Serves 8 to 10
In the restaurant Torcoloti in Verona, we ate one of the most sublime cakes in the world. After the first long moment of silent ecstasy had passed, we asked our extremely friendly waiter if he could tell us a little something about it. Well, we found out that it was made every day by the aged and talented mother of the owner, that it was called Spumoni Cake, and a little something more—but the recipe was not revealed.
On returning to my own kitchen, I experimented with several variations of the obvious basic ingredients and finally came up with a cake which, though it is not exactly the same is a great deal like the Verona one—and awfully good!
• ¾ cup confectioners’ sugar
• ⅓ cup flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 cups milk
• 1 Tbs. butter
• ½ tsp. vanilla extract
• ½ cup plus 1 Tbs. brandy
• ½ cup strong, cold espresso
1 1-day-old Genoese layer, 9 inches across and about 2 inches thick
1. sweet powdered cocoa (about 2 to 3 Tbs.)
2. Mix together the confectioners’ sugar and the flour. Beat together the eggs and the yolks, and mix them into the dry ingredients, stirring until you have a thick, smooth paste.
3. Scald the milk and stir it quickly into the egg paste. Heat the mixture over a low flame, stirring constantly with a whisk, until it begins to simmer. Continue beating it with the whisk, over lowest heat, for 3 more minutes. Remove the custard from the heat, stir in the butter, vanilla, and 1 tablespoon of the brandy and beat it again until it is perfectly smooth.
4. Allow the custard to cool, stirring it occasionally to prevent a skin from forming.
5. Combine the cold espresso and the remaining brandy in a measuring cup. Using a long, very sharp knife, cut the Genoese into 2 even layers. Place the bottom layer on the 9-inch false bottom of a cake pan. Spoon ⅓ of the espresso-brandy mixture over it, moistening it evenly but lightly.
6. Spread the cold custard over the moistened cake layer in an even layer. Place the top of the cake on the custard layer and spoon the remaining espresso-brandy mixture over it. Go slow with this part of the operation: You don’t want the liquid to run off the top layer and be soaked up by the bottom one. It is important that the bottom layer be less moist than the top one, or you will have difficulty serving the cake when you cut it.
7. When all the espresso and brandy have been used up, put several tablespoons of sweet cocoa in a fine sieve and sift it evenly over the top of the cake. The layer of cocoa should be fairly thick, or it will have dark spots where the moisture from the cake seeps through.
8. Place the cake, false bottom and all, on a serving platter and chill it for several hours before serving. Cut the cake with a thin, sharp knife, and wipe the knife clean with a napkin between slices. Serve fresh, hot espresso with the cold cake
