The oldest cake recipe written down in a recipe book is the Linzer torte.
The recipe is kept in the recipe book of Countess Anna Margarita Sagramosa of Verona from 1653, discovered only in 2005 by the director of the Austrian state museums Waltraut Faißner.
The Linzer tarte was my snack in all the summers spent in the Dolomites. It is an incredibly delicious cake. In the Alto Adige they serve it with cream if they want to make it even more delicious. It reminds me of a place I love for skiing: Selva di Val Gardena.

Linzer Tart

  • Preparation time: 60 minutes
  • Ingredients for a 20 cm tart pan
  • Difficulty: Easy recipe

  • Ingredients
  • For the Linzer short crust pastry:
  • 175 g of all-purpose flour
  • 125 g of butter
  • 125 g of sugar
  • 125 g of almond flour
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon
  • 2 cloves
  • grated rind of 1 lemon
  • 1 teaspoon of baking powder
  • 5 tablespoons of cranberry jam (since it is hard to find in Rome I use raspberry jam)
  1. Instructions
  2. Crush the cloves in a pestle. In a bowl beat the butter with the sugar. Add the egg, flours and sifted baking powder. Add the spices. Mix all the ingredients together, working them briefly.
    Form a dough that is quite soft but not sticky. Let it rest in the fridge for at least an hour, covered with cling film.
  3. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
  4. Roll out half of the dough between two sheets of baking paper and do the same for the other half. Leave them in the fridge for about ten minutes to let them cool again.
  5. In a tart pan, buttered and floured, roll out a disk of very cold shortcrust pastry. Prick the base with a fork. Pour in the jam and level it well.
  6. Use the other disk to make the strips to decorate the tart.
  7. Bake in the oven for about thirty minutes.
  8. If you want, accompany the cake with unsweetened whipped cream.

Tips to ensure the success of the dish:

  • The flour for the shortcrust pastry is the weak one with a maximum W of 240. This will ensure that the gluten mesh does not develop. For this same reason, the dough should be worked little.
  • Rolling out the shortcrust pastry between two sheets of baking paper makes the process easier. Obviously, before pouring it into the pan, it should be removed from the baking paper!
  • The baking time in the oven is indicative because each oven cooks differently.