ Medici. It’s also known as “Elmo di Caterina” (= Catherine’s helmet), because the first “moulds” used to make it were small helmets. There are various recipes for this dessert, the most classic one has candied peel, or chocolate chips mixed in the “white” filling.