Classic Boccone Dolce Cake (with Berries and Cream)
Boccone Dolce Cake is a traditional Italian dessert that combines meringue, whipped cream, and fresh berries for a delicious, light, and airy dessert you'll love!
Course Cakes
Cuisine Italian
Keyword boccone dolce
Prep Time 45 minutesminutes
Cook Time 7 hourshours
Cooling Time 8 hourshours
Total Time 15 hourshours45 minutesminutes
Servings 16
Author Valya's Taste of Home
Ingredients
Meringue Instructions
12large room temperature eggs
4cupsBakers sugar
Cream Instructions
5cupscold heavy whipping cream
1cupsugar (I used organic sugar)
Berries You’ll Need
2lbs.strawberries
2lbs.raspberries
1lb.blackberries
1lb.blueberries
Instructions
How to Make Meringue Cake Layers
Start by preheating your oven to 350 F. Then place a 10" inch bottom piece of a springform pan on a sheet of parchment paper.
Trace the circle with a pencil then cut out the circle 2" inches further away from your traced marking. Make 3 identical cut-outs of this size and set them aside.
Next, carefully separate egg yolks from the whites. Place all 12 egg whites into an electric mixer bowl and add sugar.
Beat the egg whites and sugar with a whisker attachment on high for about 15 minutes. Beating times may vary depending on the mixer you use. The meringue should be very thick, heavy, and smooth with no sugar granules and soft peaks when it's done.
After that, fill a piping bag with a star tip with the meringue to about ¾ full. Flip the parchment paper cut-outs over so the pencil mark is on the bottom side.
Pipe the meringue out in moon shapes (reverse c's), overlapping each other to form a large circle along the pencil trace line. Fill in the middle, then spread meringue evenly over the parchment paper, leaving the outer circle untouched. Repeat the same steps with all 3 parchment paper cut-outs.
Baking Meringue Cake Layers
Now it's time to put our cake layers in the oven. First, we need to properly position the racks. The top rack should be positioned in the middle of the oven with the second rack directly beneath it.
Place the meringue layers into the oven one at a time. Put one layer on the top rack and two layers on the bottom rack.
You can use an aluminum cookie sheet or baking sheet to help you with this step. Gently slide the parchment paper with meringue onto the cookie sheet, then slide it from the cookie sheet to the oven rack.
When all 3 layers are transferred to the oven, close the door and immediately reduce the temperature to 270 F. Let it bake at this temperature for 7 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 220 F. Let it bake at 220 F for 5 hours and 53 minutes.
The cake will bake for a total of 6 hours. Temperature control is vital in this baking process and the outcome of the finished product. Be sure to pay close attention to the temperature and timings.
Once the 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 and with the oven. If you remove it from the oven, the drastic temperature change will cause a lot of cracking.
Frosting for the Boccone Dolce Cake
When you're ready to make the cream, chill a mixing bowl in the freezer for 10 minutes. This helps speed up the mixing process.
Pour 5 cups of heavy cream into the chilled bowl, then beat it for 2 minutes or until it becomes thick. Add 1 cup sugar and beat again for 30 seconds.
Scrape the cream off the sides of the mixer bowl with a rubber spatula and beat it again for 15 seconds. Again, the beating times may vary slightly depending on the strength of the mixer you use. Be careful not to overbeat the cream.
How to Assemble Boccone Dolce Cake
Trim one of the previously used parchment paper cut-outs along the traced circle and put it on a serving plate. This is optional but very handy to prevent scratching your platter while slicing the cake. Also, place a very small amount of cream under the paper to prevent the cake from sliding off.
Next, put the first meringue layer on the parchment paper. Fill about ⅓ of the cream into the same piping bag with the same tip you used to pipe the meringue.
Pipe out the cream in the same moon-shaped manner as the meringue layers. Make sure your fruit is rinsed, dried, and cut, then mix it up and spread it out on top of the cream. The fruit needs to be dry so the juice doesn't leak into and discolor the meringue.
Place the second layer of meringue on top of the fruit and repeat the same steps above. Place the final meringue layer on the second and repeat the steps once more, then garnish it with a nice load of fruit!
Notes
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