CookEat Recipe
Layered Almond Taglierini Cake
A round cake of very fine fresh egg noodles layered with almonds, candied citrus and sugar, brushed with butter and baked until crisp.
Method
Steps
Step 1
Gather the ingredients: 200 g plain flour for the noodles, plus a little for rolling; 2 eggs; 120 g blanched sweet almonds; 170 g caster sugar; 70 g candied citrus peel; 60 g butter; Finely grated zest of ½ lemon; 25 g icing sugar for finishing; Optional: a few drops of commercial food-grade almond extract, following its label strength.
Step 2
Mix the flour with the two eggs and knead for about 8–10 minutes to make a firm smooth pasta dough. Wrap and rest in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. Roll very thinly, approximately 1 mm, with a rolling pin or pasta machine, using only a light dusting of flour. Let the sheets lose surface stickiness for about 10 minutes, then cut into the finest narrow taglierini you can, roughly 1 mm wide. Loosen the strands; do not boil them.
Step 3
Chop the candied citrus into small pieces. Mince it together with the almonds, caster sugar and lemon zest until the pieces are about the size of wheat grains. Use short food-processor pulses or a knife and board, stopping before the almonds turn into a smooth paste. If desired, mix in the optional commercial almond extract. Use sweet almonds only, never raw bitter almonds or apricot kernels.
Step 4
On a clean ungreased non-stick metal tray, form a thin round layer of raw taglierini about 20–21 cm across. Scatter over some of the almond mixture, add another noodle layer and continue alternating until everything is used, keeping an even round cake roughly 3 cm thick. A loose oven-safe metal ring may help it hold its shape but should not compress the noodles.
Step 5
Melt the butter gently and use a pastry brush to distribute all of it over the top, letting it penetrate the layers evenly. Bake at 170°C for about 40–55 minutes, until golden and crisp, with the inner noodle layers fully cooked and no raw dough. Check the centre reaches at least 74°C. If the top colours early, shield loosely with foil while the centre finishes.
Step 6
Remove any shaping ring carefully and dust generously with the icing sugar while the cake is still hot. Let cool completely on the tray or a rack before cutting and serving. Allow roughly 1½ hours for cooling; it is served cold and has no pastry base or separate marzipan filling.
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