In review: Dolci Italiani - Desserts, Cakes and Other Bakes from Italy

When the manager of our Reading Room declares that he wants to eat every single recipe in a cookbook, you know it’s a title worth exploring! ‘Dolci Italiani’ does not disappoint, as food writer and chef Ursula Ferrigno invites readers on a journey through the heart of Italy, celebrating its rich and often overlooked tradition of desserts. While France is famed for its intricate pastries and refined techniques, Italy’s approach is rooted in simplicity—letting high-quality ingredients shine through in recipes passed down through generations. These Italian sweets are typically less sugary than their continental counterparts, often featuring fruit, nuts, and cheese—flavours shaped by centuries of regional tradition and Moorish influence.

Pastries are consumed as part of a daily routine in Italy– with coffee for breakfast, as an energiser after siesta (‘riposo’) or to celebrate any occasion. Ursula admits that she wouldn’t dream of popping in to visit friends or family without proffering a bag of homemade biscuits, so the book includes a section on edible gifts, with recipes for Florentines, Biscotti, Chocolate Salami and the delicious light alternative to heavy Christmas cakes, Panettone.

A selection of easy-to-make cakes includes a wholesome Hazelnut & Carrot Cake—an old recipe passed down from a friend in a small village near Perugia; a rich, flourless Chocolate Sin Cake from Sicily, infused with espresso; and a stunning birthday centrepiece that serves 8–12, featuring white chocolate, lemon curd, and pistachios. For those that enjoy baking pastry, Ursula’s grandmother’s recipe for sticky Plum, Hazelnut and Almond Tart is deemed ‘foolproof’, while Lemon Bread can be toasted for breakfast, and Sweet Pizza is bound to be a hit with young ones. The well-known cannoli also have a place here, the tiny pastry shells filled with sweet ricotta and garnished with pistachios or candied peel that require eating while the shells are still hot and crisp. Desserts also feature – the ubiquitous Tiramisu, literally translated as ‘pick me up’; Panna Cotta; the trifle Zuppa Inglese, with its mysterious ‘English soup’ translation, popular in Rome for the last two centuries and said to honour Admiral Nelson’s defeat of Napoleon’s fleet at Abukir, and the Puglianese classic, Dita degli apostoli (Apostle Fingers) which, as pancakes filled with ricotta and chocolate, resemble fingers once they’re rolled.

No Italian cookbook would be complete without gelato, and this collection offers a tempting variety of fruit flavours, along with unique creations like Blood Orange and Campari Sorbet, Rice Ice Cream and Zabaglione Ice Cream—the latter, according to Ursula, is the reason her husband proposed, after she catered for a party he attended. Filled with desserts to die for and accompanied by tempting photography, ‘Dolci Italiani’ is a book to savour, lavishly revealing a sweeter side to the Italy we know and love.