🇮🇹 Italian · Dessert
🍰 Polenta e Osei
Polenta e Osei
A playful sponge cake shaped and colored to resemble a mound of golden polenta topped with small chocolate 'birds,' a whimsical Bergamo dessert alluding to a once-common regional dish.
This dessert is a lighthearted culinary joke, its yellow sponge base and dusting of cocoa-and-sugar 'crumbs' visually mimicking soft polenta, while marzipan or chocolate shapes formed to look like small roasted birds reference a dish once eaten in the region, now recreated purely for fun.
Ingredients
Equipment: Round cake pan, Electric mixer
- 4 eggs
- 120 g (2/3 cup) granulated sugar
- 100 g (3/4 cup) 00 flour
- 40 g (1/3 cup) cornstarch
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 150 g (2/3 cup) mascarpone or pastry cream
- 100 g (3.5 oz) marzipan, tinted yellow
- 80 g (2.8 oz) dark chocolate, for the birds
- Powdered sugar and cocoa powder, for dusting
Method
- Whisk the eggs and sugar together until pale, thick, and tripled in volume.
- Gently fold in the flour, cornstarch, and lemon zest, being careful not to deflate the batter.
- Pour into a buttered and floured round cake pan.
- Bake at 180C (350F) for 20-25 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
- Cool completely, then split the cake and fill with mascarpone or pastry cream.
- Roll the tinted yellow marzipan thin and drape over the assembled cake, smoothing to mimic the surface of soft polenta.
- Melt the dark chocolate and shape small bird decorations, either freehand or using a small mold.
- Arrange the chocolate birds over the marzipan-covered cake.
- Dust lightly with powdered sugar and a touch of cocoa to complete the polenta illusion.
Chef Tips
- Whipping the eggs and sugar to full volume before folding in the dry ingredients is essential for a light sponge.
- Tinting the marzipan a warm yellow is what completes the visual illusion of polenta.
- This is a fun, whimsical dessert - do not worry about the birds looking perfectly uniform.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Deflating the whipped egg mixture by folding too roughly, resulting in a denser sponge.
- Rolling the marzipan too thick, which can overwhelm the delicate sponge underneath.
- Overbaking the sponge, which dries it out and makes it harder to split evenly.
Nutrition (per serving)
Health Benefits
- A source of protein from the eggs, best enjoyed as an occasional celebratory dessert.
Cultural Note
Polenta e osei is a whimsical specialty of Bergamo, its visual pun referencing a once-common regional dish of small roasted birds served over polenta, now reimagined purely as a playful dessert.
Storage & Serving
Storage: Refrigerate, covered, for up to 3 days.
Reheating: Not applicable; served chilled or at room temperature.
Serve with: Espresso