One of the first desserts I made while in Sorrento was Delizia al Limone, or Lemon Spongecake with Cream—a double layer of lemon-flavored sponge cakes soaked in Limoncello and covered in a flavorful, creamy coating.  There’s no disputing the fact that I inherited the ‘lemon dessert gene’ from my Mom, so anytime I hear the word ‘lemon’ mentioned as a dessert selection, you can be sure that 99% of the time, that is what I will be enjoying and smiling about the next day.

The other flavor combination (thanks to a food gene I inherited from my Dad) that I swoon for is the classic combination of strawberries and cream.  Oh my.  My two favorite strawberry memories are first off, my Grandmother Muriel on many occasions growing up making me a gorgeous pink strawberry cake with strawberry icing for my Birthday and secondly, being about 3-years old in our house on Georgetown Avenue in Baton Rouge and my Dad asking me what I wanted for breakfast.  My answer, as any intelligent small child would have, was ‘strawberries and cream.’  He went to the refrigerator and unfortunately came back with a bit of a disappointed look and said, ‘Sweetie, looks like we are all out of strawberries, I’m so sorry.’  I’m pretty sure he was expecting me to be very upset, but I just shrugged my shoulders and said ‘that’s fine, I’ll just have cream.’  A woman with priorities at an early age… (Here’s winking at you Dad.)

To my utter delight when I continued on with my cooking class in Italy, I was introduced to the luscious strawberry version of the Lemon Spongecake with Cream named, Delizia alle Fragole, or Spongecake with Strawberries and Cream.  They pretty much had to hold me back from jumping with giddy delight at that news!  This recipe is exactly the same as the lemon version in terms of technique, just with the flavorings of local, ripe strawberries.  The recipe I have included from Mami Camilla Cooking School is for a larger version of this dessert, but keep in mind it can also be made into adorable, individual versions, which I prefer.

(To view the recipe click on the blue title of the blog post above*)

Tagged: cream, culinary school, delizia, Delizia al Limone, Delizia alle Fragole, Desserts, externship, Italy, Mami Camilla cooking school, Sorrento, spongecake, strawberries, strawberries and cream