Nutritional Analysis Per Serving

Serving Size: 1 of 8 servings

Calories: 1259
Total Fat: 75 g
Saturated Fat: 43 g
Carbohydrates: 144 g
Dietary Fiber: 3 g
Sugar: 131 g
Protein: 10 g
Cholesterol: 184 mg
Sodium: 732 mg

Time

Total: 55 minutes (includes chilling time)
Active: 40 minutes

The Story Behind This Dessert

Growing up in Chicagoland, I always looked forward to enjoying thick slices or scoops of spumoni to refresh my palate after our family's weekly dinners at Italian restaurants. We'd always order at least one spumoni "for the table," which seemed to make perfect sense at the time. But years ago, my wife Sarah, who was just getting to know my family, pointed out the obvious flaw in our tradition: "Why do you guys order tons of appetizers, entrees, and sides, but when dessert comes, you only get one thing for the whole table to split? I want my own dessert. I don't want to watch it get passed around while everyone else devours it, and by the time it gets back to me, it's just a pile of crumbs and a smeared shell of what it once was."

I tried to defend our ways: "But spumoni has three different flavors in one." Twenty-three years later, we're still togetherand yes, we still share desserts.

Ingredients

24 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
18 tablespoons (2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup heavy cream
3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Kosher salt
7 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup maraschino cherries, halved and juice reserved
2 tablespoons pistachio flavor instant pudding
2/3 cup shelled pistachios, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 cup mini chocolate chips
Pizzelle cookies, for serving

Instructions

Cherry Layer

In a stand mixer, add 8 ounces cream cheese, 6 tablespoons butter, 1/4 cup heavy cream, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt. Beat on medium speed until fluffy and smooth, about 2 minutes. Add 2 1/3 cups confectioners' sugar. Mix until combined and smooth. Add the cherry juice. Beat until creamy, about 1 minute. Fold in the maraschino cherries. Refrigerate while you prepare the other layers.

Pistachio Layer

In a stand mixer, combine 8 ounces cream cheese, 6 tablespoons butter, 1/4 cup heavy cream, and a pinch of salt. Beat on medium speed until fluffy and smooth, about 2 minutes. Add 2 1/3 cups confectioners' sugar and mix until combined and smooth. Fold in the pistachio pudding mix and pistachios. Refrigerate while you make the last layer.

Chocolate Layer

In a stand mixer, combine the remaining 8 ounces cream cheese, remaining 6 tablespoons butter, remaining 1/4 cup heavy cream, and a pinch of salt. Beat on medium speed until fluffy and smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the remaining 2 1/3 cups confectioners' sugar and mix until combined and smooth. Fold in the cocoa powder and mini chocolate chips. Refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.

Assembly

Add each filling to its own pastry bag or a resealable plastic bag and snip off the end. In a shallow rectangular baking dish, pipe the chocolate and pistachio fillings on the two end sections of the baking dish. Fill the middle section of the baking dish with the cherry filling (pipe the cherry filling last since it's a bit thinner than the others). Smooth the top with an offset spatula.