Every time we drive down the Coast, at some point we stop in front of a shop window full of small, glossy white domes. They are sospiri al limone (lemon "sighs"), and they won us over at the first bite. Here is what they are and why they are worth seeking out.
A small sweet with a gentle name
Sospiri are round little cakes, about the size of a mouthful or slightly more. They are made of two halves of sponge cake enclosing a heart of cream; on the outside they are coated with lemon cream and a sugar glaze that makes them smooth and shiny. The name says it all: they are so light and soft that they seem to vanish in your mouth in a sigh.
The Campania Region has included them in its list of traditional agri-food products (PAT), among the pastries. So they are not a DOP or IGP with a product specification, but a recipe recognised as part of local tradition.
The Amalfi Coast and its lemon
The production area is the Amalfi Coast, in the province of Salerno. Here the lemon is no ordinary ingredient: it is the landscape itself, with cultivated terraces running down to the sea from Amalfi to Maiori, from Minori to Ravello. The fruit of these lands is protected as Limone Costa d'Amalfi IGP, and it seems only natural to us that local pastry chefs made it the heart of a dessert.
From custard to lemon cream
We liked the story of sospiri because it shows how a recipe can change without losing its identity. According to the Region's listing, for over a century sospiri were filled with classic custard (crema pasticciera). Only more recently, in the last few decades, has the filling become a lemon cream, following the spread of the citrus fruit in the area. Today this is the version you will most easily find in the artisan bakeries of the Coast.
How they are made
The ingredients are simple: eggs, sugar and flour for the base, then the lemon cream and the glaze. The batter is shaped into small cakes on baking paper and baked; once cool, the two halves are joined with the cream, covered in lemon cream and glazed. It takes patience more than complicated technique, and the result is a fresh, fragrant sweet that is never cloying when well made.
We suggest tasting them chilled, perhaps at the end of lunch after a plate of Scialatielli all'amalfitana, and pairing them with a small glass of limoncello or Lemon cream liqueur or cremoncello, another speciality of the area.
Where to taste them and what is nearby
The right places to look for them are the pastry shops in the towns of the Coast: Amalfi, Maiori, Minori, Positano. Before or after your afternoon treat, we suggest a visit to Amalfi Cathedral and the Cloister of Paradise and a stroll along the sea. To discover the region's other protected products, read our guide to Campania's DOP and IGP products; for another taste of the Coast, try Liquore Concerto and Cioccolato al limoncello too. You will find the whole province in Salerno and its surroundings.
Sources: Campania Region, PAT entry “Sospiri al limone”; Campania Region, PAT list of sweets and pastries.
Top photo (Amalfi): No machine-readable author provided. Sudodana2048 assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
