Agnello di sfoglia Pasquale (chocolate and vanilla mille-feuille) - Lombardia
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
This is a typical Easter cake from the provinces of Pavia and Lodi in Lombardy. It is layers of puff pastry typically baked and then cut into three layers. Here I bake 3 separate layers to reduce the risk of breakage.The crisp pastry is layered with creamy, decadent vanilla and chocolate custards. What better way to celebrate Easter? My son asks for this cake for his birthday so I leave the pastry uncut and layer it adding sliced strawberries to the layers. Enjoy!
Make the custards the day before to ensure they are more solid. At the risk of starting controversy, I find that a good, all-butter, store-bought puff pastry is a perfectly acceptable (and a much more relaxing) option.
Make the custards the day before to ensure they are more solid. At the risk of starting controversy, I find that a good, all-butter, store-bought puff pastry is a perfectly acceptable (and a much more relaxing) option.
Author: Woo Wei-Duan
Recipe type: Dessert (Dolci)
Cuisine: Lombardia
Serves: 12
Ingredients
- 3 sheets puff pastry
- ½ recipe crema pasticcera (custard), but increase the rice flour and cornflour to 25 grams each, chilled
- 1/2 recipe crema pasticcera al cioccolato (chocolate custard) but increase the rice flour and cornflour to 25 grams each, chilled
- 200 mls whipping cream
- 10 gramsicing sugar, plus more for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 220. If you are making a lamb then draw the form of a lamb on a piece of parchment paper the same size as one of your pieces of puff pastry. If you are not making a lamb shaped cake, you do not need to cut the pastry.
- Place the puff pastry on top of the parchment and cut it to the same form as the lamb.
- Place the cut sheet of puff pastry on top of an uncut sheet of puff pastry and cut out the form of the lamb. Repeat with the next sheet of puff pastry.
- Place all three sheets on separate parchment lined baking trays. Prick them each with a fork all over.
- Place the baking trays in the oven for 8 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 200 and bake for another 7 to 12 minutes until they have puffed and are golden.
- Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.
- While they are cooling, whip the cream with 10 grams of icing sugar until it forms soft peaks. Put it into an pastry bag with a fluted tip.
- Place one of the puff pastry sheets on the serving platter and cover it with chocolate custard.
- Pipe whipping cream around the edges.
- Top with another sheet of puff pastry and spread the vanilla custard evenly around.
- Pipe whipping cream around the edges.
- Top with the remaining sheet of puff pastry.
- Sprinkle a bit of icing sugar over the top and serve.
