Italian Cakes

Arguably Sicily’s most famous dessert, this traditional cake consists of liqueur-drenched genoise sponge cake layered with sweetened ricotta and fruit preserves, decorated with a marzipan shell and colorful candied fruits. It is believed tha... READ MORE

Ciambella is a traditional ring cake that is flavored with lemon zest, and sometimes a sweet, fruity liqueur. For holidays such as Christmas or Easter, ciambella is usually made from a firm dough that is braided and shaped into a ring, but there i... READ MORE

Torta Caprese is a dark chocolate cake made without any flour. This specialty of the Italian island of Capri consists of dark chocolate, eggs, sugar, almonds, and butter. It is characterized by its dense chocolate texture and a layer of powdered s... READ MORE

Panforte di Siena is a traditional dessert also known as Siena cake. The modern panforte variety is made with nuts, dried fruit, and a generous amount of spices such as cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. All of the ingredients are co... READ MORE

A classic in Italian pastry and the symbol of the city of Pavia, torta Paradiso is a simple sponge cake variation that mainly uses the three essential cake ingredients - sugar, flour, and butter. Created by Enrico Vigoni in the early 1800s, Torta ... READ MORE

The peppered bread of Ferrara is a traditional Christmas fruitcake studded with whole almonds, hazelnuts, and candied fruit. It is flavored with cocoa, honey, cinnamon, cloves, and (sometimes) black pepper - hence the name pampepato. Its ... READ MORE

This traditional Italian chestnut cake is prepared with chestnut flour, olive oil, rosemary, raisins, and (occasionally) pine nuts. The recipe does not call for any other type of flour or sugar, making this cake a gluten-free and sugar-free delica... READ MORE

Pan di Spagna is a classic Italian cake that is widely used in confectionery as a base for many elaborate sweets, such as zuccoto or cassata. Fragrant and soft, this simple sponge cake is made with only a few ingredients: eggs, s... READ MORE

Zuccotto is a famous Italian dessert believed to have originated in Florence. It is assembled by lining up softened ladyfingers or a sponge cake around the mold to create the frame of the cake, while the center is filled with a delicious, creamy f... READ MORE

The decadent, chocolate-laden Torta Novecento (cake nine hundred), was created by a renowned Canavese master pastry chef Ottavio Bertinotti to celebrate the turn of the 20th century – hence the name. This seemingly simple cake, consisting of... READ MORE

Pandolce is a sweet Italian Christmas bread from Genoa consisting of flour, sugar, butter, milk, raisins, eggs, lemon juice, and pine nuts. Its texture is both delicate and tough, dry and moist. Originally, whole families participated in the prepa... READ MORE

This classic Italian dessert whose name translates to Easter lamb was supposedly first prepared in the early 1900s by Dominican nuns of the Collegio di Maria convent in Favara, Sicily. Agnello Pasquale is traditionally made with a mixture... READ MORE

Torta Margherita is a traditional cake that's similar to pan di spagna (a type of sponge cake). This light and delicate cake is made with eggs, sugar, butter, lemon zest, flour, potato starch, and vanilla. However, there's also an old rec... READ MORE

Ferrara's pastry chefs created torta tenerina in the early 1900s to honor Elena Petrovich, the queen of Montenegro and the wife of the Italian King Vittorio Emanuele III. The name of this Italian classic translates to tender cake, and wit... READ MORE

Another timeless classic among southern Italian desserts, buccellato is a delectable, ring-shaped cake that is typically prepared during the holiday season. This fruitcake was once also associated with the celebration of family milestones, and was... READ MORE

Torta ricotta e pere is an Italian cake originating from the Amalfi area. It consists of four main parts – the hazelnut sponge, the syrup, the ricotta cream, and the pear filling. The sponge is made with a combination of eggs, sugar, hazelnu... READ MORE

Named after Salome's dance to make Herod crazy with lust, torta setteveli (cake of the seven veils) unsurprisingly achieves more or less the same results. This traditional Sicilian birthday cake consists of an alternating combination of chocolate ... READ MORE

Moist, creamy, and characterized by subtle hints of lemon, migliaccio is a typical Italian carnival cake that is mostly prepared in Naples and the surrounding areas. The texture of migliaccio is quite similar to that of a cheesecake, and it is tra... READ MORE

Gubana is a traditional leavened dough cake filled with dried fruits and nuts. It is believed that the cake was invented in either the Valli del Natisone or Cividale by a poor woman who had nothing to sweeten it, so she used what she had – e... READ MORE

Torta Mantovana is a traditional cake originating from Prato. It's made with a combination of eggs, egg yolks, butter, sugar, lemon rind, flour, almonds, and pine nuts. The eggs are mixed with sugar, flour, and butter in order to make a base. The ... READ MORE

This flavorful Italian cake has a rich almond and cocoa flavor characterized by an intense aftertaste of rum and coffee. It was invented in 1907 by Eugenio Gollini who dedicated it to Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola, a famous 16th-century architect. The... READ MORE

Parrozzo is a traditional Christmas cake in the shape of a dome, consisting of almonds, flour, butter, sugar, and eggs. The cake is additionally flavored with lemon zest and covered with a rich chocolate glaze. It was invented in the 1920s as a sw... READ MORE

Originating from Pietrabruna, stroscia is a unique cake made with flour, high-quality olive oil, brown sugar, and Martini Bianco. The best olive oil for this cake is Ligurian, extra virgin, and made from sweet and f... READ MORE

Torta Pistocchi is a rich Italian chocolate cake with a velvety, fondant-like texture. The original recipe was created in 1990 by Claudio Pistocchi, and the original ingredients only include dark chocolate, unsweetened cocoa powder, and heavy crea... READ MORE

Torta Savoia is a layered chocolate cake that hails from Sicily. It consists of several sponge layers coated in a rich chocolate hazelnut cream. The entire combination is covered with a glossy chocolate glaze, and in some variations, sponges are l... READ MORE

Torta Bertolina is a simple, golden-brown, round cake made with fragrant uva fragola, also known as Concord or strawberry grapes, as the main ingredient. Its exact origins are unknown, but nowadays it is usually associat... READ MORE

Torta Osimhen is a decadent chocolate cake created in honor of Napoli (football club) striker Viktor Osimhen. In a city that lives and dies for good food and its football team, pastry chefs Salvatore and Giuseppe Mellone of the Neapolitan pasticce... READ MORE

Sacripantina is a delicious dome-shaped cake from Genoa, created by Giovanni Preti in 1851. Allegedly named after Sacripante, one of the characters in the chivalric poems of the famous Italian Renaissance poet Ludovico Ariosto, this creamy treat c... READ MORE

Pinza Veneta is a traditional cake originating from the Veneto region. It's made with a combination of polenta flour, plain flour, raisins, figs, apples, orange zest, grappa, butter, sugar, yeast, and fennel seeds. The mixture is placed onto a bak... READ MORE

Dolce di castagne is a traditional chestnut cake originating from Tuscany. The cake is usually made with a combination of chestnut flour, yeast, sugar, salt, butter, eggs, breadcrumbs, milk, and lemon juice. The eggs are mixed with sugar, lemon ju... READ MORE

Fregolotta is a traditional crumb cake (or a huge cookie) originating from Veneto. It's made with a combination of flour, butter, sugar, and lemon zest, but there are also some recipes that call for the addition of lard or chopped almonds instead ... READ MORE

Presnitz is a flavorful Italian cake, a specialty of Trieste that is characterized by its visual appearance – similar to a rolled-up sausage. When sliced, the inner swirls become visible, revealing a dough made with flour, sugar, eggs, butte... READ MORE

Spongata is a traditional cake with a flat, round shape, consisting of thin and crunchy pastry dough that is filled with crumbled amaretti cookies, white wine, toasted bread, walnuts, pine nuts, raisins, and a variety of flavorings such a... READ MORE

Berlingozzo is an ancient ring-shaped cake from Tuscany, its name derived from a local word berlingaccio, meaning Fat Thursday, when this cake was traditionally prepared as a closure of carnival celebrations. It is a humble, dens... READ MORE

A delicacy from Ferrara, ciambella or brazadèla is a traditional ring-shaped pound cake that can also be made in the form of cookies. Ciambella is flavored with anise and lemon, and it is typically prepared for Easter. According to... READ MORE

Pampepato or panpepato di Terni, also known as diamante delle terre di San Valentino is a traditional cake originating from the province of Terni and the neighboring municipalities in the province of Perugia. The cake is made with a combi... READ MORE

Elvezia cake is one of the signature dishes of Mantuan gastronomy, created in the 18th century by Samson Putcher, a pastry chef of Swiss origin. In this rich dessert, he combined Swiss pastry techniques with local ingredients by alternating layers... READ MORE

Dolce mattone is a traditional dessert made by layering buttercream—prepared by whipping butter with eggs and sugar—and rectangular biscuits soaked in coffee. Variations of the recipe include adding cocoa powder to part of the cream or... READ MORE

Crescionda is a traditional cake originating from Spoleto in Central Italy. This chocolate cake is enriched with amaretti biscuits and aniseed liqueur. It's usually made with a combination of eggs, sugar, flour, lemon zest, milk, Sambuca, dark cho... READ MORE

Cassata al Forno is a traditional Sicilian baked dessert and a simpler variation of the iconic cassata siciliana. Unlike the more elaborate version with marzipan and candied fruits, cassata al forno is baked and has a rustic charm, particularly po... READ MORE

Pangiallo is a traditional Christmas cake originating from Rome, where it's eaten during times of celebration. It's also known as the Christmas cake of Lazio. The cake is usually prepared on the day of the winter solstice as a wish for th... READ MORE