Savoiardi and Cream Cake
There’s no Friday dinner without dessert. I really had to whip up something quickly- hence made this savoiardi and cream cake. It’s a super simple recipe, despite the fact that you need to make a pastry cream. So please do not stress about making it 😩. I was a little bit skeptical at first, not sure why… Perhaps its because most of this dessert was based on creams. It was, however, devoured withing minutes, and I was shocked.
The coffee syrup plays an important role here, so better not skip it. And as I always say – do not skip the liqueur, which elevates all flavors to a whole other level.
Savoiardi are an Italian cookie. You can make them at home, as with anything else, but this time I used storebought.
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Savoiardi and Cream Cake:
Equipment: Squared pan sized: 20cm x 20cm x 6cm (h)
Recipe:
For the coffee pastry cream:
| Ingredient | Amount (g / units) |
| Eggs | 100g (2 medium sized eggs) |
| Milk | 480g |
| Espresso Powder | 4 tsps |
| Cornstarch | 30g |
| White Granulated Sugar | 100g |
| Vanilla Extract | 1 tbsp |
| Unsalted Butter | 30g |
For the whipped cream:
| Ingredient | Amount (g / units) |
| Heavy Cream (32-38%) | 480g |
| White Granulated Sugar | 48g |
For the coffee syrup:
| Ingredient | Amount (g / units) |
| Boiling Water | 350g |
| Espresso Powder | 3 tsps |
| White Granulated Sugar | 50g |
| Coffee Liquor | 3-4 tbsps |
Cake preparation and assembly instructions:
For the coffee pastry cream:
- In a small bowl, whisk together 120g of the milk and cornstarch, until smooth and without any lumps. Add the eggs and whisk thoroughly to combine.
- Into a small saucepan, and the 360g of Milk, espresso powder and sugar, and cook on medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and the milk simmers.
- Gradually temper the eggs mixture with the hot milk by constantly whisking it to avoid cooking the eggs.
- Pour the eggs mixture back into the saucepan through a fine strainer to get rid of any unwanted cooked egg bits.
- Cook on medium heat whisking constantly making sure to scrape the sides of your pan, until you see large and thick bubbles rising to the surface. This should take 2-3 minutes. As soon as you see the bubbles, cook for some 1-2 more minutes.
- Remove from heat and add in the butter and vanilla. Whisk them well to combine.
- Transfer the batter to a clean bowl and cover it with plastic wrap that touches the surface of the custard to prevent a skin forming. Cool down to room temperature, before transferring to the refrigerator for at least 4 hours (you can make this cream one day in advanced).
Pro Tip: When you need to cool down a pastry cream fast, you can wrap a tray with plastic wrap, and pour the cream in an even layer on top of the plastic wrap. Adhere a large piece of plastic wrap to the cream and make sure it is sealed well from all sides. Transfer the tray to the refrigerator and it should be cooled down in less than one hour.
For the coffee syrup:
Mix all of the ingredients together (except for the liquor) until the sugar is fully dissolved. Set to the side until the mixture cooled down to room temperature. Then add the liquor.
Assembly:
- Soak the savoiardi in the coffee syrup and neatly arrange them at the bottom of the pan.
- Evenly spread half the amount of coffee pastry cream.
- Beat the heavy cream and sugar to stiff peaks, and evenly spread half of the cream amount on top of the coffee pastry cream.
- Repeat steps 1-3 above once more with the rest of the savoiardi and creams.
- Dust the top with Dutch processed cocoa powder, and store refrigerated for up to 3 days (I like to first dust non-melting powdered sugar before I dust the cocoa powder, because it helps create a separating layer that prevents the cocoa powder from absorbing the liquids in the cream, which actually makes it darker).
