Zuppa inglese: Italian trifle with custard, chocolate and alchermes
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Zuppa inglese (Italian trifle with custard and alchermes)
Zuppa inglese literally means “English soup” and is often translated as “trifle”. It is layered like one, but it is about as far as you can get from the jelly and sherry of the British original: ladyfingers soaked in bright red alchermes, vanilla custard, chocolate custard and whipped cream.
- Prep Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 10 servings
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
For the custard
- 1 liter (4 cups) milk
- 1 vanilla bean
- 6 egg yolks
- 200 g (1 cup) sugar
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 30 g (⅓ cup) good unsweetened cocoa powder
To assemble
- 300–400 g (10–14 oz) savoiardi (ladyfingers), depending on the size of your dish
- Alchermes liqueur, for dipping
- 250 ml (1 cup) whipping cream
- 30 g (2½ tablespoons) sugar
- Chocolate shavings, to decorate (optional)
Instructions
- Split the vanilla bean and put it in a saucepan with the milk. Warm the milk, then scrape the seeds into it and discard the pod. Let cool a little.
- In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks with the 200 g sugar until pale and frothy.
- Beat in the cornstarch.
- Gradually whisk in the milk.
- Pour the mixture back into the pan and heat slowly, stirring constantly, until it thickens. The custard should be quite thick, and it will thicken more as it cools. Let cool.
- Set aside half the custard. Stir the cocoa powder into the other half.
- Whip the cream until stiff, adding the 30 g sugar toward the end.
- Quickly dip the ladyfingers in the alchermes (don’t let them get soggy!) and arrange a layer in your serving dish.
- Spread the plain custard on top, then add another layer of dipped ladyfingers, then the chocolate custard.
- Finish with the whipped cream and, if you like, chocolate shavings.
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