How to make
Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Beat the egg whites into powdery snow and to them add the egg yolks that have already been beaten with the powdered sugar and vanilla. Sift the starch and powdered sugar and mix into the mixture.
Pour the dough into a large tray with baking paper - best to use a square one. Put it to bake for 15 min. and then leave it to cool.
Prepare a large bowl and lay out buttered rice paper over it. Cut out wide strips from the dough and arrange them along the bottom and walls of the bowl.
Put baking paper on the bottom of the tray. Pour in the dough and bake 15 min. Remove and let it cool. Prepare a deep bowl and cut out a circle from the baked dough, in order to cover the bottom of the bowl. Sprinkle the pieces with a mixture of cognac and amaretto.
Grate 1/2 the chocolate on a course grater, melt the remaining chocolate in a water bath with 2/5 cup (100 mL) of the liquid cream.
Crumble the meringues finely and roast the chopped almonds and pistachios in a dry pan.
Beat the sour cream with 3 1/3 tbsp (50 g) of powdered sugar until you get a fluffy cream, then pour in the grated chocolate and roasted nuts.
Add the meringues to 1/2 of the beaten cream and the now cooled liquid chocolate to the other half and stir.
Smear the white mixture with cream and meringues on the dough and leave it in the refrigerator for 20 min. until hardened.
Then fill the cake with the chocolate mixture and cover with the remaining pieces of dough. The Zuccotto needs to stay in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours. In that time take it out twice and put the bowl in the freezer for 20 min. each time.
Once ready you can sprinkle the cake with powdered sugar if you desire or pour chocolate glaze over it.
Some other desserts from sunny Italy: panforte, tiramisu, panna cotta, zabaione, panettone, semifreddo.
