Let’s discover the link between the Helvetia cake and the city of Mantua

The elvezia cake is a refined dessert made up of layers of crunchy daquoise, buttercream and zabaglione. Here is the original recipe from Mantua.

The elvezia cake, to the detriment of the name, is a typical dessert of the city of Mantua. It owes its name to a family of Swiss confectioners who came to Mantua from the Grisons Putscher in 1700 and decided to use the typical ingredients of the area to make a dessert that celebrated their homeland. This typical product has also obtained the recognition of PAT, ie Traditional Agri-food Product , precisely to protect its origins and recipe.

The elvezia di Mantova cake is made up of three layers of daquoise stuffed with butter cream and zabaglione . In fact, not everyone knows that it is the city of Mantua that claims the birthplace of zabaglione, a cream prepared since the time of the Gonzagas. But let’s find out in detail the recipe which, although not really simple, does not hide great pitfalls.

How to prepare the recipe for the elvezia cake

1. First, prepare the daquoise . Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer, adding 250 g of icing sugar a little at a time until they are whipped. Then stir in the almond flour, stirring gently from the bottom up.
2. Transfer the dough to a pastry bag with a smooth nozzle and dress it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper to obtain 3 circles of 18 cm.
3. Cook them at 160 ° C for 15 minutes then let them cool.
4. Meanwhile, prepare the zabaglione by working the egg yolks with the sugar with an electric mixer. Once clear and frothy, stir in the white wine and transfer everything to a saucepan in order to cook in a bain-marie, always stirring with a whisk.
5. When it is swollen and firm, turn off, remove from heat and let it cool.
6. Finally, prepare the buttercream by whipping the butter with the remaining icing sugar and the unsweetened cocoa. Once smooth and homogeneous, transfer it to a pastry bag with a smooth nozzle.
7. Assemble the dessert by placing a first disc of daquoise, 2/3 of the butter cream, the second disc, the zabaglione and finally the last disc on a plate.
8. Cover the outer ring of the cake with the butter cream, add the chopped almonds and finally decorate everything with icing sugar.

We advise you to let it rest for a couple of hours before serving. We advise you to try another typical dessert of the city of Mantua: the sandy cake !

storage

The elvezia cake can be kept in the refrigerator, well covered with plastic wrap, for 2-3 days .