Torta di Pinoli

Last week in my Pairing Food & Wine Class, we finished our meal with a delicious Italian dessert: Torta di pinoli, otherwise known as a pine nut cake.

I know, I know, pine nuts in a cake?! It sounds weird, but Italians use pine nuts in a lot of dishes, and this cake did not disappoint.

It's not super moist, but it's still pretty dense, with the perfect hint of lemon flavor to accompany the toasty pine nuts. We ate it warm, and I suggest you do the same!

I'm too lazy to convert these measurements, but I'm sure a scale would be a good investment anyway! :)

Ingredients

250 g butter, melted

500 g flour

4 eggs

1/2 tbsp yeast

400 g sugar

1 lemon, juice and zest

100 g pine nuts

1.) Preheat oven to 350 F. 

2.) Butter and flour a 12 inch cake pan. 

3.) Beat eggs in a bowl.

4.) Mix the melted butter and yeast, then add this to the eggs.

5.) Add the sugar, flour, lemon zest and juice to the egg mixture. Mix together well and pour it into the cake pan. Scatter pin enuts over the top.

6.) Bake for about 40 minutes until it's golden! 

P.S. Tomorrow's menu includes the following:
1. Gnocchi di ricotta e spinaci
2. Polpettone con mortadella
3. Ciambella al cioccolato
...I don't know what most of those words mean, but "gnocchi" and "cioccolato" are calling my name!