When Tom and I recently had some friends over for an al fresco dinner, I decided that a frozen dessert would fit the bill nicely. (We were dining outside not only because it was a warm and pleasant spring evening, but also because our air conditioner was being replaced, and there was no functioning air conditioning downstairs.) I narrowed down a search for frozen desserts on epicurious.com to a few promising recipes, and I ran a few of the candidates past Tom. When I mentioned that one of the recipes involved an almond cookie crust that would require me to bake some almond clouds, Tom immediately weighed in in favor of that one. So I went along and decided to make "Stracciatella Tortoni Cake with Espresso Fudge Sauce."
This dessert contains an almond crust made from ground amaretti cookies and ground almonds, mixed with melted butter. You press the mixture into the bottom of a loaf pan and freeze it until firm. I used homemade almond cloud cookies instead of store-bought amaretti; because the almond clouds are so chewy, the ground cookies were a bit sticky, but they still worked out fine.
Stracciatella is the Italian gelato equivalent of chocolate chip ice cream. The first step in making the straccciatella tortoni filling is to beat egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt over simmering water until the mixture reaches 170 degrees; I always find having to use a hand mixer and a candy thermometer simultaneously in a double boiler to be rather unwieldy. Once it reaches the proper temperature, you take the mixture off of the heat, beat it to stiff peaks, and fold it into heavy cream beaten with Amaretto, along with shaved chocolate.
You spread the filling over the frozen almond crust, sprinkle it with toasted sliced almonds, and freeze the entire thing until it's firm. One great thing about this dessert is the fact that you can prepare it in advance; I made it the day before.
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I made the espresso fudge sauce the next day. It contains heavy cream, corn syrup, dark brown sugar, espresso powder, cocoa powder, bittersweet chocolate, and vanilla. I let the sauce cool and reheated it right before I served dessert. Even though I thinned it with a little more cream during reheating, the sauce was oddly viscous. I had no trouble cutting the tortoni immediately after it came out of the freezer, and I served each slice along with a little puddle of sauce.
I loved the stracciatella filling. It was a lot of work shaving the chocolate for the filling, and it had crossed my mind to simply use miniature chocolate chips instead. But I'm so glad I didn't; the frozen chocolate shavings give the filling a wonderful texture, and I loved how the thin bits of chocolate were so delicate. The filling had the light, luscious texture of a frozen mousse. The almond crust was delicious, but it was a little difficult to cut through, and there was a lot of thwacking noise as our dinner guests were trying to scoop up bites with their spoons (somewhat reminiscent of what happened the last time I served a frozen dessert, although not nearly as severe). The fudge sauce was my least favorite part of the dish; the texture was too thick, and the flavor was very aggressive; in the future, I would serve this with a plain hot fudge sauce, such as this one that I love.
Other than the sauce, I have no complaints about this dessert and I would love to make it again. The fact that you can have it prepared entirely in advance and serve it straight from the freezer is fabulously convenient. It provides a great return for relatively little work and is absolutely delicious.
Recipe: "Stracciatella Tortoni Cake with Espresso Fudge Sauce" from epicurious.com.
Previous Posts:
This dessert contains an almond crust made from ground amaretti cookies and ground almonds, mixed with melted butter. You press the mixture into the bottom of a loaf pan and freeze it until firm. I used homemade almond cloud cookies instead of store-bought amaretti; because the almond clouds are so chewy, the ground cookies were a bit sticky, but they still worked out fine.
Stracciatella is the Italian gelato equivalent of chocolate chip ice cream. The first step in making the straccciatella tortoni filling is to beat egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt over simmering water until the mixture reaches 170 degrees; I always find having to use a hand mixer and a candy thermometer simultaneously in a double boiler to be rather unwieldy. Once it reaches the proper temperature, you take the mixture off of the heat, beat it to stiff peaks, and fold it into heavy cream beaten with Amaretto, along with shaved chocolate.
You spread the filling over the frozen almond crust, sprinkle it with toasted sliced almonds, and freeze the entire thing until it's firm. One great thing about this dessert is the fact that you can prepare it in advance; I made it the day before.
.JPG)
I loved the stracciatella filling. It was a lot of work shaving the chocolate for the filling, and it had crossed my mind to simply use miniature chocolate chips instead. But I'm so glad I didn't; the frozen chocolate shavings give the filling a wonderful texture, and I loved how the thin bits of chocolate were so delicate. The filling had the light, luscious texture of a frozen mousse. The almond crust was delicious, but it was a little difficult to cut through, and there was a lot of thwacking noise as our dinner guests were trying to scoop up bites with their spoons (somewhat reminiscent of what happened the last time I served a frozen dessert, although not nearly as severe). The fudge sauce was my least favorite part of the dish; the texture was too thick, and the flavor was very aggressive; in the future, I would serve this with a plain hot fudge sauce, such as this one that I love.
Other than the sauce, I have no complaints about this dessert and I would love to make it again. The fact that you can have it prepared entirely in advance and serve it straight from the freezer is fabulously convenient. It provides a great return for relatively little work and is absolutely delicious.
Recipe: "Stracciatella Tortoni Cake with Espresso Fudge Sauce" from epicurious.com.
Previous Posts:
- "Who Knew Clouds Are So Chewy: Almond Cloud Cookies," April 19, 2012.
- "This Bombe is Deafening: Frozen Chocolate Oh-Honey So-Fluffy Mousse Bombe," March 17, 2012.
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