Vera Torta (True Cake) is a typical dessert of Imola, a territory of Romagna culture located in Emilia and, more precisely, in the district of Bologna.
It is an old-fashioned recipe, passed orally from family to family and now registered at the Bologna Chamber of Commerce (2019).
Its almond flavor is reminiscent of the Bologna Rice Cake, although you don’t find any rice in that recipe. How is this possible?
One step at a time, first of all, the story.
The history of Vera Torta of Imola
The presence of sugar, candied fruit, and almonds among the ingredients indicates economic availability.
It was a recipe for noble houses and monasteries.
The earliest memory of the True Cake of Imola dates back to 1730. And the gastronomical historians found it in the register of expenses of the nuns of the convent of San Domenico in Imola.
The nuns prepared that cake for the first time to celebrate the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary.
During 1700 and 1800, it became the cake of all the main family events, which, at the time, were mainly baptisms and weddings. It explains why it is also known as the bridal’s cake, but the origin of the name Vera Torta remains unknown.
It is a delicious dessert, even if the oral transmission of the cake recipe has limited its spread.
In recent decades, the memory of the dessert has faded somewhat, and many Imolese confuse the Vera Torta with the typical Bologna rice cake. Or they do not remember it at all.
Luckily, the Academy of Italian Cuisine has deposited the recipe with the Bologna Chamber of Commerce to mark its historicity and belonging to a specific territory.
Some notes about the recipe
The ingredients are cow’s or sheep’s ricotta cheese, brown sugar (the Dominican nuns’ register listed precisely this type of sugar, which, in those days, was more common than refined sugar), peeled almonds, amaretti cookies, candied citron, and eggs.
You won’t find flour, butter, oil, or yeast among the cake list ingredients.
The cake will be gluten and lactose-free if you use cookies and ricotta without gluten or lactose.
Don’t forget a mix of bitter almond liqueur and Alchermes for wetting.
Then, it is finished with a garnish of sugar flowers, royal icing, or powdered sugar.
Many versions exist of an orally handed down recipe that each family has contributed over the centuries.
More importantly, some ingredients have changed to suit modern times. For example, apothecaries used to sell alcoholic mix to brush the surface of the cake. Needless to say, everyone had their own secret recipe. Today, no one buys that ingredient from a modern apothecary; everyone brushes the cake with a liqueur or alcoholic mix each one makes at home.
At home, for instance, we traditionally made the liquor mix with some nocino.
Also, an ancestor of the family introduced bitter cocoa into the cake recipe. But grandmother did not know who made it and when.
She executed the recipe as her mother had taught her. And so she passed it on to my mother, who remembers the ingredients but never cooked it or even wrote it. I am the first in the family to write it down and share the ingredients and process.
Finally, the Vera Torta of Imola resembles the Bologna Rice Cake. Although there is no rice, the chopped almond recalls rice. Amaretti and candied citron make the rest.
This cake needs to rest so that the flavors, especially the liqueur syrup, have time to blend together. Prepare the cake at least one or two days before serving.
Vera Torta of Imola and I
When I was a child, I didn’t eat desserts with liquor, except this one.
I liked it so much that I asked for it as my First Communion lunch dessert.
In addition to weddings, over time, the Vera Torta became the dessert of baptisms, communions, weddings, and family gatherings.
In the picture, you see me ready to cut a small True Cake while the large one, decorated with icing, was cut and served.
For at least three decades, I removed the memory of this cake.
When Grandma passed away, many dishes left my table and my head.
Then it happens that, in early summer, Giuliana, a friend I met through Instagram, writes to me to ask about this recipe she had heard about but did not know. Smiling at the coincidence, I replied that I planned to post it on the blog next autumn.
Then something else also happens. After a few weeks, I was contacted by the editors of the TV program L’Italia a morsi, hosted by Chiara Maci on Food Network Italia.
They asked me to participate as a keeper of culinary tradition to tell about the cuisine of Imola, with Romagna flavors, even though in Emilia. Among the recipes I proposed, the Vera Torta of Imola could not be missing. And so, in a torrid and sultry July, I cooked it with Chiara Maci.
She, a super fan of the Bolognese rice cake, liked it and asked me for the recipe.
The same I’m sharing.
Buona cucina, Monica
Cook with me
The Bologna Torta di Riso (HERE, find history and recipe) is an excellent dessert with a beautiful and ancient history. The cake has been part of the history of the city of Bologna since the 1400s!
In the post dedicated to cheese flan (HERE), I wrote about the connection between Imola and Bologna and that of the city of Bologna with Romagna.
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Vera Torta (True Cake) of Imola
Equipment
- 1 round mold, 25cm of diameter
Ingredients
- 100 g of peeled almonds
- 70 g of amaretti cookies
- 70 g of candied citron
- 5 regular eggs
- 150 g of brown sugar
- 300 g of cow ricotta or sheep ricotta cheese
- 20 g of bitter cocoa (optional, my family's ingredient)
For the syrup
- 20 g of Alchermes liqueur
- 10 g of Nocino or Alchermes, to be added to the amount indicated above
- 40 g of Di Saronno almond liqueur
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 170C degrees (338F).
- Toast the almonds for two minutes in a pan, then coarsely chop 10 almonds and finely chop the rest, mix, and set aside.
- Finely chop the amaretti cookies and set aside.
- Cut the candied citron into small pieces and set aside.
- Separate the yolks from the egg whites and whip the latter.
- Whip the yolks with the sugar until the mixture is puffy.
- Add the ricotta and incorporate with the whips.
- Now add chopped cookies and cocoa and mix.
- Then pour in almonds and candied citron and incorporate.
- Finally, add the whipped egg whites, stirring with a spatula.
- Grease a large baking pan with oil or butter, Vera Torta is low, and pour in the mixture.
- Bake in a preheated oven for 60 minutes. After an hour, test with a wooden toothpick to see if it is ready (if it comes out dry, the cake is ready).
- For the syrup: combine Alchermes, Nocino, and almond liqueur in a glass and set aside.
- Remove the cake from the oven, prick the surface with a toothpick, and brush with the liqueur syrup while Torta Vera is still hot.
- Let cool before decorating with royal icing or powdered sugar.
Food tips
- Make the cake a day or two before serving.
- Store in the refrigerator for several days.
