Torta di Nocciole

the moist hazelnut cake of the Piedmontese Langhe: ground Tonda Gentile hazelnuts baked into a dense, tender, nearly flourless cake, eaten in a plain slice with a glass of Moscato

Origin: Italy

From the journey of Hazelnut.

The torta di nocciole is the everyday cake of the Langhe, the hills of southern Piedmont that grow the Tonda Gentile, widely held to be the finest culinary hazelnut in the world. Where the French grind their hazelnuts into praline and the Viennese into elaborate tortes, the Piedmontese make a cake of disarming simplicity that lets the nut speak for itself: ground toasted hazelnuts, sugar, eggs, butter, and only a little flour (sometimes none at all) baked into a low, dense, moist, and intensely nutty cake. It carries no icing and little adornment, at most a dusting of icing sugar, for its whole virtue is the pure, deep flavour of the toasted local nut. It is the cake of the farmhouse and the trattoria, of the harvest and the everyday, and it belongs above all to the ritual of the end of a Piedmontese meal, cut into a plain slice and dipped, in the traditional way, into a glass of sweet, fizzing Moscato d'Asti, the wine of the same hills. Humble, honest, and utterly delicious, the torta di nocciole is the hazelnut in its most unadorned and most Piedmontese form.

Ingredients

Cake

300 g hazelnuts, toasted, skinned, and finely ground
180 g caster sugar
4 whole eggs, separated
100 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
40 g plain flour (or fine cornflour, for a gluten-free cake)
1 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt

To Finish

1 tbsp icing sugar, for dusting

Method

Heat the oven to 170°C (150°C fan) and grease and line a 22 cm round tin. Whisk the egg yolks with most of the sugar until pale and thick, then stir in the melted butter.
Fold the ground hazelnuts, flour, baking powder, and salt into the yolk mixture until combined; it will be thick.
In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt to soft peaks, add the remaining sugar, and whisk to a firm meringue. Fold a third into the batter to loosen it, then fold in the rest gently.
Pour into the tin, level the top, and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until risen, golden brown, and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. The cake should stay low and dense.
Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack. Dust with icing sugar and serve in plain slices, ideally with a glass of Moscato d'Asti for dipping.

Notes

Many Langhe versions use no flour at all, bound only by the eggs and the nuts, for a denser, wholly gluten-free cake; use fine cornflour or simply omit the flour and add an extra handful of ground nuts. The quality of the hazelnut is everything, so use the best you can find and toast it well. A little melted dark chocolate folded through, or a chocolate glaze poured over, makes the richer torta di nocciole e cioccolato, though the plain cake is the classic of the region.

The Gastrographer

Name: Torta di Nocciole
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 1 h 10 min
Yield: 10
Cuisine: Italy
Ingredients: 300 g hazelnuts, toasted, skinned, and finely ground; 180 g caster sugar; 4 whole eggs, separated; 100 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled; 40 g plain flour (or fine cornflour, for a gluten-free cake); 1 tsp baking powder; 1 pinch salt; 1 tbsp icing sugar, for dusting

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control