RECIPE / ONE REALIZATION
This recipe typical of the Salento region is adapted from Puglia.com . They say that there are as many versions of spumone Salentino as there are kinds of chocolate and liqueurs, which means you can adapt this recipe by changing the kinds of chocolate and liqueurs you use.
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RECIPE INGREDIENTS
METHOD
Whisk eggs with sugar and icing sugar.
Warm the milk in a saucepan over low heat just shy of a boil. Then, stir in the egg mixture and the vanilla sugar, and cook, constantly stirring, until thickened a bit. If there are any lumps, strain the vanilla custard.
Let the custard cool completely.
Meanwhile, line the individual molds with cling film. Put the sponge cake in liquor to macerate.
Once the vanilla custard has cooled, divide it between molds.
Take the sponge out of the liquor and place it on top of the custard and cover with cling film and store in the fridge.
Separate the yolks from the whites. Whisk the egg yolks with sugar.
Heat the milk over low heat, then mix in the cocoa and egg yolk mixture. Cook while constantly stirring until thickened a bit. If there are any lumps, sieve the custard.
Beat the whites with icing sugar until stiff peaks. Fold the meringue into the cocoa custard.
Set the mixture aside and wait for it to cool.
Take the molds out of the fridge, sprinkle the sponge with chopped hazelnuts or almonds, and pour over with the cocoa custard.
Wrap with cling film and store in the freezer for about 3 hours.
OTHER REALIZATIONS
This version, which is very popular in the States, is adapted from SeriousEats.com .
USEFUL NOTES
As this is a simple dessert to make, with little cooking time, there are only a few key things to remember. First, if you're making it from scratch, make sure that the custard, if you are making one, is lump-free — sieve it, if need be, while it's still warm. If using store-bought ice cream, spread it with the help of a moistened spoon that you repeatedly wet in water, so it doesn't get stuck to the ice cream, which is easier to spread that way. When preparing the mold, wrap the insides with cling film or parchment paper for easier unmolding. If you've forgotten to put them, just run a hot knife around the edges, or dip the container with the spumoni shortly in warm water.
The classic flavors, at least in Italy, include chocolate, hazelnut, stracciatella, fior di latte, and pistachio, but using other flavors is not a crime if they blend nicely with other flavors and ingredients. Besides liqueur, sponge cake, or in some cases, Savioradi, that is traditionally at the center of the dessert, can be flavored with coffee. Also, in Italy, spumoni is typically assembled as a single-serving dessert, usually a dome-shaped or a cylinder-shaped one. In the States, however, spumoni is typically molded in a loaf pan and then cut in individual slabs for serving.
In Italy, it is typically served as a summer dessert, perhaps with a cup of coffee after lunch, while in the States, in the wintertime, butter cookies are the common accompaniment. Aside from that, you can decorate and serve it whichever way you like, with chopped/crushed nuts, various flavored sauces, or fruit.