Tiramisu, gelato, brisalone … Now you can be transported to the streets of Rome without leaving your home. The Mentano Cafe restaurant has shared with us its proven recipes for the most popular Italian sweets, for which you should become a sweet tooth.
Chocolate flan
A favorite dessert of connoisseurs of chocolate. Its peculiarity lies in the fact that the shell of the flan is hard and crunchy, and the core is liquid. Chocolate flan is served with Italian homemade lemon ice cream - gelato - for a contrasting combination of flavors and temperatures, as well as fresh strawberries and berry sauce.
Ingredients:
- Butter - 100 g.
- Flour - 2 tablespoons
- Eggs - 2 pcs.
- Egg yolks - 3 pcs.
- Brown sugar - 50 g.
- Salt - 0.5 g.
- Dark bitter chocolate - 200 g.
Preparation:
- Break the chocolate into pieces and melt in a water bath. Make sure that the mold where the chocolate is melted does not come into contact with the water. Add butter to the chocolate and continue to heat, stirring occasionally, until the mass becomes smooth and shiny. Remove the finished mass from heat and let cool slightly.
- While the chocolate is cooling (also read: "The 5 Best Chocolate Desserts You Can Make At Home"), beat the eggs and yolks with sugar until smooth. We introduce the egg mass into the cooled glaze. Add flour and a pinch of salt. Mix everything quickly with a fork until smooth.
- Silicone molds can be used. Grease them a little with butter and sprinkle with flour. For a beautiful effect, flour can be replaced with cocoa. We pour our dough into molds, fill it by 2/3.
- Preheat the oven in advance. We bake at 200 ° C for about 8-10 minutes. Watch the time carefully: the longer the flan is in the oven, the more it bakes. As a result, the flan center should remain liquid. At the finished flan, the surface in the center remains liquid, seizing only along the circumference.
- We remove the form from the oven, let it stand for a minute. It will be more convenient for beginners to extract flans into one large dish at once.
Dessert Pavlova
Light, airy dessert, created in honor of the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova (read also: "To dance love: the main secret of Anna Pavlova"). Crispy egg meringue, Italian sabayon cream, fresh berries and pistachio crumbs - this sweet has definitely won the status of the best summer dessert.
Ingredients:
- Egg whites - 2 pcs.
- Powdered sugar - 100 g.
- Wine vinegar - 0.5 tablespoons
- Cornstarch - 1 tsp
- Lemon juice -0.5 tsp
- Vanillin - on the tip of a knife
- Cream (35%) - 350 ml.
- Powdered sugar - 4 tsp
Preparation:
- Separate the whites from the yolks. Beat the egg whites to form strong peaks. Add the icing sugar and continue whisking.
- Combine the protein mass with cornstarch, vinegar, lemon juice and vanilla, beat for another 2-3 minutes. The mass should be dense, smooth and shiny. Preheat oven to 140 ° C and line baking sheet with baking paper.
- Spread the meringue with a spoon or with a pastry bag - you should get 6 baskets with a depression in the center. Dry the baskets for about 10 minutes, then lower the temperature to 100 ° C and bake for another 30-40 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and let the meringue cool right in the oven. Whisk in the cream and icing sugar until thick. Fill the cavities in the bowls with the resulting cream.
- Decorate desserts with any berries and fruits you like.
Tiramisu
Every person who has ever heard of Italy knows about the existence of the traditional multi-layered dessert tiramisu. It is very quick and easy to cook, and it brings a lot of gastronomic pleasure. Serve this dessert to your loved ones by adding a handful of fresh berries - believe me, this will be remembered for a long time!
Ingredients:
- Mascarpone - 500 g.
- Egg - 4 pcs.
- Powdered sugar - 5 tablespoons
- Bitter chocolate to taste
- Espresso coffee - 300 ml.
- Marsala - 1 glass
- Savoyardi cookies - 200 g.
Preparation:
- Beat the whites into a very strong foam. It is advisable to add a little powdered sugar at the end of whipping for greater density. Grind the yolks white with powdered sugar.
- Add mascarpone and stir well. It is more convenient to do this with a large fork. Add proteins in spoons to the cream and mix gently.
- Mix cold espresso with alcohol. Dip each cookie for a couple of seconds in the coffee mixture and put in the mold. Put half of the cream on the savoyardi. Top with a second layer of coffee and wine soaked cookies. Put the remaining cream on it.
- Put the tiramisu in the refrigerator for 5-6 hours. During this time, the cream will thicken. Mascarpone can be substituted with heavy country cream from the market. They shouldn't be sour. Almond essence can be used instead of Amaretto. If Marsala is not available, add a little (3-4 tablespoons) of good cognac or Grand Marnier orange liqueur and 1-2 teaspoons of liquid almond essence.
- Sprinkle the grated black chilled chocolate or cocoa over the cream evenly before serving.
Photo: Getty Images, press archives
Related materials
- Paris in Moscow: 6 restaurants serving the best French desserts
- Savior cool: 5 recipes for frozen desserts
- Three-course “farm” lunch (and healthy dessert)
- 8 pre-Game of Thrones roles Emilia Clarke played