Lady’s fingers cake is a dessert that is made with ladyfingers, whipped cream, and chocolate. It is a popular dessert in Italy and is often served at special occasions. The cake is easy to make and is a crowd favorite.
The cake is created on the basis of cookies with a characteristic elongated shape. They are stacked in the form of a slide, each billet is dipped in cream. The surface of the dessert is decorated with chocolate or fruit. The important condition is not to make the filling too liquid, otherwise the baked sticks will get soggy. Before serving, the dessert is kept in the refrigerator, but it is not intended for too long storage.
Lady’s fingers: a classic step by step recipe
Ingredients:
- 200 g of wheat flour;
- 200 g filtered water;
- 150 g of butter;
- 6 eggs;
- 700 g sour cream;
- 1 tsp. vanilla sugar;
- 200 g granulated sugar;
- 50g butter;
- 50g plain dark chocolate.
Sieve the flour and heat the water in a saucepan. Add butter and salt. While stirring bring mixture to boil and reduce heat. Add flour in a thin stream, without stopping to stir it. Remove the saucepan from the stove and cool the dough.
Beat eggs with a mixer in a separate bowl. In portions add egg mixture to the custard dough and mix thoroughly. The dough should be soft and pliable, not too thick, but not spreading. Place it in a pastry syringe with a wide smooth nozzle. You can replace it with a plastic bag with the tip cut off.
Line a baking tray with baking paper. Use a pastry syringe to cut even strips of dough of equal size to resemble fingers. Leave a space between them, so that the pieces do not stick together when baked. Place a baking tray on the middle level of an oven preheated to 180 degrees. Bake until tender, then remove from the baking tray and cool.
Prepare the cream for the cake. So that it does not turn out watery, sour cream must be strained in advance, putting it on gauze folded several times. Collect the gauze in a knot, tie with a knot and hang it so that the liquid flows freely. After 30-40 minutes, transfer the sour cream to a deep bowl, add the regular and vanilla sugar. Beat everything with an immersion mixer until homogeneous and dissolved sugar crystals.
Assemble the cake better in a round cake pan, it is easier to take out the ready product. Cover the bottom of the form with a sheet of foil. Dip cookies in sour cream, and put them into the form side by side. The bottom layer is stacked vertically, the next layer horizontally. This arrangement will help the dessert retain its shape when cut. Fill the form until the cookies are done. Spread the remaining sour cream on top of the billets.
Prepare the filling. Break chocolate into pieces, add butter. Put the ingredients in a bowl, place in a pan with hot water and stir until smooth. Slightly cool the chocolate mixture, place it in a plastic bag with the corner cut off. Draw stripes on the surface of the cake in the form of a grid. Put it in the fridge for 2 hours. Cut it right in the form, take out pieces conveniently with two silicone spatulas.
Lady fingers with custard
Ingredients:
- 100 g of butter;
- 3 eggs;
- 250 ml water;
- 250 g flour;
- 250 g sugar;
- 50 ml sour cream;
- pinch of salt.
For the cream:
- 500 ml milk;
- 4 eggs;
- 2 tablespoons flour;
- 150g butter;
- 1 cup sugar;
- pinch of vanilla;
- 80g orange or pistachio chocolate.
Melt the butter, add the sifted flour and mix quickly. Stir in the sugar and salt, cool the dough slightly, and then add the eggs, one at a time. Knead the mixture until it is homogeneous. Place the dough in a piping bag and pipe dough sticks about 5 cm long on a baking tray. Bake in a preheated 180 degrees oven until golden. Remove the billets from the baking tray and cool.
Prepare the custard. Pour the milk into a saucepan and bring it to a boil. In a separate bowl beat eggs with sugar. Use an immersion blender to accelerate the process. When the egg mixture is white, add flour and vanilla. Whisk the mixture until it is completely homogeneous. Without stopping, pour in hot milk in a thin stream. Put the container with the cream on low heat and cook until it thickens, stirring constantly with a spoon. To prevent the cream from sticking, periodically run a spoon along the bottom.
When the mixture has thickened and has a nice yellowish color, remove it from the heat. Add melted butter and beat with a mixer until fluffy. Leave the cream to cool.
Line the cake tin with baking paper or foil. Dip the custard sticks one at a time in the custard so that it completely covers the cookies. Stack the pieces closely in several layers. When finished, pour the rest of the custard over the cake. Place in fridge for 2-3 hours.
Melt colored chocolate in a water bath and put it into a syringe. Take the cake out of the fridge and carefully take it out. Place it on a plate, decorate the surface with melted chocolate, drawing patterns, grids and monograms. Put the cake back in the fridge. After half an hour, you can serve the dessert as a whole, or cut into portions.
Ladies fingers made of shortbread dough
Ingredients:
- 200 g butter;
- 4 eggs;
- 1 tsp. soda;
- 0.5 tsp. lemon juice or vinegar;
- 1 cup of wheat flour;
- 500 g of heavy sour cream;
- 200 g sugar;
- 1 tsp. vanilla sugar.
Melt the butter and sugar (80 g). One egg at a time, continue to mix the mixture. Add soda put out with vinegar or lemon juice, add sifted flour. Knead a soft and pliable dough. It should hold its shape and not stick to your hands.
Separate small pieces from the overall mass and on a lightly floured board, roll them into smooth, not too long sticks. Arrange the pieces on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Place cookies in an oven heated to 180 degrees. When the sticks are browned, remove from the oven, remove the dough pieces with a spatula and leave to cool on a board.
Whisk the sour cream with the regular and vanilla sugar until the crystals have dissolved. Lay out the sticks in layers close together, dipping each one in the sour cream. Shape the cake into a square, spread the remaining cream evenly over the surface. Place in fridge for 1-2 hours. Before serving, sprinkle the dessert with multicoloured confectionery crumbs, sugar beads or coconut flakes.