TABELIAAUTHENTIC RECIPE
Torta di Nocciole PiemontesePiedmontese Hazelnut Cake
A flourless cake centred on Piedmont’s Tonda Gentile hazelnuts, with a slightly moist interior and fragrant toasted-nut flavour. A simple set of ingredients brings out their quality.
AUTHENTICITY SCORE
Authenticity Score
This is the standard recipe, exactly as it’s made where it comes from — the highest Authenticity Score possible. Substituting ingredients changes this score; the app shows exactly how, ingredient by ingredient.
Ingredients (8 servings)
- Toasted hazelnutsUse high-quality toasted hazelnuts.300 g
- Granulated sugar150 g
- EggsSeparate the yolks and whites.4 pieces
- Unsalted butterSoften at room temperature.100 g
- Rum or grappaOptional.30 ml
- Baking powder5 g
- Salt1 g
- Powdered sugar for finishing10 g
Method
Prepare the oven and hazelnuts
- 1 Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- 2 Coarsely grind 300 g hazelnuts in a food processor.
Ready when
Continue once ground to a meal that still feels coarse and grainy.
Caution
Do not grind into a completely fine powder; the coarseness gives the cake its texture.
Prepare the tin
- 1 Lightly butter a 22 cm round cake tin, dust with cake flour and tap out the excess.
Ready when
Continue once the entire tin is evenly coated with butter and flour.
Make the butter mixture
- 1 Cream 100 g room-temperature butter with 150 g sugar in a bowl.
- 2 Add the yolks 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition.
- 3 Mix in 30 ml rum.
Ready when
Continue once pale, light and creamy.
Add the hazelnuts
- 1 Mix in the ground hazelnuts and 5 g baking powder with a rubber spatula.
Ready when
Continue once evenly combined.
Fold in the egg whites
- 1 Whisk 4 egg whites with 1 g salt until they hold peaks.
- 2 Mix 1/3 of the whites thoroughly into the batter to loosen it.
- 3 Gently fold in the remaining whites in 2 additions with a rubber spatula.
Ready when
Continue once evenly combined with no white streaks.
Caution
Use a lifting and folding motion to preserve as much air as possible.
Bake the hazelnut cake
- 1 Pour the batter into the tin.
- 2 Bake at 180°C for 35–40 minutes.
Ready when
The cake is ready when a skewer inserted into it comes out clean.
Caution
Overbaking dries it out; check with a skewer before it goes too far.
Cool and dust with sugar
- 1 Cool in the tin for 10 minutes.
- 2 Remove from the tin and, once completely cool, dust with 10 g powdered sugar.
Caution
Turning it out while hot can break the cake; wait 10 minutes.
About this dish
Autumn brings the bustle of the hazelnut harvest to Piedmont’s Langhe hills. The locally grown Tonda Gentile Trilobata variety has PGI, Protected Geographical Indication, certification and is valued on international markets among the world’s finest hazelnuts.
During harvest season, hazelnut sweets appear in homes and pastry-shop displays throughout the Langhe. In these same hills, famed for wine, rustic cakes that express the nuts’ fragrance have become part of everyday meals and celebrations alike.
The cake remains a familiar choice not only after a meal but sliced alongside an afternoon espresso. It evokes a land that produces both world-class wines, including Barolo and Barbaresco, and hazelnut sweets.
Bring the full course home next weekend.
Bring every dish to the table at its best.
Choose the dishes you want to cook, and Chef Authen handles the shopping list and the day-of schedule. The Tabelia app turns everything from starter to main into one coordinated course in your kitchen.
- One shopping listBuilt automatically from your menu and any substitutions, ready to check off.
- One timelineEvery dish’s waiting and cooking time combined into a single schedule.
- Answers beyond the recipeFrom judging the heat to adapting on the fly, Chef Authen answers with concrete criteria, not guesses.