Torta Paradiso is a delicate, buttery cake from Italy, served here with cream and strawberries. The cake is credited to pastry chef Enrico Vigoni, who owned a pastry shop in the city of Pavia in the mid-19th century. He created an exceptionally light and buttery cake distinguished by its simplicity and elegance. Torta Paradiso became one of Pavia’s most iconic bakes and remains one of the city’s culinary symbols to this day. Its light texture and delicate flavour quickly brought it fame, earning it the name “heavenly cake”.
Torta Paradiso is made with just a handful of ingredients: butter, sugar, eggs, flour, potato starch and lemon zest. The secret to its success lies in careful preparation and the use of fresh, high-quality ingredients, which give the cake its soft texture and delicate flavour. It reminds me a little of the light Easter bundt cake I bake every year – flavoured with lemon zest and dusted with icing sugar. It has an intensely buttery taste and a delicate lemon aroma. While Italians often enjoy the cake on its own, even for breakfast or afternoon tea, a version filled with strawberries is equally popular – and highly recommended!
Ingredients for Torta Paradiso:
- 150 g butter
- 150 g caster sugar
- 3 large eggs
- finely grated zest of ½ unwaxed lemon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 75 g cake flour or plain flour
- 75 g potato starch (potato flour)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- a pinch of salt
All ingredients should be at room temperature.
Place the butter and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until very light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the lemon zest, vanilla extract and salt and mix to combine. Sift the flour, potato starch and baking powder directly into the mixture, then gently fold in with a spatula, mixing only until combined.
Grease a 19 cm round cake tin and line the base with baking paper. Transfer the batter to the prepared tin and level the surface.
Bake at 175°C for about 35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.
Ingredients for the cream:
- 300 ml double cream, chilled
- 2 teaspoons icing sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 200 g strawberries
Dice the strawberries. Place the cream, icing sugar and vanilla into the bowl of a mixer and whip until thick. Fold in the strawberries.
To finish:
- icing sugar, for dusting
Assembly:
Cut the cooled cake horizontally into two layers. Spread the whipped cream and strawberry filling over the bottom layer and top with the second layer. Dust generously with icing sugar before serving.
Enjoy!
Adapted from a recipe on Baking Like a Chef.
I read all comments, but unfortunately I can't answer them all. Before posting a question, make sure nobody has asked a similar one (this will be facilitated by the search engine included in the comments). Comments with links may not be published.
Blog author