Description
Torta Paesana with Amaretti and Chocolate is a traditional Italian bread pudding-style cake from Lombardy, made with stale bread, dark chocolate, amaretti cookies, raisins, and pine nuts. Rich, aromatic, and rustic, it transforms simple ingredients into a deeply comforting dessert.
Ingredients
300 g stale bread, cut into cubes
1 liter whole milk
2 medium eggs
120 g hard amaretti cookies
100 g dark chocolate
120 g granulated sugar
70 g raisins
50 g pine nuts
Zest and juice of 1 orange
Butter and flour for greasing the pan
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Warm the milk gently in a saucepan until hot but not boiling.
- Place cubed stale bread in a large bowl, sprinkle with orange zest, and pour in warm milk. Stir and let soak for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Meanwhile, soak the raisins in freshly squeezed orange juice to plump them up.
- Grind the amaretti cookies into fine crumbs and add them to the soaked bread mixture. Stir to combine.
- Melt dark chocolate using a bain-marie or microwave until smooth. Stir it into the bread mixture until evenly blended.
- Beat the eggs lightly and mix them into the batter along with sugar and pine nuts.
- Drain the raisins and add them to the batter, stirring until fully incorporated.
- Grease and flour a 10-inch cake pan. Pour in the mixture and smooth the surface with a spatula.
- Bake on the middle rack for about 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool completely in the pan before transferring to a serving plate. Serve at room temperature with powdered sugar or whipped cream.
Notes
Use lemon zest instead of orange for a brighter flavor.
Add cocoa powder for extra chocolate richness.
Swap pine nuts for chopped hazelnuts or almonds.
Soak raisins in amaretto or rum for a boozy twist.
Best made a day ahead—the flavor improves as it rests.
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 340
- Sugar: 27g
- Sodium: 130mg
- Fat: 14g
- Saturated Fat: 5g
- Unsaturated Fat: 8g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 47g
- Fiber: 3g
- Protein: 8g
- Cholesterol: 70mg
