subject: The Most Popular Italian Desserts That Will Make Your Mouth Water! [print this page] Italy is famous for many things; Italian desserts are definitely one among them. They are certainly a standard in Italy travel advice forums. There is really no reason to not savor the delicious pastries as they are widely available and affordable. An Italian tour is incomplete, when one doesn't taste the following popular Italian desserts.
Tartufo di Pizzo
This tasty dessert takes its name after the charming town in Calabria Pizzo. There are tourists head to the place just to have Tartufo di Pizzo. It is an ice cream in a rough spherical shape that is made of chocolate and hazelnut. The delicious dessert is filled with chocolate fudge sauce in the center and dusted with bitter cocoa powder and sugar. This little delicacy has become a marketing giant due to its demand from the people.
Rum Baba
Baba is an appealing dessert that is a soft, spongy cake in mushroom shape dipped in rum. This sweet and alcoholic pastry is simply irresistible. Legend has it that Baba had been invented by accident. Once when the Duke of Lorraine, Stanislas Leszcsynski spilled the liquor over Lorrainian kugelhopf and realized it tasted amazing. Then, he named the dessert after his hero Ali Baba. The recipe travelled to Naples through Paris and was improvised into one of the popular Italian desserts.
Tiramisu
In Italian, Tiramisu means pick-me-up' as the dessert is packed with energy stimulating contents such as caffeine, eggs and sugar. This heavenly indulgence was found in Veneto in 19th century. The recipe was first put to test in Le Beccherie restaurant in Treviso. It became an instant hit with the common folks and was adapted into so many varieties by chefs all around Italy. The classic Italian dessert recipe uses ladyfingers dipped in espresso coffee, whipped mascarpone-zabaglione cream and cocoa powder.
Panna Cotta
This simple and luscious dessert originated from Piemonte. True to the recipe, Panna Cotta means cooked cream and it is the traditional dessert of dairy producing areas of northern Italy. It is a white pudding made of whipped cream, which would be thickened by cooking later with gelatin. This popular Italian dessert became famous for the creamy and wiggly texture that simply melts in mouth.
Cassata Siciliana
A Palermo pastry chef called Guli came up with this mouth-watering dish based on the ancient dessert cassata (baked ricotta). With cinnamon and sugar dusted pastry crust as the base; ricotta and chocolate as filling; Cassata Siciliana is finished with sugar icing and candied fruit on top. This tasty indulgence is a fine dessert from Sicily.
