Sbrisolona, back to the roots

Author Notes

Sbrisolona is a dry, very crumbly cake that can be kept for a long time.

The recipe seems to date back to the late Renaissance and its modern version is published on the official website of the city of Mantua, the birthplace of this Italian Torta in https://www.mantova.com/torta-sbrisolona/.

Sbrisolona can be prepared in a bowl in 15 minutes paying attention to not mix the ingredients too much.

The dough, in fact, must be crumbled using your hands as quickly as possible and left rather divided and discontinuous on the bottom of the cake tin - with more parts worked than others.

Once cooked and cool, the torta should traditionally not be sliced, but broken into bite-sized pieces and eaten by hands as a snack.

The traditional, yet modern, Mantuan recipe calls for the same amount of cornmeal, all-purpose flour, sugar, almonds and butter.

Unlike the traditional modern version, I’ve substituted 50% of all-purpose flour with homemade almond flour for a more intense texture and I sprinkled the dough with an Italian almond liqueur.

Moreover,I’ve reduced the amount of butter and recovered the lard that was present in the original Renaissance recipe.

The lard gives the crumble an incredible flavor, twisting the taste completely.

As for the cornmeal, I chose an Italian variety called Bramata - a cornmeal with a grainy texture - to give a rustic look and taste to the cake. Choose the fine-grained Fioretto variety for a finer, simpler, yet irresistible flavor. —Adele