Recipe: Espresso Cassata

Recipe

Espresso Cassata

Recipe By: AMYCAKES aka Amy Handler
Serving Size: 1

1 loaf Brioche, trimmed, sliced, toasted
1 recipe Caffe Latte Inglesa whipped cream, lightly sweetened—for decorating
1 cup warm maple syrup

Take a 1 quart, round bottomed stainless steel or Pyrex glass bowl and butter and sugar it, as for a souffle.

Line the bowl with the toast. You may overlap or trim to make an exact lining. Fill the cavity with remaining toast crumbs and pieces. Save a whole piece for the center of the top of the bowl. (This will make it easier to turn out when it is done).

Pour most of the Inglesa mix over the toast and give it some time to be absorbed. Top off with as much for the remainder as possible.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and pierce it twice or three times.

The wrap will keep the toast from floating out of the custard, til it sets in place.

Set the wrapped bowl in a basin of hot water and bake it in a 325 degrees F oven for an hour. After 45 minutes, remove the plastic wrap, and lift a corner of your large piece of toast. If the mix beneath is still watery, put it back without the covering. When this custard looks done, the pudding is baked.

Refrigerate. When quite cool, you can remove it entire from the mold. Invert it on a serving plate.

Pour warmed maple syrup over it and decorate with whipped cream.

Brioches

Recipe By: AMYCAKES aka Amy Handler
Serving Size: 12

1/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 sticks sweet butter
3 cups bread flour
1/2 cup eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 ounce yeast

Use the Straight Dough Method:

Put the yeast and liquids in the mixing bowl with the dough hook and turn it on, slow speed. Add the other ingredients, leaving the salt for last.

Once all the flour is moistened turn up to moderate speed and work until the dough is strong, elastic and cleans up the bowl.

Grease the surface of the dough and let it rise, covered until doubled in bulk. Yeast is dormant to 60 degrees F, most active at 90 degrees F, and dies at 139 degrees F.

When it has doubled in bulk, turn it out of the bowl, press out the gas, return it to the bowl, regressed and recovered, and let it rise until doubled again.

Divide into sixteen even pieces. Round into smooth balls. As you round them, arrange them in lines, so it's easy to tell the order. Take the first and rolling it with the edge of your hand, squeeze it into two attached balls, one about a quarter the size of the other. Lift them by the smaller one and place it in a well-greased brioche mold. As you put it in, make a hollow with your first two fingers and thumb, that the top ball can nestle in.

Let them rise to the top of the molds. Eggwash them and bake them at 350 degrees F for about 25 minutes. Check the color of the bottoms and sides for doneness. They should be a rich brown.