Recipe of the week: Zuccotto

Zuccotto is a typical dessert from Florence. The shape of the cake is said to resemble the dome of Florence's famous church, il Duomo.

Ingredients

12" round sponge cake layer
1/4 cup Brandy
1/4 cup Amaretto or Frangelico
120 gr. almonds
120 gr. hazelnuts
180 gr. dark chocolate
600 ml whipping cream
1/2 cup icing sugar

Toast almonds and hazelnuts under broiler for 5 minutes. Allow to cool before roughly chopping.
Cut cake is slices 1/2" thick on the diagonal, in triangular shapes. Combine liqueurs and brush one side of each section of cake with mixture. place sections of cake, unbrushed side against sides of tin, against the inside of a 10-cup capacity round-based bowl which as been lined with a layer of plastic wrap (leaving 5" overhang all around), with the narrowest end of cake on the bottom. Alternate crust and not-crust sides of cake to give striped effect. Fill the gaps with pieces of moistened cake. Trim edges of cake so they are level with the top of the bowl.
Chop 60 gr. of dark chocolate and melt remaining chocolate in microwave, at 20 second intervals until completely melted. Whip together cream and icing sugar until stiff then fold in nuts. Divide mixture in half. Fold chopped chocolate in one half and melted chocolate in other half.
Spoon white cream mixture evenly over entire cake surface, leaving a cavity in the center of the bowl. Fill in cavity with chocolate mixture. Moisten remaining cake with liqueur and arrange on top to cover surface completely.
Wrap bottom with overhanging plastic wrap and chill overnight. Invert over serving plate and dust top with combined sifted icing sugar and cocoa powder.

Banana Bread

I always end up having over ripe bananas since I'm the only one in my family who eats bananas, which I then turn into banana bread! I end up sometimes making 2 loaves which I bring one to work and keep one at home...both lasting no more than a day!

Ingredients

3 ripe bananas, mashed with a fork or masher
3/4 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
2 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips or chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour loaf pan. Beat together sugar and oil. Add eggs one at a time then vanilla. Fold in mashed bananas. Whisk together remaining ingredients except chocolate chips or nuts in a separate bowl, then add to wet mixture just until combined. Gently fold in chocolate chips or nuts. Bake for 1 hour and allow to cool for 10 minutes in pan before inverting onto cooling rack.

Easy Peasy Key Lime Pie

I'm typically not a fan of fruity desserts, but the tartness of key limes perfectly balances the sweetness in this pie. Be sure to use key limes and not regular limes for a more aromatic pie. This recipe yields a very light, airy pie as it doesn't call for eggs which tends to make the pie more dense. The combination of the lime juice with the condensed milk is what causes the mixture to thicken, thus requiring very little baking.

Ingredients:


9" prebaked graham pie crust
2 cans sweetened condensed milk 
1/2 cup sour cream
3/4 cups key lime juice (from about 20 limes)
1 tbsp grated lime zest

Preheat oven to 350 F. Beat together condensed milk, sour cream, key lime juice and zest in a large bowl with paddle attachment for 5 minutes, until thoroughly combined. Pour into prepared pie crust and bake for 8-10 minutes, until bubbles on the surface burst. Do not brown. Allow to cool completely and refrigerate for a least 2 hours before serving with whipped cream.