Quick recipe finder Christmas-style zuccotto
By Simon Rimmer From Something for the Weekend
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp brandy
- 2 tbsp orange liqueur
- 5 tbsp fresh orange juice
- 2 ready-made madeira cakes, trimmed and cut into slices
- 100g/3½oz icing sugar
- 100g/3½oz ready-made Christmas pudding, cooked and broken up into pieces
- 1 vanilla pod, split, seeds scraped out
- 450ml/16fl oz double cream, whipped until stiff peaks form when the whisk is removed
- 85g/3oz dark chocolate (70 per cent cocoa solids), grated
- 85g/3oz dark chocolate (70 per cent cocoa solids), melted, plus extra to serve
- double cream, to serve
Method
Line a 1½ litre/2½ pint capacity round-bottomed bowl or basin with cling film.
Place the brandy, orange liqueur and orange juice into a clean bowl and dip the madeira cake slices into it to lightly soak.
Place three-quarters of the soaked cake slices into the cling film-lined bowl to cover the inside of the bowl.
In a separate bowl, place the icing sugar, cream and vanilla seeds and fold together gently.
Place the grated chocolate, Christmas pudding pieces and three-quarters of the cream mixture into a clean bowl and mix together well. Spread this cream and Christmas cake mixture over the cake slices, moulding a hollow in the middle of the cream and Christmas cake mixture.
Add the melted chocolate to the remaining cream mixture and pour this into the hollow. Smooth over.
Place the remaining moist cake slices over the filling to completely enclose the filling, then cover with a clean tea towel and place into the fridge to chill for 24 hours.
To serve, remove from the fridge, remove the covering and turn the cake out onto a plate. Remove the cling film if it has stuck to the cake, then pour over some melted chocolate. Cut generous slices and serve with cream.