Very Berry Boccone Dolce Cake Recipe (Video)

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Place a 10” bottom piece of a springform pan on a sheet of parchment paper. Trace the circle with a pencil. Cut out the circle 2” further away from the traced marking. Make 3 identical circular cut outs and set them aside.

Carefully separate egg yolks from whites. Place all 12 egg whites into an electric mixer bowl. Add sugar. Beat egg whites and sugar on high for about 15 minutes. (Speed 10 on a heavy duty 6000 HD Kitchen Aid Mixer. Beating times vary depending on the mixer you use.) The thickness of the meringue is very important. It should be very thick, heavy, and smooth (with no sugar granules).

Fill a piping bag with meringue, about ¾ full. Turn over the circular parchment paper cut outs (so the pencil mark is on the bottom side). Pipe meringue out in moon shapes (reversed letter “c”) overlapping each other to form a large circle along the visibly traced circle. Then fill in the middle. Level out the inside meringue, leaving the outer circle untouched. Repeat the same steps with all 3-parchment paper cut outs.

The top rack should be positioned in the middle of the oven and the second rack should be placed right under the top one. Placed meringue layers into the oven one at a time. (An aluminum insulated cookie sheet goes a long way to help you in this step.) Slide the cookie sheet gently under the parchment paper of one meringue layer. Carefully transfer it to the top oven rack. Repeat the same steps with the other 2 meringue layers and place them on the bottom rack. Immediately when all 3 layers are in the oven close the oven door and reduce the temperature to 270 F. (TIP: Temperature control is vital in the baking process and outcome.) Let it begin to dry (bake) at this temperature for 7 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 220 F. Let it bake at that temperature for 6 hours. (Total oven drying/baking time is 6 hours including the first 7 minutes.) Once 6 hours are up, turn the oven off and let the meringue cool in the oven overnight. This step is very important: It must cool down very gradually - in the oven and with the oven. Removing it from the oven to room temperature is a drastic temperature change and will cause a lot of cracking. (To enjoy this dessert at the after-church lunch on a Sunday, I begin making it around 5 pm, on a Friday before. I place it into the oven to bake at about 5:30 pm so that I may turn the oven off at about 11:30 pm before I go to bed. The following day, Saturday morning, I remove them from the oven completely cooled and assemble them during the evening shortly before going to bed. I hope this helps explain the timing of its process, but of course, you may make it at any time that works best for you and feel free to ask questions.)

Cream Instructions:

Chill the mixer bowl in the freezer for 10 minutes (this will speed up the mixing process). Pour 5 cups of heavy cream into the chilled mixer bowl. Beat for 2 minutes or until it becomes pretty thick. Add 1 cup of sugar and beat again for 30 seconds. Scrape the cream down off the sides of the mixer bowl with a spatula and beat it again for 15 seconds. (Once again, the beating speed will depend on the strength of the mixer you use. Do not over beat the cream.)

Assembling the Cake:

Trim one of the previously used parchment paper cut outs along the traced circle and place on the serving platter to assemble the cake on. (This is optional but handy to prevent the platter from scratches during slicing). Spread a smidgen of cream under the paper to prevent the cake from sliding off. Place the first meringue layer on the paper. Fill about 1/3 of the cream into the same piping bag with the same tip you used to pipe meringue. Pipe out the cream in the same manner as the meringue layers. Spread out and mix up (rinsed, dried and cut) fruit on top of the cream. (As you can see I love a lot of fruit.) Then place the second meringue layer on top of the fruit and repeat the same steps. Finally, place the third layer on the second, repeat the steps once more and top it off with a nice load of fruit!