Prosecco with Lemon Sponge Cake, Lemon Curd and Raspberry Ice Cream

Bottles & Bites
by Shari Goodman

Natalie’s Challenge:
Find a bottle. Pair with bites.

My Goals:
Bottle must be under $25.
Bites must be delicious.

Lemon Sponge Cake, Lemon Curd and Raspberry Ice Cream

Sun meets bubbles in this pairing of bottle and bites. With a light but refreshing drink and dessert combination, this is sure to cool you off in the middle of a heat wave.

I love bubbles in the summer. And Prosecco was made for summertime sipping. This Italian sparkling wine (Santa Margherita Brut Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore, $18.95) is a light, refreshing and affordable alternative to French Champagne. Valdobbiadene, which is in the heart of Prosecco grape country, sits between Venice and the foothills of the Alps.

Paired with this fresh bubbly, you can serve a light lemon sponge cake with a sweet and intense lemon curd. And on the side, a scoop or two of raspberry ice cream and fresh raspberries.

Lemon curd is luscious. But curdled eggs are not. To avoid this pesky problem, add the egg mixture slowly to the melted butter mixture and whisk constantly. Also, using a double-boiler is a bit of insurance against lumps in your curd. Finally, if it does end up lumpy, a strainer can help.

The raspberry ice cream is dead easy. It’s just puréed raspberries and store-bought vanilla ice cream. Use the best ice cream you can find or make your own.

To enhance the lemon-y experience, glaze the sponge cake with Limoncello just before serving.

“Come quickly, I am tasting the stars!”
~ Dom Perignon, at the moment he discovered Champagne

I wonder what he would have said about Prosecco!

Santa Margherita Brut Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore

Lemon Sponge Cake

Makes one tube pan (10″ x 4″) or 8 mini Bundt pans

1½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
6 egg whites (about ¾ cup)
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
6 egg yolks (about ½ cup)
1½ cups sugar
⅓ cup cold water
2½ teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1 teaspoon lemon peel, finely grated

Limoncello for glazing (optional)

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff.

In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks in until thick and lemon colored. Beat in sugar gradually. In a small bowl, whisk the water, vanilla extract, lemon juice and lemon peel. On low speed, add the dry ingredients alternately with the water mixture.

Stir ⅓ of the egg whites into the batter. Then fold in the remaining egg white mixture.

Pour into an ungreased tube pan, 10″ x 4″. Bake 60-65 minutes. Turn pan upside down and cool. Remove from pan.

Optionally, glaze with Limoncello just before serving.

Lemon Curd

Makes 2 cups

2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
6 tablespoons (¾ stick) unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
6 tablespoons lemon juice, freshly squeezed
2 teaspoons lemon peel, finely grated
Pinch salt

In a medium bowl, whisk eggs and egg yolks. In a medium metal pan, melt butter. (You can use a double-boiler if you want to control the heat.) To the melted butter, whisk in the sugar, lemon juice, lemon peel and salt. Gradually whisk in egg mixture. Whisk until thick and thermometer inserted into the curd registers 178°F to 180°F, about 8 minutes. Transfer mixture to a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap touching lemon curd and chill 4 hours. (You can make this up to 2 days ahead and store in the refrigerator.)

Raspberry Ice Cream

Makes 4 cups

10 ounces (about 1¼ cups) frozen raspberries
4 cups vanilla ice cream

Using a food processor, stir together the frozen raspberries and ice cream. Return ice cream to the freezer.

Whipped Cream

¾ cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon confectioner’s sugar

Whisk all ingredients until soft peaks form.

 Shari Goodman

As a perpetual student in the kitchen, I’m always buying a new ingredient at the market, reading a cookbook, collecting food props for photography or browsing the kitchen gadget stores. After the encouragement of winning a recipe contest for my homemade yeast buns at the local library when I was 10 years old, I have been collecting recipes ever since.

Now I write about my food experiences on my blog (whiskblog.com) as I work my way through a cooking school curriculum. I also enjoy the table-side of the kitchen as a restaurant reviewer for a local commuter newspaper, and I freelance as a food editor for a new magazine called Taste & Travel. Recently, I completed Basic Cuisine at Le Cordon Bleu in Ottawa.