Italian · Piedmont · dessert
Torta di Nocciole delle Langhe
Torta di Nocciole delle Langhe reads nutty 6.5, citrus 6.0 and sweetness 5.9 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Italian · Piedmont dessert, about 1 hr 12 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.
The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10
- Umami & Savory — 3.7 / 10
- Sweet & Fruity — 7.4 / 10
- Sour & Bright — 7.7 / 10
- Bitter & Earthy — 2.9 / 10
- Rich & Fat — 8.2 / 10
- Aromatic & Spice — 1.5 / 10
The measured notes (of 18)
Nutty 6.5 · Citrus 6.0 · Sweetness 5.9 · Sourness 5.5 · Richness 5.5 · Fruity 4.9 · Salinity 3.4 · Earthy 2.5 · Umami 1.9 · Floral 1.5 · Bitterness 1.4 · Smoke 0.8
What's in it (10)
- hazelnuts — 250 g
- caster sugar — 200 g
- eggs — 400 g
- unsalted butter — 120 g
- all-purpose flour — 80 g
- baking powder — 8 g
- salt — 3 g
- lemon — 65 g
- regular milk — 60 g
- dark rum — 20 g
Time & effort: about 1 hr 12 min · effort: involved
Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 294.1 kcal, 9.5 g protein, 22.7 g fat, 30.9 g carbs
Dietary: Vegetarian · Contains dairy · Contains egg — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.
How it's cooked (8 steps)
- Use Piedmont hazelnuts if you can: the Tonda Gentile Trilobata of the Langhe is rounder, oilier and far more aromatic than commodity hazelnuts, and this cake is essentially a way of eating them. Good Italian grocers and the Piedmontese cooperatives sell them.
- Heat the oven to 170 C. Toast the hazelnuts on a tray for 12 to 14 minutes, shaking once, until the skins crack and the kitchen smells strongly of them. Rub them in a tea towel to remove most of the skins, but do not chase every last one; the skins carry flavour. Cool completely, or the oil will smear when you grind them.
- Grind the cooled nuts with 50 g of the sugar in a food processor in short pulses until they are the texture of coarse sand. Long grinding turns them to butter, and the sugar helps prevent it.
- Whisk the egg yolks with the remaining 150 g sugar and the lemon zest for 4 to 5 minutes, until pale, thick and ribboning. Beat in the melted butter, the milk and the rum.
- Fold in the ground hazelnuts, then the flour sifted with the baking powder and the salt.
- Whisk the whites to soft peaks, about 3 minutes; they should hold a curl that flops over rather than standing rigid. Fold a third into the batter to loosen it, then fold in the rest in two goes with a light hand.
- Pour into a buttered and lined 24 cm springform tin and bake 40 to 45 minutes, until deep brown, well risen and a skewer comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool in the tin 15 minutes, then on a rack.
- Serve in the Langhe manner, in thin wedges with a glass of Moscato d'Asti. It keeps four days and is better on the second.
Dishes with a similar flavor shape
- Panellets de Pinyons — Spanish · Catalonia
- Tarta de Santiago — Spanish · Galicia
- Tufahije (Walnut-Stuffed Poached Apples) — Bosnian
- Baklava (Turkish) — Turkish
- Kougelhopf — French · Alsace
Keep reading: what nutty, citrus, sweetness mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.
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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.