A Guest Post – Chocolate Sformato with Amaretto Whipped Cream

It is such an honor to have Donna from The Slow Roasted Italian doing this guest post for me today! Her recipes are wonderful, she is such a sweetheart AND she’s only been food blogging for a little over ONE month!!! Can you believe it?! She is blessed with a wonderful gift. Thank you, Donna for introducing us to your Sformato, I so look forward to trying it, and taking the time to do this post. Make sure you all take a look at Donna’s great recipes on her blog and thank her for her post.
Make sure you readers in the United States take advantage of the special offer from Dannon Activia Selects. I’m having trouble posting the link from my tablet, but it’s the post before this, so just scroll down or look on the right hand side in the archive. There’ only a couple of days left to get the coupon, so get yours printed NOW!!
I will be back to baking again tomorrow, and posting daily, and will share some pictures from my trip.
I was so excited when Lynne asked me to guest post for her on 365 days of Baking. I have been writing The Slow Roasted Italian and loving every moment of it. I love to tell stories of the food I am so passionate about along with my family that I truly enjoy feeding. This is my first guest post and I wanted to stay within the theme of this blog and stay true to my own, so I picked a fabulous baked Italian dessert that I love. It is called a Chocolate Sformato. A sformato is an Italian flan. It is a thick pudding, delicious and oh so chocolaty.

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In a small saucepan, combine 1 1/2 cups of the milk, the sugar, and vanilla. Bring to a simmer and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat. Sprinkle the gelatin over the remaining 1/2 cup cold milk and let dissolve for 2 minutes. Combine the cold milk and gelatin with the hot milk and sugar.

Stir to dissolve the gelatin, about 5 minutes. (Heat the milk gently if the gelatin is not dissolving easily.) When the gelatin is dissolved add the milk to the eggs, one ladle at a time whisking constantly (this is called tempering) to avoid scrambling the eggs.

Return mixture to the pot. Place the bowl into the sink with a sieve over top pour the mixture through. To make sure you have a smooth mixture.

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate over a double boiler. You can make one by putting a heat safe bowl over a pot with about 1″ of water. You do not want the water to touch the bowl.

When the chocolate is melted gradually combine the milk and egg mixture with the melted chocolate, stirring between each addition to create a smooth chocolate mixture.

Pour the mixture into a buttered 2-quart casserole dish, or use a 6″ springform pan (the bottom wrapped in heavy duty aluminum foil, large enough to use one sheet or you can get water in your sformato). Sprinkle the top with 1/4 cup of the almonds.

Place the casserole dish in a larger dish or roasting pan. Add hot water to the outer pan until the water comes halfway up the sides of the baking dish. Bake until the sides are firm and the center is jiggles slightly, about 1 hour. Remove from the oven, remove pan from water (set on a heat safe cloth) and let cool for at least 30 minutes.

If using a springform pan slide a butter knife around the pan to release the sformato before opening the pan.
Just before serving, whip the cream to soft peaks in a medium bowl using a whisk or electric hand mixer. Add the sugar and almond liqueur and whip to combine. Spoon the sformato into individual serving bowls and dollop the top with the almond liqueur whip cream.

 

Click here for a printable version of this recipe – The Slow Roasted Italian.com