Torta al limone (or ‘lemon cake’) is a fragrant and delicate dessert, excellent as the final note to a meal or for a kids’ snack in the middle of the day. Italian lemon cake can be prepared in many ways; there are many recipes – from soft and fluffy versions of torta al limone to recipes with a crunchier pastry-style crust.
But the common denominator? The cream – with its intense lemon flavor. There is also a famous American version of the dessert: lemon pie – it’s a sort of cheesecake covered with a sweet meringue topping.
To help you make the best version of torta al limone, we have selected two of our favorite recipes: one is a lemon cake with a soft, fluffy torta paradiso-style consistency, and the other is a fragrant tart-like recipe if you’d rather have a flakier, buttery crust for your torta al limone.
Don’t worry, both recipes are filled with a delicate cream featuring the unmistakable flavor of fresh lemons. The choice is yours!
Fluffy and Soft Torta al Limone
Ingredients:
4 oz flour
2 oz potato starch
5 oz butter
5 oz sugar
3 eggs
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Rind of 2 lemons
2 teaspoons baking powder
For the cream:
1 cup milk
3 egg yolks
1 ½ oz flour
Rind of 2 lemons
Sugar to cover egg yolks
Method:
In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until frothy and well-blended. Add the sifted flour to the potato starch and baking powder. Mix well. Add the lemon juice, lemon rind, melted butter and continue mixing well.
Butter a cake pan and dust it with flour. Transfer the dough to the cake pan and bake at 350°F (180°C) for 45 minutes.
To make sure the baking is complete, check the middle of the dough with a toothpick: if it comes out clean, the cake is ready. Once baked through, let the cake cool before removing it from the mold and cut it in half to fill it with lemon cream.
For the cream:
Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl. Once the mixture has almost doubled in volume, add the flour and keep stirring to prevent lumps from forming.
In a saucepan, in the heat the milk with the rinds of two lemons. Just before the milk comes to a boil, turn off the heat and add the milk to the sugar mixture – removing the peels first, though!
Whisk to combine and transfer the mixture back to the saucepan and continue to let it cook, stirring until the cream has thickened. Turn off the heat and let the cream cool before using it on your torta al limone.
Torta al Limone with a Pastry Crust
Ingredients:
11 oz flour
5 oz butter
4 ½ oz sugar
Rind of one lemon
1 egg and 1 yolk
1 pinch of salt
Method:
Form a well with the flour; add the sugar and butter (softened at room temperature) and start kneading. Add salt, grated lemon peel, egg and egg yolk. Continue kneading using only your fingertips. Form a ball with the dough, and cover it with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest in the fridge for about half an hour.
Roll it out with a rolling pin and transfer to a buttered baking pan with a diameter of 24 cm. Pierce the bottom of the cake with the prongs of a fork.
Fill the pastry crust with the lemon cream and bake at 350°F (180°C) for 30 minutes and once ready, let the torta al limone cool before cutting it.