Zuccotto

Cut open the hemisphere, and from inside the thin, liquor-soaked sponge appear white and cocoa creams and pieces of chocolate and candied fruit. Zuccotto is a chilled, dome-shaped dessert handed down in Florence. Sponge is laid inside a mold, which is filled and chilled before the dessert is removed. Some fillings use ricotta, while others use cream or ice cream.

A name linked to caps and helmets, and the legend of the Medici banquets

There are two theories about the name: that it comes from its resemblance to the zucchetto, the small cap worn by clergy, and that an infantry helmet served as the first mold. The word zuccotto derives from zucca, meaning “pumpkin,” and also has an old meaning of a small helmet covering the top of the head. The association with a round covering placed on the head links the cap, the helmet and the shape of the dessert.

The helmet story is also tied to the Medici banquets. According to the legend, the architect Bernardo Buontalenti used a helmet as a vessel to make a dessert and named it “Caterina’s helmet” after Queen Caterina. There is also an explanation that links the red alchermes outer layer and the white ricotta filling to the red and white of Florence.

Lining the mold with sponge and filling it with cream

Pan di Spagna, which makes use of whipped eggs, is baked in a round, sliced thin and cut into strips or triangles. Fitting these snugly against the inside of a bowl or a dedicated mold allows flat sponge to line the inside of a hemisphere. Finally, closing it with 1 piece that will become the base keeps the filling in place when it is turned over.

The sponge is brushed with liquor diluted with water or similar. The recipe (ingredient proportions and method) in the cookbook Il Cucchiaio d’Argento uses Zibibbo, and other formulas use red alchermes or orange liqueur. Having absorbed the liquid, the sponge becomes soft, and the color and aroma of the outer layer change with the liquor chosen.

Mixing sugar smoothly into ricotta and combining it with whipped dairy cream makes a light filling that keeps the richness of the milk. Coloring part of it brown with cocoa and adding chocolate pieces to the white part creates 2-colored layers and flecks in the cut surface. Adding candied cherries or citron also brings the texture and aroma of fruit and peel. It is chilled in the mold until the filling sets, and taken out of the mold when served at the table.

The pattern on the outside can be created not only with the colors of the sponge but also by dusting different powders in separate areas. In Tomizawa Shoten’s method, génoise is laid in a bowl, soaked with syrup containing brandy, and filled with whipped cream containing nuts and chocolate. After the dessert is unmolded, triangular pieces of paper are placed on it and powdered sugar is dusted over; the white sections are then covered again and cocoa is dusted on, creating white and brown sections on the dome. The paper is not left on as a decoration for serving; it is a tool used to create areas the powder does not reach.

When the filling changes, so does the chilling

Even among ricotta domes, the way they are filled and the temperature are not uniform. In the Il Cucchiaio d’Argento method, the cocoa filling goes in first and the white filling after, then it is closed with sponge and refrigerated. In the method of cook Joëlle Néderlants, candied fruit and chocolate are mixed into the white ricotta and the cocoa portion is placed toward the center. This version is set in the freezer and taken out 1 hour before eating.

There is also a zuccotto made with torrone and served after the Christmas meal. Whipped egg yolks and cream are divided into 2 portions; cocoa and a nut confection are mixed into one portion, and coffee and crushed wafers into the other. Round layers of sponge are placed only between the 2 fillings and at the base, and do not cover the sides. Decorating the cream exposed on the surface of the dome with pistachios or candied fruit gives it a different appearance from a version covered in sponge. Some are filled with ice cream; even with the same dome shape, the dairy inside and the firmness when eaten vary.

The zuccotto Sieni supplied to a restaurant

Sieni, in the San Lorenzo district, conveys the dessert’s modern history in shops. Vittorio Sieni opened the shop in 1909, and according to the shop’s own history, he made zuccotto for Ristorante Zocchi in Pratolino. It is a sweet listed in the city’s guide to historic shops and one the shop still carries on today. Besides the legend of the court helmet, a modern history of a pastry maker supplying a restaurant has also been handed down.

Innovations by contemporary Florentine artisans

Among contemporary makers using the name “Caterina’s helmet” is the gelato maker Vetulio Bondi. The zuccotto he makes as a declared reconstruction fills alchermes-soaked sponge with sheep’s milk ricotta and Italian meringue. The red sponge and white filling represent the colors of Florence.

Roberto Buonamici presents a white zuccotto that combines a liqueur similar to Strega, whipped cream, a chocolate mousse core and hazelnuts at the base. Compared with versions that wrap ricotta in a red outer layer, the color of the liquor, the dairy and the firmness of the center are different.

Reinterpretations of its shape also continue. In 2018, it was reported that Paolo Sacchetti and others had remade it in the shape of the cathedral’s cupola. The hemisphere long likened to a cap or helmet has, in the hands of today’s artisans, also become a dessert representing the city’s architecture.

Fruits and creams chosen by makers in Japan

Shops in Japan, too, have devised combinations of outer layer and filling. Rikimaru Tsutsui of Vino della Pace, drawing on a dessert he encountered in Florence, wraps 2 kinds of cream in white and cocoa sponge. In this method, fruit in syrup is served on the outside to go with a filling mixed with chocolate and nuts.

The 2022 example from Hills Dal-Matto used fresh grapes both inside and on the surface. Shine Muscat and Queen Rouge grapes were packed between layers of fresh cream, making the most of the texture of the fruit eaten with its skin. Compared with versions centered on nuts or chocolate, the filling visible in the cut surface and the texture change, even with the same hemisphere.

For home cooks, there are also versions in which whipped cream is set with gelatin. Meiji’s method using strawberries lines a bowl with store-bought chocolate sponge, fills it with gelatin-mixed cream and strawberries, and refrigerates it. It is an example that uses a setting agent to make the dessert easier to slice, rather than determining its firmness solely by the type of dairy or by freezing.

Glossary