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Lady Finger Creams
One-half pound lady fingers, split them open, spread jelly on them, then cover them with whipped cream, then another layer of lady fingers and so on until your dish is filled. The cream must be whipped very stiff, sweeten and flavor with vanilla; just one layer is very nice.
An assembly dessert with no cooking at all, of the kind that filled the dessert chapters of household books before gelatine moulds and iceboxes were universal. Almost everything depends on the stiffness of the cream and on how long the dish sits before serving.
- Whip the cream stiff and stop thereThis is the hinge. The cream is the only structure in the dish, so it must hold a firm peak or the layers slump into a pink puddle within the hour. Chill the bowl and beaters, and stop the moment the whisk leaves a clean track; a few strokes further and you have butter grains.
- How many lady fingersHalf a pound is roughly 20 to 25 commercial savoiardi, or more if they are the small soft sponge-cake type. Split, that gives you 40 to 50 halves, which depending on the dish may be three or four layers.
- Which jellyCurrant, quince or raspberry jelly would all suit, being firm-setting and thin-spreading without soaking through; the recipe does not specify. A loose modern jam works but wets the biscuits faster; warm it slightly and use it sparingly if that is what you have.
- Sweetening the creamFor a pint of heavy cream, 2 to 3 tablespoons of confectioners' sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla is about right. The jelly is already sweet, so err low. Confectioners' sugar dissolves without grit and its cornstarch helps the cream stand up.
- Two kinds of lady fingerDry, crisp Italian savoiardi will soften into cake within a couple of hours. Soft bakery lady fingers are already tender and will go to mush; if using those, assemble no more than an hour ahead.
- Standing timeThe dish is likely better for an hour or two in the refrigerator, which lets the biscuits take up moisture and the whole thing slice rather than collapse. Left much longer, the cream will begin to weep.
- YieldThe recipe gives no yield; a deep dish filled to the top would serve six or so, depending on the dish. The closing note is worth taking seriously: the author says a single layer is very nice, and a shallower assembly holds its shape better.
Lady fingers, the light finger-shaped sponge biscuits called savoiardi in Italy and also sold as boudoirs, were a staple of the nineteenth-century store cupboard precisely because they kept: a tin of them and a bowl of cream produced a dessert without lighting the range. Recipes of this type sit at one end of a long family that includes the charlotte russe, the English trifle and, much later, tiramisu, all of them built on the same principle of dry sponge softened by something wet and rich.