Dessert TIme Recipes

Here are some recipes I used for the birthday desserts this past Saturday. I made an Olive Oil cake served with assorted berries, a make ahead Zabaglione with crushed Ameretti cookies.

Olive Oil pound cake recipe serves 8-10 *

Ingredients:
6 egg whites (separate and save yolks for Zabaglione recipe)
2 cups sugar
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
l tsp. salt
1cup buttermilk

Instructions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees
In a non reactive bowl, whip egg whites and sugar until fluffy. Add
olive oil into egg white and sugar mixture. In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Alternate folding mixture and buttermilk into egg white mixture until fully incorporated.Pour combined mixture into a greased bundt pan and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown and firm to the touch. Dust with powdered sugar and spoon zabaglione sauce and berries over or to the side of the cake. *Note I made this a day ahead.

Recipe for Make ahead Zabaglione with Amaretti cookies (courtesy of Ina Garten)

Ingredients:
6 egg yolk extra large eggs
1/2 cup superfine sugar (I used regular sugar)
3/4 cup dry Italian marsala wine
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. pure almond extract
3/4 cup cold heavy cream
4-6 Italian Amaretti di Saronno cookies, lightly crushed (I found these at Cost Plus World Markets)

Directions:
Place egg yolks, sugar, and marsala wine in a large heat proof glass bowl and whisk them together.  Place the bowl on a pan of simmering water to make a double boiler and whisk the mixture almost constantly for 5-7 minutes, until it expands in volume and becomes thickened. You'll see the froth disappear and the whisk will leave a little trail in the mixture. Don't walk away from it or you'll end up with scrambled eggs!  Off the heat, whisk in the vanilla and almond extracts. Set aside for 30 minutes to cool to room temperature, whisking once or twice as it cools. 
Place the cream in the bowl of an electric mixer filled with whisk attachment (or hand mixer) and beat it just until forms firm peaks.  With a rubber spatula, carefully fold the cream into the Marsala mixture. (I place the amaretti cookies in a zip lock plastic bag and crush them slightly). Keep them in baggie til ready to serve. I refrigerate the zabaglione mixture in a glass bowl. I made this the day before and served with the cake, berries and topped with the crushed cookies. 

 
 *Olive oil cake from www.jordanwinery.com/culinary/recipes/olive-oil-cake