Torta Tenerina is a delicious light and chocolatey Italian chocolate cake that tastes almost like a brownie in cake form. Many people like referring to this chocolate Italian dessert as an Italian brownie. We really love making this Torta Tenerina for special occasions and although there are a few more steps than making traditional brownies, it is well worth it!
About this Italian Chocolate Cake:
Torta Tenerina is a beautiful Italian chocolate cake with a very distinct looking crackled sugar top. Much like what happens when you make a brownie, this crackled top is amazing on this cake and so much thicker than any brownie you can make.
There are a few steps to making this delicious Italian cake since it is all from scratch but I promise you it is fool proof. This chocolate cake is best served straight from the cake pan since it does not do well with inverting (flipping it out).
Ingredients you need to make this Italian chocolate cake:
- Semi sweet chocolate bars. Traditionally this Italian chocolate cake calls for dark chocolate but I much prefer using semi- sweet for the recipe. You want to start with bars of chocolate not chips since chocolate chips having a coating on them that affects the consistency of melted chocolate.
- All purpose flour.
- Unsalted butter.
- Granulated sugar.
- Eggs.
- Vanilla
- Kosher salt
- Powdered sugar for topping.
Why you will love this Italian Brownie cake!
One of the things I look for when making any recipe is whether it is easy enough for the home cook to make. This means techniques that can easily cause a problem are not what I am looking for.
With this Torta Tenerina recipe, I have stripped out the difficult part of beating egg whites to a perfect peak. Now there is more forgiveness in how beaten the egg whites need to be and it works out perfect every time! This makes it easy and fool proof!
How to make Italian Chocolate Cake
Preparing the chocolate
The first thing you want to do when making this Torta Tenerina is melt your chocolate in a double boiler. A double boiler is a bowl that sits snug over a medium pot of simmering water.
Once the chocolate is melted, you stir in the butter until the butter is melted and the chocolate is glossy.
Preparing the other ingredients (egg yolks and eg whites):
With this part of the recipe, you separate your eggs then mix sugar into the egg yolks and then whip the egg whites on their own. Once the melted chocolate you made earlier is cooled, you mix that into your whipped egg yolks.
Fold it all together:
Now is when everything comes together. You will be mixing all the different parts of the Italian chocolate cake together and pouring it all into your prepared cake pan. The baking portion takes only 25- 30 minutes in a pre-heated 350 degree oven.
This recipe is delicious and really makes the perfect baking project or cake for that special occasion!
How to serve
My favorite way to serve this delicious Italian cake is to dust it with a little powdered sugar. I also love serving it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or gelato, especially if it is warm.
More Traditional Italian Recipes
If you love this Torta Tenerina (aka Italian brownies), you may also like these traditional recipes:
More Italian Desserts You May Like:
- Italian Ricotta Pie
- Buttermilk Panna Cotta
- Sultana Cookies - Italian Cornmeal Cookies
- Ricotta Cookies with Lemon
- Italian Rice Pudding
- Italian Lemon Ricotta Cake
Italian Chocolate Cake - Torta Tenerina
Equipment
- 1 9 inch cake pan buttered then flour added
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups Semi sweet chocolate (chopped) This is about 2 bars
- 7 tablespoon unsalted butter cubed plus more for pan.
- 4 eggs seperated
- ¾ cup Granulated sugar
- 7 tablespoon All purpose flour plus more for pan.
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare the Cake Pan
- Rub butter all over the inside of a 9 inch cake pan making sure to get all the way up the sides.
- Now add about 1 tablespoon of sugar to the butter pan and gently shake the flour around the pan so it sticks to the butter.
- Tap out any excess flour.
Preparing the Chocolate
- Chop the chocolate1 ½ cups Semi sweet chocolate (chopped)
- Add chopped chocolate to a double boiler. This is a heat proof bowl that sits snug over a medium pot of simmering water. Make sure the water does not touch the bowl.
- Over medium heat, allow the chocolate to melt while stirring constantly.
- Once the chocolate has melted, remove from the heat and stir in your butter.7 tablespoon unsalted butter
- Continue stirring the butter until the butter is fully melted and the chocolate looks glossy.
- Set aside and allow to cool.
Preparing the other ingredients
- Separate your eggs adding the yolks to own medium bowl and the whites to another medium bowl.4 eggs
- Grab your bowl of egg yolks and add the sugar.¾ cup Granulated sugar
- With a hand mixer mix on medium speed until pale yellow then set aside.
- Now with the same hand mixer (make sure to clean attachment) whip the egg whites until it thicken and becomes frothy. You can mix up to the point of soft egg white peaks.
- Set aside.
- Grab your cooled melted chocolate and mix that into your whipped egg yolks along with your vanilla until combined.1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- Add the flour and salt to your chocolate and egg yolk mixture and mix until combined.7 tablespoon All purpose flour, ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
- Gently fold the egg whites into the batter until combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.
- Bake for 25-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into about 3 inches from the outside of the pan comes out clean.
- Remove and let cool.
- Dust with powdered sugar and enjoy.
Pradeep
This was absolutely delicious.
Mike
This is so much better than chocolate cake and American brownies. It was so good. Even better with ice cream
Angela
I made this for my husband’s birthday and he loved it. Thanks for the recipe
kisitalian
I am so glad to hear that 🙂
Meg
This came out so beautiful! It was loved by everyone 😊
Jeanne
Made this over the weekend and WOW! This was like the perfect brownie but in cake form. Very delicious
kisitalian
Love hearing that!
Lauren
What is the baking temperature?? I’ve got all the ingredients and went to preheat the oven and I have no idea what temp to bake 😭
kisitalian
Hi Lauren. It is 350 degrees 🙂