There Tenerina cake it is one of those pastry classics that we have all tasted at least once. Very soft and moist inside, with a delicious crunchy crust on the surface reminiscent of a very delicate meringue, the Torta tenerina is the very sweet manifesto of the city of Ferrara, widespread throughout Italy for its goodness and ease of preparation. A triumph of chocolate, butter, eggs, sugar and flour, combined to give life to a genuine dessert, full of nutrients, perfect to serve at the end of an elegant meal or with friends, but also as a snack for young and old. The Torta tenerina can be prepared several days in advance, because it has the gift of flavoring itself in the days following its preparation. You can serve it plain, dusted with icing sugar or with a generous dose of whipped cream and it will take less than 1 hour!

Preparation

1

Place a saucepan half full of water on the stove over medium heat with a glass bowl on top. Cut the dark and milk chocolate into coarse pieces and pour it into the bowl to melt it in a bain-marie, stirring constantly with a spatula. Also add the butter cut into chunks. As soon as the whole mixture is melted, turn off the heat and let it cool.

2

Break the eggs by pouring the whites and yolks into two different bowls. Add half the dose of sugar to the bowl of egg whites and, using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff.

3

Add the other half of the sugar to the yolks and whip everything with an electric whisk until you get a frothy mixture. Add the chocolate and mix with a spatula. Add the egg whites in two batches, mixing gently from bottom to top so as not to disassemble the compound.

4

Finally, add the sifted flour and carefully mix all the ingredients. You will have to obtain a smooth, creamy and lump-free mixture.

5

Generously butter a 24 cm diameter springform pan, then lightly flour it. Pour the mixture inside and place in a preheated oven at 180° in ventilated mode for 25-30 minutes.

6

After the first 25 minutes you can use a long toothpick to test doneness: insert the toothpick in the center of the cake and, if it comes out clean, you can take the cake out of the oven. Wait for it to cool before removing the tray. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve.

Advice and tips

If you prefer, you can just use the 60% dark chocolate.

You can melt the chocolate with the butter directly in the microwave, placing them in a suitable bowl.

It’s important leave to cool completely the Torta tenerina before removing it from the mould, otherwise the classic crust will break too much.

You can replace the granulated sugar with raw cane sugar.

The cake will always remain a little moist, this is the characteristic of this preparation. So don’t worry if your toothpick doesn’t come out perfectly dry during the toothpick test! What’s important is that there are no traces of slurry.

You can replace the 00 flour with gluten-free rice flour or potato starch.

We advise against incorporating whole eggs because you would obtain a different consistency which is not suitable for this preparation.

Do not take the cake out of the oven before it is cooked. An undercooked soft cake it can be too soft and difficult to portion.

Each oven is different, so evaluate the power of your oven. If in ventilated mode your oven tends to dry out the dishes too much, prefer the static mode for cooking the Torta tenerina, at the same temperature.

storage

The soft cake it will keep for 3-4 days under a glass cake bell. It can be stored in the fridge, wrapped in cling film, for 4 days.

It can be frozen for a maximum of 1 month, wrapped in transparent film or aluminum foil. We advise you to let it thaw at room temperature.

History

The Torta tenerina was born in Ferrara between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century in honor of the queen Elena Petrovich of Montenegrothe wife of the King Victor Emmanuel III. The cake is called, in fact, also queen cake of montenegro or Montenegrin cakebut due to the Ferrarese dialect it is known by the name of “Taclenta cake” or “Tacolenta”, which means “sticky”, due to its moist and slightly pasty consistency, which melts in the mouth. There are now several variations, in addition to the classic and traditional one: the white chocolate tenderloinpumpkin or coconut tenderine and chestnut tenderine, called “Argentine tender” Why born in Argentaa municipality in the province of Ferrara.