Torta della Nonna

shortcrust, lemon pastry cream, pine nuts

Prep
45 min
Cook
45 min
Rest
1h
Total
1h 30m
Serves
8
Difficulty
Medium
Rating
4.7 / 5 (167 ratings)

A double-crust tart with a pastry cream filling. The crust is pasta frolla, buttery and short. The filling is a lemon-scented pastry cream. Pine nuts go on the top before baking. It's a common thing in Florentine pastry shops, served in slices, good at room temperature or slightly warm the same day.

Ingredients

For 8 servings.

Pasta frolla

  • 350 g 00 flour
  • 175 g cold butter, cubed
  • 120 g caster sugar
  • 2 pcs egg yolks
  • 1 pc whole egg
  • 1 pc lemon, zest only
  • a pinch salt

Pastry cream

  • 500 ml whole milk
  • 4 pcs egg yolks
  • 120 g caster sugar
  • 40 g cornstarch (cornflour)
  • 1 pc lemon, zest only
  • 0.5 pod (or 1 tsp extract) vanilla pod or extract
  • 20 g butter

To finish

  • 60 g pine nuts
  • 1 pc egg, beaten (egg wash)
  • to taste icing sugar to dust

Method

  1. 1. Make the pastry

    Rub the cold butter into the flour, sugar and salt until the mixture looks like coarse sand. Add the egg yolks, whole egg and lemon zest. Bring together quickly into a smooth dough. Don't knead. Flatten into a disc, wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

    Work fast and keep everything cold. Warm butter makes the pastry greasy and hard to roll.

  2. 2. Make the pastry cream

    Heat the milk with the vanilla and lemon zest until just below boiling. Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until pale. Add the cornstarch and whisk until smooth. Pour the hot milk in slowly, whisking constantly. Return to the pan over medium heat, stirring without stopping until the cream thickens and starts to bubble. Pull off the heat, stir in the butter, then press cling film directly onto the surface to stop a skin forming. Cool completely.

    Keep stirring. Stop for 10 seconds and it will catch on the bottom.

  3. 3. Line the tin

    Heat the oven to 180°C / 350°F. Divide the pastry two-thirds and one-third. Roll the larger piece on a floured surface to about 3mm and line a 24cm loose-bottomed tart tin. Press into the edges and trim the overhang. Fill with the cooled pastry cream.

  4. 4. Top and bake

    Roll out the remaining pastry to the same thickness and lay over the filling. Press the edges together and trim. Brush the top with beaten egg. Scatter the pine nuts evenly over the surface, pressing very lightly so they stick. Bake for 40-45 minutes until the top is deep golden. Cool in the tin for 20 minutes before unmoulding.

    The pine nuts should be golden, not dark. If they're colouring too fast, lay a sheet of foil loosely over the top.

  5. 5. Finish and serve

    Dust with icing sugar once completely cooled. Serve at room temperature. It keeps well for two days.

Nutrition per serving

  • 470 kcal
  • Protein: 10g
  • Carbs: 52g
  • Fat: 25g

A bit of history

Torta della nonna, grandmother's cake, is a standard item in Florentine pasticcerie and a common home baking project across Tuscany. The combination of pasta frolla and pastry cream is very old in Italian confectionery, and the pine nut topping is a Tuscan detail that distinguishes this version from similar tarts made elsewhere.

The name is informal rather than historical. There's no single origin or inventor. It's the kind of recipe that settled into the repertoire gradually because the ingredients were cheap, the technique was learnable, and the result was consistently good. Variations include a chocolate pastry cream filling and the addition of raisins to the cream.