THE SWEETEST TRADITION
One family’s classic holiday recipe with a modern twist
We know the holiday season has arrived when the rich scent of Grandma Josephine’s delicious almond cake fills the kitchen. Every year our family waits for a taste of this warm Torta di Mandorla straight from the oven. She makes her bundt cake with a classic royal icing drip, so we decided to honour the simplicity of her tradition while adding a fun and modern topper to make it extra beautiful.
Grandma’s Almond Cake | Torta di Mandorla
For the cake, you will need:
- 2 1/3 cups ground almonds
- 1 3/4 cups of sugar
- 150 grams of salted butter at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
- 7 eggs, yolk & whites separated
- Bertolini Lievito Vanigliato 16 Gram Packet
- 1 shot of rum
• Preheat over to 350F.
• With electric mixer cream butter and sugar together adding one egg yolk at a time.
• Beat 15-20 minutes with a mixer until very smooth.
• Beat egg whites in a separate bowl for 1 minute.
• Add flour & egg whites.
• Beat for a couple of minutes
• Add ground almonds, Bertolini packet, and rum.
• Mix until incorporated.
• Coat pan generously with non-stick spray
• Bake 1 hour
**Because every oven is different after 60 minutes check the cake by sticking a long skewer in it. If it comes out clean it’s ready, if not add other 10 minutes. Do not exceed 80 minutes.
• Let the cake cool for 25 minutes in the pan before removing it.
Cake Assembly:
- 1 mini gingerbread house kit
- 2 cups of icing sugar
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- 2 tablespoons tbsp of half and half
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Fresh or dried greens and flowers
- Bake cake according to Grandma Josephine’s recipe above.
- While your cake is in the oven, build your mini gingerbread house according to box instructions.
- Make a powdered sugar glaze by sifting icing sugar, and mix in the melted butter. Stir until combined, then add half and half and vanilla until smooth.
- Once the cake has cooled, pour glaze over the bundt cake.
- After the glaze has dried, place your gingerbread house on the cake and embellish with greens and flowers.
TIPS FROM GRANDMA:
- Bertolini Lievito Vanigliato 16 Gram Packet can be purchased at Italian food stores.
- Even if you’re tempted to take a peek, don’t open the oven until the 60-minute mark.
- Bake on the middle rack of your oven on Bake, not Convection.
- Grandma bakes from memory, she doesn’t follow a written recipe. We created this by watching her bake the cake, documenting her process, and testing it ourselves. Each time Grandma makes her Torta Di Mandorla, it’s a little bit different.
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