Torta al Limone
A moist Italian lemon cake made with olive oil and yoghurt, baked for 45 minutes and finished with a sharp lemon glaze.
Photograph credit: Torta margherita al limone by Marco Segato · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Flickr · this resized copy is shared under the same licence
Storing and Planning Ahead
Keeps for 4 days in a tin. Freeze for 2 months.
Torta al Limone: The Method
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Heat the oven to 180°C / 355°F and line a 23 cm tin.
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Rub the zest into the sugar for 1 minute. Whisk in the eggs, oil and yoghurt.
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Fold in the flour, baking powder and salt until just combined. Pour into the tin.
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Bake for 45 minutes until golden and a skewer comes out clean.
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Prick the warm cake and brush with the 3 tablespoons of juice. Cool for 20 minutes in the tin.
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Mix the icing sugar and the glaze juice and spoon over the cooled cake.
Related guides: Prep, cook and total time · Pan and tin size.
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A Few Pointers
- Rub the zest into the sugar to release the oils.
- Use a mild olive oil, not a peppery one.
- Do not overmix once the flour goes in.
Why the Method Is What It Is
Zest first, juice second. Torta al limone gets its flavour from the oils in the lemon peel, and the juice is only there for the glaze, so rub the zest into the sugar before anything else.
The cake is mixed in one bowl. Olive oil and yoghurt keep the crumb moist for days, and the flavour of a mild oil sits well beside the lemon. Rub the zest into the sugar with your fingers, until the sugar smells strongly of lemon and looks damp. Whisk in the eggs, oil and yoghurt, then fold in the flour and baking powder until only just combined.
Bake at 180°C / 355°F for about 45 minutes. A skewer should come out clean. Prick the warm cake all over and brush it with a lemon syrup of juice and sugar so that it soaks in. Cool, then add a thin glaze of icing sugar and juice. It keeps well and is better on the second day.
Serving Ideas
Coffee · Fresh berries · Mascarpone
Questions About Torta al Limone
How long does Torta al Limone take to make?
20 minutes of preparation and 45 minutes of cooking, plus 20 minutes of cooling, so allow 1 hour 25 minutes from start to finish. The recipe serves 8.
Torta al Limone Nutrition Facts
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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