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 sugar on top.

The cake is often garnished with halved strawberries or raspberries, while the restaurant versions are often served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. Although the origins of torta Caprese are quite murky, many believe that it was invented by mistake, when a cook left out the flour from a recipe. 

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 with only five ingredients - chocolate, butter, eggs, sugar, and cornstarch, this flourless dessert truly lives up to its name.

Torta tenerina has a light, meringue-like crust that holds its rich, yet incredibly light and tender chocolate heart. This traditional treat is found in almost every patisserie in Ferrara, but it is also equally popular throughout the country.

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 Paradiso lends itself perfectly as a dessert all on its own, or to various tasty fillings like creams, custards, or spreads.

The unmistakable softness, fragrance, and sweetness also make it a popular choice for a breakfast treat - accompanied by espresso, milk or tea.

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 lightly soaked with rum.

It is said that the cake was created when Sicily was merged with the Kingdom of Italy in 1861. The legend says that the Benedictine nuns from Catania thought of the recipe and included hazelnuts from Piedmont to honor the House of Savoy—hence the cake's name. 

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, hazelnuts, flour, lemon zest, and butter.

The syrup consists of water, sugar, rum, and pear brandy, while the ricotta cream is made with ricotta, whipping cream, and sugar. The pear filling is made with ripe pears, sugar, pear brandy, and gelatine. In order to assemble the cake, one sponge disk is placed at the bottom and it's then spread with half the ricotta cream, the pear filling, and the other half of the ricotta cream. 

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 and hazelnut layers.

From bottom to top: chocolate sponge, praline crunch, hazelnut Bavarian cream, chocolate sponge, hazelnut Bavarian cream, chocolate mousse, and finally, a layer of chocolate glaze on top. It is still unclear who had created this delicious cake, so some credit Capello of Pasticceria Capello in Palermo, while others claim that Luca Mannori from Prato made it first (and won the 1997 Pastry World Cup in France).

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 is also a smaller, doughnut version which is not prepared so often.

Regardless of its size, ciambella must be ring-shaped. It consists of flour, butter, sugar, eggs, milk, and baking soda in its basic variety. Light and airy, ciambella pairs well with warm milk, coffee, and dessert wines. Due to its popularity, there are numerous versions of ciambella throughout Italy, and at least one type of ciambella can be found in almost every Italian region. 

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 recipe for the cake is still kept a secret and is only known to the heirs of the Gollini bakery.

Traditionally, the cake is consumed for breakfast with coffee or tea on the side, while the rich flavors make torta Barozzi the perfect complement to various custards or vanilla ice cream.

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 that cassata originated as a simple sugar, egg, and ricotta cheesecake while its name is thought to have been derived from the Arabic word qas’ah, which refers to the bowl used to make the cake.

This is traditionally a winter and spring specialty, and it is most often served around Easter. It’s usually chilled for 3 hours before serving. By the 14th century, cassata had become a dessert of the aristocracy, and even today, few people outside of the culinary world are brave enough to prepare this elaborate delicacy at home.