Zuppa Inglese Emiliana

The name is a lie, or perhaps a joke. Zuppa Inglese is neither soup nor English. It is Emilian to its core, a dessert of patient layering, of custard made properly with egg yolks and good vanilla, of sponge cake soaked in alchermes until it turns the color of rubies.

Americans know trifle, that British thing with too much whipped cream and not enough structure. Zuppa Inglese is not that. The custard here is crema pasticcera, the same pastry cream that fills bomboloni and lines fruit tarts across Italy. It must be thick enough to hold its shape, silken enough to melt on the tongue. There is no whipped cream to dilute the richness. There is only custard, cake, and liqueur.

The alchermes is essential. This scarlet liqueur, spiced with cinnamon and clove and colored with cochineal, has perfumed Florentine and Emilian pastries since the Renaissance. If you cannot find it, you can substitute rum or a mixture of rum and maraschino, but know that you are making something else. The color will be wrong. The flavor will be different. It will still be good. It will not be authentic.

This is a dessert that rewards patience. Make the custard a day ahead. Let the assembled zuppa rest overnight. The flavors marry, the cake softens, and what emerges is greater than its parts.