Torta Paesana with Amaretti Cookies and Dark Chocolate

Equipment

• small saucepan for heating milk
• zester or small grater for making grated orange zest
• 2 medium bowls for mixing ingredients
• wooden spoon for stirring
• blender to crush cookies, not required (you can also crush by hand)
• sieve or colander to drain the raisins
• 10-inch cake pan to bake the torta paesana cake

Ingredients

For US measurements, look down in the recipe card.

• Stale bread (300 grams) – also called day-old bread. I highly recommend white crusty bread that has been left out uncovered for several hours and is at least one day old, but could even be more. Always check your bread for signs of mold and do not use it if suspected.
• Whole milk (1 liter) – whole milk is recommended, but you can substitute if you want to with 1 or 2 %, in which case you should add a little more bread.
• Eggs (2 medium) – let the eggs sit out at room temperature for an hour before using and then beat them with a whisk or fork before adding to the cake batter.
• Hard amaretti cookies (120 grams) – I happen to really love amaretti cookies and use them in all kinds of recipes. For this recipe, the hard store-bought cookies, which are often called Amaretti di Saronno, are the best.
• Dark chocolate (100 grams) – use a good quality dark chocolate and melt it completely before adding to the mixture.
• Granulated sugar (120 grams) – although not a part of the original recipe, I have found that the addition of a little sugar is important because modern preferences are for sweeter cakes.
• Raisins (70 grams) – choose nice, plump raisins if you have them available. If you aren’t a raisin fan, you can leave them out or add another dried fruit such as cranberries or even candied orange peel that is chopped into small pieces.
• Pine nuts (50 grams) – as pine nuts have gotten to be very expensive, you can substitute with another of your favorite nuts, perhaps chopped walnuts or almonds.
• Orange (1) – you will need an organic orange as you will be using the zest so it is important that there are no pesticides or other chemicals on the peel. First carefully squeeze all the juice from the orange and remove any pulp and seeds and set the juice aside. Then grate the zest and set aside as well.

How to make torta paesana step-by-step

Preheat the oven: Preheat the oven to 350° F.

Bread and milk mixture: In a small saucepan, warm the milk slowly over a low flame until hot but without bringing it to a boil (photo 1). Cut the stale bread into little cubes and place in a bowl (photo 2).

Put the grated orange zest (grated ahead of time) into the bowl with the bread. Add the warm milk to the bread and orange zest and combine everything together with a wooden spoon (photo 3). Cover the bowl with plastic wrap (photo 4) and then set aside to soak for 30 minutes, mixing occasionally.

Raisins and orange juice mixture: In another bowl, mix the raisins and orange juice (photo 5) that you squeeze ahead of time and set aside until later.

Prep and add additional ingredients to the bread: Grind the amaretti cookies into a powder, either with a blender or by placing them in a bag and crushing them by hand (photo 6). Add the ground amaretti to the bread mixture.

Melt and add the chocolate: Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie, double-boiler or microwave until liquid and stir into the bread mixture (photo 7).

Add the last ingredients and mix all together: Beat the eggs and add them to the bread mixture. Now add the sugar and pine nuts to the bread mixture and stir (photo 8).

Drain and add the raisins: Using a sieve or colander, drain the orange juice from the raisins and add the raisins to the mixture (photo 9). You can discard the orange juice.

Prep and bake the cake: Grease and flour a 10-inch cake pan and then pour the mixture into it evenly (photo 10). Be sure your oven has reached 350°F. Place the cake in the oven on the middle rack for roughly 60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. When finished, take the torta paesana out of the oven and leave it to cool. Remove the torta paesana carefully from the cake pan and serve on a cake plate.

Expert tips to try

• Use day-old bread. stale bread works best for this recipe. When I see that bread is getting stale, I often put it in a ziploc bag in the freezer to use later for these types of recipes. You should defrost it ahead of time and then let it sit out so that it dries out properly before using. Of course, do not use bread that has any mold on it.
• Use cocoa powder instead. If you don’t have dark chocolate, you can use 50 grams of cocoa powder instead as a substitute.

Try something different with these variations

There are multiple variations of this recipe, and some of the ingredients can be replaced with whatever you have in your pantry.

• Skip the raisins. For instance, if you don’t like raisins, you can use other dried berries or even fresh fruit.
• Substitute with different nuts. Pine nuts are pricey these days, but they can be replaced with other nuts, such as walnuts or almonds.
• Add some zing. For a richer cake you can add a shot of your favorite liqueur, such as rum or amaretto, or a small amount of regular or decaf coffee. Both these additions will make your cake even more moist.
  

Try other easy cake desserts:

• Torta Caprese Recipe (Chocolate Almond Flourless Cake)
• Limoncello Cake
• Ciambellone or Ciambella Italian Cake

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