Scazzetta del Cardinale
Salerno's domed pan di spagna cake
A dome of pan di spagna filled with crema diplomatica and wild strawberries, glazed a soft pink. The rounded shape and the color give it its name — scazzetta, the small cap worn by a cardinal.
A word on where this belongs: the scazzetta is from Salerno, not Naples — invented there roughly a century ago and still strongly associated with that city's pasticcerie specifically. It travels well across Campania and turns up on pastry trays throughout the region, but it isn't a Neapolitan invention, and it wouldn't be honest to call it one. It earns its place on this guide to pan di spagna cakes as Salerno's contribution to the same family.
Underneath the glaze, it's built the way most of these cakes are: pan di spagna sliced into layers to follow a domed mold, filled with crema diplomatica — pastry cream lightened with whipped cream, often called "chantilly" in Neapolitan pasticcerie even though that's not quite the correct name; see the guide to the creams for the distinction — and studded with fragoline di bosco, the small intensely fragrant wild strawberries. The dome shape and the pink glaze are what set it apart visually; everything under the surface is close cousins with delizia al limone and the rest of the family.
Salerno's cake, not Naples's — a hundred years old, and shaped like a cardinal's cap on purpose.
The recipe
For one 20 cm domed cake (a mixing bowl works as a mold), serving 8.
Scazzetta del Cardinale — domed sponge cake glazed pink, crema diplomatica and wild strawberries. Click to enlarge.
1 batchPan di spagna, sliced into layers
400 mlFresh cream, whipped
400 mlCrema pasticcera, chilled
250 gFragoline di bosco (wild strawberries), or small strawberries, halved
50 mlWater, for the bagna
2 tbspSugar, for the bagna
150 gFondant icing or white chocolate, tinted pale pink
1
Make a light syrup by dissolving the sugar in the water over low heat. Cool completely.
2
Fold the whipped cream gently into the chilled crema pasticcera to make the diplomatica. Fold in most of the strawberries, saving a few for decoration.
3
Line a round-bottomed bowl with plastic wrap. Cut the pan di spagna into shapes that follow the curve of the bowl, brush each piece with the syrup, and press against the sides and base to form the dome shell, leaving a cavity in the center.
4
Fill the cavity with the diplomatica and strawberries. Close with a final layer of soaked pan di spagna to seal the base. Chill at least 4 hours, ideally overnight.
5
Turn out onto a serving plate. Warm the pink fondant or tinted white chocolate just enough to pour, and coat the dome evenly. Decorate with the reserved strawberries before the glaze sets.
Keep chilled until serving — the dome holds its shape better cold.
Related
Pan di Spagna
The sponge shell this cake is built from. See
the full recipe.
Delizia al Limone
Another domed pan di spagna cake, filled and glazed with lemon instead. See
the full recipe.
Buon appetito.
