For ➍-➏200 g Savoiardi or ladyfingers biscuits
75 cl milk
50 g flour
100 g sugar
30 g bitter cocoa powder
4 egg yolks
10 cl of rum
10 cl Alkermes or other aromatic liqueur, for example Strega or Amaretto (or use a self-made quick coffee liquor)
whipped cream & maraschino cherries for decoration
Have ready a deep, smooth-sided mold, lined with aluminum foil or oiled paper.
Put all but 10 cl of the milk in a pot. Heat over a very gentle flame.
Beat the yolks in a deep bowl with 75 g sugar, then sift in the flour, beating steadily.
Put the remaining sugar in another pot,d mix the cocoa into it, stir 2 tbs of cold milk into the mixture. Heat it over a low flame, avoiding lumps.
Gently stir the remaining cold milk into the egg mixture. Stirring constantly, add the hot milk to the cream. When the cream is well mixed, gently pour it back into the pot. Return it to the slow burner. Heat, stirring, until it barely reaches a boil, and cook for 2 m, stirring gently. Remove the pot from the fire, pour half the cream into a bowl, and gently stir the chocolate into the remaining half to obtain both pastry cream and chocolate cream.
Mix the rum and liquor with 5 cl of water in a bowl, brush the Savoiardi lightly with the mixture, and use them to line the pudding mold.
Pour the pastry cream over the Savoiardi. Cover it with a layer of brushed Savoiardi, and finish with the chocolate cream, followed by a final layer of brushed Savoiardi. Cover the pudding with aluminum foil and chill it in the refrigerator for at least 12 h.
Remove the foil, cover the mold with a serving dish and upend it, so the pudding comes to rest upon the serving dish. Remove the aluminum or oiled paper of the mold.
Serve it either chilled, or partially frozen. Decorate with dollops of whipped cream, and maraschino cherries cut in half.
'Zuppa Inglese' (meaning: English soup) is a close variant of an English trifle, especially common in Tuscany, because the English tourists who lived in the region a century ago often asked for it. Recipes first appeared in the towns of the Emilia-Romagna region, in the late 19th century. Some date it back to the 16th century kitchens of the Ferrara Dukes of Este, who asked their cooks to recreate English trifle.
