The recipe we are about to see is pretty easy-to-make and will let you make a cake that is full of flavour. This Italian coffee cake will amaze you with its appetising ingredients and notes of coffee , amaretto and almonds!

Italian coffee cake and sbrisolona

If you are looking for a refined dessert, then this Italian coffee cake recipe is the one for you, as it combines delightful Italian flavours and the intense taste of coffee. This cake has been called a “fake sbrisolona” with reference to the traditional cake from the city of Mantua, a jewel located in Southern Lombardy whose charm retains the splendour of the Renaissance.

The recipe we are proposing can be considered as a halfway between a sbrisolona itself and a filled pie and will totally surprise you. Its crust is prepared with all-purpose flour and a small amount of finely ground cornmeal flour giving some flavour and baking powder, which makes it softer. The lard can easily be replaced by butter, as it undoubtedly has a milder flavour, while we are using almonds in the filling – and not in the crust – instead of hazelnuts. Apart from them, the filling contains a delicious blend of ricotta, amaretti biscuits and Amaretto di Saronno, a fragrant and delightful, sweet-tasting liqueur whose taste is truly inimitable.

The ingredients

The ingredients you need are in fact easy to find, and you can purchase them at any grocery store. Here they are:

100 grams of walnuts
20 grams of ground espresso coffee
150 grams of butter
165 grams of caster sugar
2 eggs
60 mls of Amaretto di Saronno
110 of self-raising flour
1 tablespoon of cocoa powder and 2 teaspoons of baking powder
2 extra tablespoons of Amaretto liqueur
225 grams of mascarpone cheese
1 tablespoon of powdered sugar

The instructions

Heat the oven at 350°F/180°C and grease an 8-inch round pan lining its base with non-stick parchment paper.
Use a food processor to grind the walnuts and the coffee until they are finely ground.
Beat the butter and sugar until the mixture is light and creamy, then beat in the eggs one at a time and the Amaretto. At this point, add the walnut and coffee mixture. Sift together the flour, cocoa and baking powder and add to the butter mixture, then mix until they perfectly combine.
Spoon into your pan and bake for 35-40 minutes. Afterwards, remove from the oven and drizzle over one tablespoon of tasty Amaretto liqueur. Cool in pan and right after that place it on a serving plate. Mix the remaining Amaretto with mascarpone and powdered sugar and spread it over the top of your delicious cake.
Garnish with walnuts and/or coffee beans at your leisure.
Chill your wonderful dessert for 30 minutes before serving.