Torta Margherita
A light Italian sponge cake of eggs, sugar, flour and potato starch with lemon, baked for 40 minutes and dusted with icing sugar.
Photograph credit: Italian cake, Torta margherita (daisy) by Albarubescens · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · this resized copy is shared under the same licence
Before You Start
Whisk the eggs until they leave a trail.
Fold with a spatula, not a whisk.
Keep the oven door shut for the first 30 minutes.
Cooking Torta Margherita
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Heat the oven to 170°C / 340°F and line a 24 cm tin.
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Whisk the eggs, sugar, zest and vanilla for 8 minutes until pale, thick and tripled in volume.
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Sift the flour, potato starch and baking powder over the eggs and fold in two goes.
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Fold in the butter in a thin stream.
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Pour into the tin and bake for 40 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
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Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, turn out and dust with the icing sugar.
Why It Works
The first sign it is ready is the smell of lemon and warm butter drifting from the oven, and then the top turning pale gold. Torta margherita is a plain, light Italian sponge cake, eaten for breakfast or with tea, and it needs nothing but a dusting of icing sugar.
The crumb is airy because of the eggs and because some of the flour is replaced with potato starch, which makes it softer and finer. Whisk the eggs and sugar for a full 8 minutes until they triple in volume and leave a ribbon trail. Fold in the flour and starch in two goes with a spatula, never with a whisk, to keep the air in the batter. Add the melted butter last, in a thin stream around the edge.
Pour into a lined 24 cm tin and bake at 170°C / 340°F for about 40 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Do not open the oven door in the first 30 minutes or it sinks. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, turn out and dust with icing sugar.
Storage and Reheating
Keeps for 4 days in a tin. Freeze for 2 months.
Good With
- Coffee
- Fresh berries
- Whipped cream
Torta Margherita Nutrition
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.
First published ; last changed .
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