Zuppa Inglese

Sponge soaked in red liqueur is layered with yellow custard and a brown cocoa cream. Zuppa inglese is an Italian dessert in which sponge cake or biscuits are moistened with liquor and layered with cream. Despite its name, “English soup,” it is not a hot soup. It can be a whole cake turned out of a mold and sliced, or a soft dessert spooned from a dish, and the thickness of the cream changes according to how it is served.

A word rooted in “soaked bread,” and theories about the name “English”

The first half of the name, zuppa, has an etymology going back to the idea of soaking bread in liquid. The Germanic suppa, given in the etymology of the Italian dictionary Treccani, means “a slice of soaked bread.” Present-day meanings also include soaking bread or biscuits in milk, liquor or broth. The method of letting the base absorb liquid is also reflected in the name of this dessert.

The word inglese, “English,” meanwhile, has different stories attached to it. According to a theory set in the 16th century, an English diplomat introduced trifle to the Este court in Ferrara, where the bread-like base was replaced with a soft ring-shaped cake, and later with sponge and cream.

Another story is set in an English household in Fiesole in the late 19th century. In it, a housekeeper soaked leftover biscuits in sweet wine and layered them with custard and chocolate pudding. The two differ, one being imitation at court and the other using up leftovers at home, but the food culture scholar Giovanni Ballarini, who compared the two theories, points out that neither is backed by reliable documents. The place of invention and the event of its naming have still not been settled.

Rum, alchermes and rosolio in old cookbooks

In the first half of the 19th century, specific formulas appear in cookbooks. The recipe (ingredient proportions and method) written in the 1830s by Vincenzo Agnoletti, who worked at the court of Parma, is based on a sweet called marangone and soaks biscuits in rum. The top is finished with meringue, cream, sweet-cooked eggs, or jam, among other options.

Red alchermes and two-colored custard were not indispensable from the start. Ballarini considers that rum, which has close ties to the British Navy, may itself be the clue to the name “English.”

In Pellegrino Artusi’s later cookbook, he describes the technique of alternating savoiardi soaked in red alchermes and in white rosolio. On the bottom, preserves such as apricot, peach or quince are placed as desired, and cream and liquor-soaked biscuits are layered over them. Even before reaching the red, yellow and brown layers widely known today, the combinations of liquor and filling went through changes.

A cream thick enough to be turned out of the mold

Artusi’s cream is made with milk, egg yolks, sugar, flour or starch, and vanilla. Flour is added because, with the soft flourless cream familiar in Tuscany, the dessert has difficulty holding its shape when turned out of the mold.

The amount of liquor is also adjusted. If the biscuits absorb too much liquid, it seeps out later, so the amount used for soaking is moderated. If the liqueur is too sweet, it is adjusted with rum or cognac, and if the fruit preserves are loosened over heat, they are cooled before being placed in the mold. In summer the dessert is chilled with ice, and just before it is turned out, the mold is dipped briefly in hot water to loosen the butter applied in advance.

A soft version spooned from the dish

Today it is also sometimes served in a dish, with the cream finished a little softer. When it is served out of a large dish, or layered in individual clear glasses, it can be made without worrying about its shape out of the container. Pan di Spagna sponge and dry savoiardi also leave different textures once they have absorbed the liquid.

Alchermes is a red liqueur containing spices and is sometimes diluted with syrup before use. What it adds to the egg cream is not only color but also aroma. Coloring part of the cream brown with cocoa or chocolate layers bitterness over the sweet dairy layer. Popular in Emilia-Romagna, with different methods also handed down in Tuscany and elsewhere, this dessert changes its form according to the thickness of the cream, its colors and the choice of dish.

Layering ciambella and cream in a glass

Local baked goods are also used as the liquor-soaked base. When Romagna’s ciambella is used, instead of a sponge leavened by whipped eggs, a dough of flour, sugar, butter, eggs, milk and a leavening agent is baked before use. In a recipe from Debic, which handles dairy products for pastry-making, this baked cake is soaked in alchermes and layered in a glass with two colors of cream to make individual portions.

For the filling, fresh cream flavored with coffee beans, vanilla and lemon peel is used, and egg yolks, sugar, flour and starch are added before it is cooked. It is chilled and rested, whipped again and divided in two, and cocoa is added to one portion. The top is decorated with crumbled pieces of ciambella soaked in the same liqueur. By using both slices and crumbs of the cake, this method turns a simple local baked good into a dessert served in a glass.

From Sunday tables to a trattoria in Modena

Simone Guerri, owner of the trattoria La Busa in Spilamberto near Modena, presents zuppa inglese as the dessert his paternal grandmother made every Sunday. At the restaurant, a lemon-flavored egg yolk cream and an eggless cocoa cream are cooked separately and, while still warm, layered in the dish with savoiardi soaked in alchermes.

He has memories of eating the dessert his grandmother made as a snack on the days that followed, and he says that at the restaurant it is also a dish by which customers see how the restaurant does its work. Apart from the molded versions of old cookbooks, it is a form in which a family memory has been carried into a restaurant dish.

Alchermes substitutes and ingredient adaptations in Japan

Recipes introduced in Japan include adaptations to suit the ingredients available. In a 1998 television program, chef Carmine Cozzolino showed a method that, in place of alchermes, combines citrus liqueur, kirsch, brandy and grenadine syrup with water. It adds a red color while also balancing the aroma with several liquors.

The home recipe from dairy maker Meiji soaks store-bought sponge with a liquid of kirsch and grenadine and scatters chopped chocolate between layers of cream. Instead of cooking a cocoa cream in a separate pan, it adds flavor with small pieces of chocolate. It also suggests replacing the liquid with orange juice for children, adapting an old method that features liquor so that children can enjoy it too.

Glossary