A delicious recipe for zuppa Inglese that I would love to try

This recipe sounds very easy if you have the ingredients, though frankly I am excited to improvise a little...I think a lot of these are made with some raspberry component--perhaps one layer of the sponge cake can be soaked in a raspberry liqueur or perhaps even the more liquidy syrup that is used for coffee drinks. For lazy people without vanilla beans, just vanilla extract in the cream, and I am kind of tempted to test hot chocolate powder in the chocolate cream, or maybe just semi-sweet chocolate chips...This dessert begs to be topped with seasonal berries, to cut the richness of the cream. Hence why raspberries are ideal--for the tartness and their naturally perfect relationship with chocolate.

Zuppa Inglese: Trifle

Recipe copyright 2000, Mario Batali. All rights reserved.

Ingredients

• 3 1/4 cups milk
• 1 lemon, zested or 1 vanilla bean, scraped
• 7 egg yolks
• 7 ounces sugar
• 7 ounces flour
• 1 3/4 ounces unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 3/4 ounces unsweetened chocolate pistoles
• 24 ladyfingers
• 1/4 cup each alchermes, sassolino, or mandorla amara liqueur

Directions

In a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the milk and the vanilla bean or lemon zest and heat over medium-high heat to a very high simmer but do not allow to boil.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the egg yolks, flour and sugar and whip with a whisk until the mixture is pale yellow and forms a ribbon when the whisk is lifted from the bowl.

Once the milk has simmered, remove the pan from the stovetop and pour 1/2 of the milk in to the egg mixture, stirring constantly. Return this mixture back to the pan with the milk and stir over high heat with a wooden spoon until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Pour half the cream into a stainless steel bowl set atop an ice bath to cool, and stir the cocoa and chocolate in to the remaining cream, making sure that it has completely dissolved into the mixture. Pour the chocolate cream into a separate bowl that has been set atop an ice bath to cool.

Cut each ladyfinger in half lengthwise and sprinkle the halves with the 3 liqueurs. Once the creams have cooled, in a large casserole, place a layer of the soaked ladyfingers, followed by a layer of the vanilla cream, followed by a layer of ladyfingers, followed by a layer of the chocolate cream, repeating this procedure until all ingredients are used up. Let sit for 1 hour, then serve.