Tartufo di Pizzo · Tartufo di Pizzo Calabro
Calabria · dolce · serves 6 · 240 min total · medium
Invented in the 1950s by pastry chef Giuseppe De Maria ("Don Pippo") in Pizzo Calabro, a clifftop town on the Tyrrhenian coast. A wedding short on dessert pushed him to improvise — gelato shells with a molten chocolate heart, hand-shaped to look like Umbrian truffles. Now an IGP-protected pride of Calabria.
Ingredients
- 500 g hazelnut gelato
- 500 g dark chocolate gelato
- 120 g dark chocolate (70%), melted
- 60 g caster sugar
- 30 g unsweetened cocoa powder
Method
- Chill 6 small bowls (or coffee cups, about 200 ml) in the freezer for an hour.
- Soften the hazelnut gelato just enough to scoop. Line each bowl with a 2 cm thick shell of hazelnut gelato pressed up the sides, leaving a hollow centre. Re-freeze 30 minutes.
- Fill the hollow with a generous spoonful of melted chocolate mixed with the sugar — this is the molten heart.
- Cap with a layer of softened chocolate gelato. Smooth the top. Freeze hard, at least 3 hours.
- Unmould each tartufo by dipping the bowl briefly in warm water. Round any rough edges with a spoon.
- Roll the spheres in cocoa powder until completely black-brown — they should look like truffles unearthed from the woods.
- Serve immediately, on a chilled plate. The molten chocolate centre spills out as you cut in.