The Tuscan pine nut cake – a recipe with a story
dicembre 14, 2011
My granddad Remigio used to walk with a cane, more for habit than necessity, and often waved it like Charlie Chaplin. He also had the same funny walk, and loved to wear his hat at a jaunty.
Once in a while, when mum was at work, I spent an afternoon with him in San Gimignano. Our main activity was going to the park to pick up the pine nuts. The park was right outside the city walls, with gravel paths surrounding the shady flower beds and big pine trees, huge.
Now the park is unfortunately different, they cut down my huge shady pine trees, but if I close my eyes I can still hear the gravel crunching under my child feet, and the balsamic smell of the pine resin, the birichicchero, as my granddad called it.
After the walk with my eyes pointed down in the winding gravel paths searching for the tiny precious gifts, I sat in the entrance of my granddad’s house, on a marble staircase, and opened the pine nuts with a small hammer that he kept just for us grandchildren. The hammer blows, a bit insecure, roared into the hall and the pine nuts shells flew everywhere.
I ate one pine nut after the other with my hands blackened by the fairy pine nut shell dust, leaving just a tiny handful for a possible cake. That’s why I waited so long to make my first pine nut cake! This is a recipe with a long story, my favourite kind of recipes as you may already know, just like last year Laura’s Sacher Torte.
This year the protagonist is Rita, Laura’s mother. This is Rita’s pine nut cake, passed on by Giuliana, who seems to have had the recipe from a famous Sienese pastry shop… here the mystery deepens, but since it is Christmas I want to tell you this perfect recipe. The pine nut cake recipe had all the credentials to succeed, I had tasted it several times at Laura’s and I really wanted to bake it again, that’s the result!
- 180 g of butter at room temperature
- 150 g of caster sugar
- 3 free range eggs
- 180 g of organic tender wheat flour
- 10 g of baking powder
- 1 handful of shelled pine nuts
- 3 free range egg yolks
- 4 tablespoons of caster sugar
- 2 tablespoons of organic tender wheat flour
- 500 ml of whole milk
- 2 tablespoons of raisins, soaked in Vinsanto, Tuscan sweet wine
- As first thing, make the custard, you’ll need it to be cold when you will add it to the cake. Heat the milk in a saucepan until it starts to simmer, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar and flour, then pour in the hot milk in a thin stream, stirring continuously with a whisk. Put the custard on a low flame and stir constantly until it begins to thicken: remove it from the heat, add the raisins and let it cool.
- Preheat oven to 180°C.
- Whip the butter at room temperature with the sugar for a few minutes until it becomes creamy and light.
- Add the eggs gradually, one after the other, waiting for the first to be completely mixed before adding the second. Stir in the flour sifted with the baking powder.
- Grease and flour a 23 cm wide round baking tin.
- Separate the dough into two equal parts with the help of a spoon: put a spoonful of batter into the baking tin and one in a pastry bag, and so on, until you’ve finished. Level the batter into the baking tin, spread the cold custard over it, then add the remaining batter in concentric circles, trying not to mix it with the custard. Sprinkle the pine nuts on top and bake for 40 minutes.
- When golden brown, remove it from the oven, let it cool for a few minutes, then gently remove it from the mould and when completely cold, dust the cake with icing sugar.
The recipe, tried and perfected for years by more than one family, is a reliable one: it is simple to make and gives a tremendous satisfaction to take it out from the oven, hot and sprinkled with toasted pine nuts, not to mention to eat it, with a fondant custard heart dotted with juicy raisins soaked in sweet wine. Talking about the silky custard, don’t miss the recipe, it has become the standard procedure to make custard at home!
Now just have a look at this slice of pine nut cake, it looks exactly like the cake showed in the San Gimignano pastry shop windows I looked at with greedy eyes coming back home from the park with my granddad, with one hand secured into his huge hand and the other one holding tightly my bag of pine nuts.
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Posted in Autumn, Baked Good, Cakes, Desserts, Pies and Tarts, Spring, Summer, Tuscan Recipes, Winter
Grandma Menna's Kitchen: beans 'all'uccelletto'
dicembre 14th, 2011 at 12:20
It looks so good and easy to make! I also used to pick pinenuts (from my garden) and then break the shall with the hammer and get all my hands black!
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Giulia Risposta:
dicembre 14th, 2011 alle 23:00
it is easy! good old times, when you could pick up pine nuts in the backyard!
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dicembre 14th, 2011 at 12:23
Irresistible! That is a delightfulo treat.
Lovely memories!
Cheers,
Rosa
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Giulia Risposta:
dicembre 14th, 2011 alle 23:01
thank you Rosa, it has been a pleasure to share these memories with you!
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dicembre 14th, 2011 at 12:31
This cake looks delicious! Again a wonderful story!
You made me very hungry
xxx
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Giulia Risposta:
dicembre 14th, 2011 alle 23:02
that’s my task, making yo hungry!
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dicembre 14th, 2011 at 12:56
What a delightful story – I can just imagine your granddad now
) I love the Italian pine cake – a wonderful blend of lovely flavors!
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Giulia Risposta:
dicembre 14th, 2011 alle 23:29
I hope he would be proud of me now!
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dicembre 14th, 2011 at 13:03
What a lovely cake!
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Giulia Risposta:
dicembre 14th, 2011 alle 23:29
thank you Tamara!
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dicembre 14th, 2011 at 13:26
I have never come across a recipe for pine nut cake and it definitely does intrigue! Pine nuts are a rare treat because they are not easy to come by here in Texas. Your cake looks like something I would definitely enjoy. Thanks for posting this recipe!
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Giulia Risposta:
dicembre 14th, 2011 alle 23:31
here in Tuscany they are extremely easy to find, but oh gosh, so expensive, especially if you’re searching for organic ones! try with almond flakes if you cannot find pine nuts, I bet it is a delicious combination as well!
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dicembre 14th, 2011 at 14:07
This is a wonderful story, it could be a children’s picture book! The cake looks so dense and moist, I’ve been experimenting with nut cakes this year, but I haven’t yet used pine nuts, they’ve gotten very expensive in the past couple of years here. The custard center sounds so good, too.
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Giulia Risposta:
dicembre 14th, 2011 alle 23:40
I do love the idea of a children’s picture book, with pastel colours and sketchy drawings! as I was telling Tina, they are so expensive also in Tuscany!
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dicembre 14th, 2011 at 14:58
What a great story and cake!
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Giulia Risposta:
dicembre 14th, 2011 alle 23:42
Thank you Katarina, I’m so happy you appreciated the story!
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dicembre 14th, 2011 at 16:08
Wonderful story
I’ve had delicious pine nut dishes, but never this cake – it looks amazing! I’d love to try a slice
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Giulia Risposta:
dicembre 14th, 2011 alle 23:46
Kiri, just try it and tell me! do you have any advice about other recipes with pine nuts?
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dicembre 14th, 2011 at 21:31
Great cake and story!!
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Giulia Risposta:
dicembre 14th, 2011 alle 23:47
thanks a lot!
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dicembre 15th, 2011 at 08:46
Giulia, how amazing story and mouth watering dessert!
Photos are amazing, I could eat them
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Giulia Risposta:
dicembre 15th, 2011 alle 09:50
thank you Maja, I appreciate!
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dicembre 17th, 2011 at 04:49
The recipe becomes more special because of the heartwarming story that goes with it. Lovely post! Thank you for sharing…
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Giulia Risposta:
dicembre 18th, 2011 alle 15:42
Thank you Anna! it was a pleasure to share this cake and my childhood memories!
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dicembre 17th, 2011 at 05:54
Isn’t this also called “Torta della Nonna” ?
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Giulia Risposta:
dicembre 18th, 2011 alle 15:43
It is similar.. I think the torta della nonna has short pastry at the bottom and over the custard, not this soft dough, but it is very similar! and I love torta della nonna, too!
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dicembre 22nd, 2011 at 16:07
[...] The Tuscan pine nut cake – a recipe with a story Pine nuts: little, delicious, weirdly shaped pebbles of oily joy! I still remember as a kid often hitting my fingers with a stone trying to crack their shell open, just to get the fresh fruit right out of a pine cone. Therefore this is one of my favorite Tuscan dessert recipes. It also includes raisins, and yellow cream, all layered in crumbling “pasta frolla”. Heaven! [...]
dicembre 24th, 2011 at 16:15
what size baking tin/what kind did you use?… spring form… pie dish… 8 inch? any information would be helpful!
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Giulia Risposta:
dicembre 24th, 2011 alle 16:24
Hi Becca, as you can see in the recipe you need a 23 cm wide round baking tin, about 5 cm deep!
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gennaio 4th, 2012 at 12:28
I just pulled this cake out of the oven and it looks and smells wonderful! We’ll be sharing it with friends later.
Thanks so much for posting the recipe and the beautiful story with it.
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Giulia Risposta:
gennaio 5th, 2012 alle 14:15
Thank you Rachael, I hope you enjoyed it with your friends!
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Rachael Risposta:
gennaio 5th, 2012 alle 15:42
It was wonderful!
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gennaio 13th, 2012 at 16:26
I love a good recipe, especially if it comes w a good story! This cake looks amazing. Love the snowy sugar on top. Grazia!
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maggio 13th, 2012 at 20:48
[...] Also, the recipe I remembered so clearly was Juls' recipe, a guarantee, and so I focused on her Tuscan pine nuts cake recipe, making just one change. The result is a delicate, very soft and not at all cloying cake, [...]
maggio 15th, 2012 at 09:24
Hi Giulia:
Thank you for sharing your story and this recipe for Tuscan Pine Nut Cake. I can’t wait to make it! Please, a couple of questions about the recipe:
- Is “tender wheat flour” the same as wheat pastry flour?
- Is Vinsanto, Tuscan sweet wine similar to a Moscato? Would soaking the raisins in Moscato be comparable?
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Giulia Risposta:
maggio 15th, 2012 alle 21:43
Hi Cristina, yes, wheat pastry flour is perfect for this cake.
Vinsanto is a sweet dessert wine, you can use moscato or another sweet wine, the result will be just as amazing as with vinsanto!
all the best and happy baking
Giulia
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ottobre 26th, 2012 at 06:47
I came across this cake just by accident today and am making it right now (12:45a.m.) for my husband. If it turns out as well as it looks in your pictures…and smells from the oven, I will make it for my Italian in-laws this Christmas. Thank you for the lovely story and a new recipe!
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Giulia Risposta:
novembre 12th, 2012 alle 17:56
Kelly I am honoured! I hope it will be a perfect cake for Christmas! let me know! cheers
Giulia
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