Variegated coffee semifreddo with layers of dark chocolate. A fresh and delicious dessert. Perfect for those who love to savor the intensity of coffee with the sweetness of chocolate.
Arm yourself with whips and spoons and start preparing your dessert.
Ingredients
For 10 people
Method
The first step is to create the sheets of dark chocolate which we will then insert between the two layers of the cake. Melt the dark chocolate in a double boiler, or in the microwave.
Once the chocolate is melted, take a piece of parchment paper and sprinkle the melted chocolate over it to create a sheet of chocolate. Then put it in the fridge to cool.
In the second step you will have to create the Italian meringue instead. Prepare the sugar syrup (it will be used to "cook" the egg whites) with 100 ml of water and 25 mg of sugar. Put the two ingredients in a saucepan and heat them until they reach a boiling temperature. As soon as you see large bubbles appearing you will know that your mixture is at the ideal temperature. Be careful not to cook it more otherwise the sugar will start caramelizing.
While making the syrup, take care of the egg whites. Whip them until stiff and then add the boiling syrup while continuing to mix. Stir for a few more minutes, so as to pasteurize the eggs with the syrup. Once finished, turn the meringue into a container and let it rest in the refrigerator.
At this point prepare the white chocolate ganache. Heat 30 ml of milk in a saucepan, once it comes to the boil add 100 mg of white chocolate and let it melt. Stir until you get a lump-free mixture.
Then prepare a cup of coffee. We advise you to make two coffees in a cup in order to have an intense coffee. If you prefer a less intense version, you can use decaf coffee instead.
Now take care of the base of the variegated coffee semifreddo. Whip the cold cream until stiff and add it to the Italian meringue, which must be at room temperature or cold.
Separate the mixture into two equal parts and in one add the cup of coffee, in the other add the white chocolate ganache.
Gently mix each part, so that the compounds don't break down.
The last step you need to do is to assemble the variegated coffee semifreddo. Then get some parchment paper and cover the mold you will use. We have opted for, for convenience, a 15 cm plum cake mold.
Then make a first layer with the coffee base. Take the chocolate sheets from the fridge and break them into pieces. Once broken, add them quickly to the first layer, try to be lightning fast because the chocolate tends to melt once out of the fridge. Add the coarsely chopped cantucci and then another layer of white meringue and chopped chocolate.
Put the cake in the fridge to cool for about 8 hours. When serving, add a sprinkling of bitter cocoa, pieces of chocolate and cantucci.
For an extra touch
Make the variegated coffee semifreddo even more particular you can always replace the cantucci with i Ricciarelli.