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Torta sbrisolona
Crumbly almond cake
Sbrisolona: Mantua's crumbly almond and cornmeal cake, broken by hand
ItalianNobody slices a sbrisolona. In Mantua, in the south-east of Lombardy, the round, golden cake is set whole in the middle of the table after dinner and cracked into rough pieces with a fist, and everyone grabs a shard. Coarse cornmeal and chopped almonds make it gritty, buttery and crunchy, closer to a giant biscuit than a sponge. It began as a farmhouse sweet made with lard; this version uses only butter. Chef's tip: keep your hands cool and stop rubbing in while the mixture still looks like coarse crumbs and small clumps.
- Total time
- 60 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 10
Ingredients
- 5 ½ oz plain flour
- 5 ½ oz fine cornmeal
- 5 ½ oz caster sugar
- 5 ½ oz skin-on almondsroughly chopped
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 tsp lemon zestfinely grated
- 5 ½ oz cold butterdiced, plus a little for the tin
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 20 whole almondsfor the top
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Method
0/7 doneStep 1: Heat the oven to 350°F (325°F fan) and butter a 26 cm round tin.
Step 2: Mix 5 ½ oz plain flour, 5 ½ oz fine cornmeal, 5 ½ oz caster sugar, 5 ½ oz skin-on almonds, 1 pinch salt and 1 tsp lemon zest in a large bowl.
Step 3: Rub in 5 ½ oz cold butter with your fingertips for 3–4 minutes, until the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs.
4 minStep 4: Add 2 egg yolks and 1 tsp vanilla extract and pinch the mixture together into loose clumps the size of hazelnuts. Common mistake: kneading it into a dough; you get a flat shortbread instead of a craggy crumble.
Step 5: Scatter the crumbs into the tin and level them lightly with your fingers without pressing down. Dot 20 whole almonds over the top.
Step 6: Bake for 40–45 minutes, until deep golden all over and dry and firm at the edges.
45 minStep 7: Cool completely in the tin; the cake firms up as it cools. Turn out and break it into pieces at the table. It keeps for a week in a tin.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 400 kcal
- Protein
- 7 g
- Carbs
- 41 g
- Fat
- 24 g
- Fibre
- 3 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does torta sbrisolona take?
- About 60 minutes in total: 15 minutes to prepare and 45 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 10 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- What can I use instead of plain flour?
- Self-raising flour, same amount (then leave out the baking powder).
- What can I use instead of caster sugar?
- Caster sugar, same amount.
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