Torta della nonna
Tuscany's grandmother's tart: lemon-scented shortcrust filled with thick custard, closed with a pastry lid and covered in pine nuts and icing sugar.
Recipe by I Want Some Food · Reviewed by the editorial kitchen.
- Prep
- 50 min
- Cook
- 1 hr
- Rest
- 1 hr
- Total
- 2 hr 50 min
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Spice
- No chilli
- Cost
- Weeknight budget$8–16 USD · indicative, not a store price
About
Torta della nonna is a shortcrust tart filled with thick pastry cream, topped with pine nuts and icing sugar. The pastry is pasta frolla: flour, cold butter, sugar, egg and yolks and grated lemon zest, worked quickly and chilled so it stays short and crumbly. The filling is crema pasticcera, made from egg yolks, sugar, flour and milk scented with lemon peel and vanilla, cooked until thick enough to hold a spoon upright, then cooled with film pressed on its surface. Line the tin, fill it with the cold custard, close it with a thinner disc of pastry, scatter pine nuts and bake until golden. Done is a tall, golden tart with a crisp, crumbly shell, a smooth lemony custard in the middle and toasty pine nuts on top, finished with a snow of icing sugar.
What you'll need
11 ingredients. Tap each one once it's out on the bench.
Ingredients
- Wheat flour, plain: 400 g for the pastry, 70 g for the custard470 g
- Butter, cold, diced200 g
- Sugar, 150 g for the pastry, 150 g for the custard300 g
- Egg, 1 for the pastry, 1 beaten for brushing2
- Egg yolks, 2 for the pastry, 5 for the custard7
- Milk, full-cream750 ml
- Lemon, unwaxed; half the zest grated, the rest in strips1
- Vanilla, split, or 1 tsp extract1 pod
- Pine nuts50 g
- Icing sugar, to dust30 ml
- Salt1 pinch
Scaling multiplies the written quantities. Baking still prefers a scale.
Steps
Step 1
For the pastry, rub the butter into 400 g flour with 150 g sugar, the salt and grated zest until sandy. Add the whole egg and 2 yolks and bring together quickly into a dough. Flatten, wrap and chill 1 hour.
12 min
Step 2
For the custard, heat the milk with the lemon strips and vanilla. Whisk 5 yolks with 150 g sugar, then 70 g flour. Pour on the hot milk, whisking, return to the pan and cook, stirring, until it boils and thickens, then 2 minutes more. Remove the lemon and vanilla, cover with film on the surface and cool.
15 min
Step 3
Heat the oven to 180°C and butter a 24 cm tin. Roll out two thirds of the pastry and line the tin. Fill with the cold custard. Roll the rest into a lid, lay it on top and seal the edges. Prick the top, brush with beaten egg and scatter the pine nuts, pressing lightly.
20 min
Step 4
Bake 40–45 minutes until deep golden. Cool completely in the tin, then dust with icing sugar.
45 min
Tip: Cover loosely with foil for the last 10 minutes if the pine nuts colour too fast.
Nutrition
Per serving · estimate
- Calories
- 549 kcal
- Protein
- 11.4 g
- Carbs
- 72.5 g
- Fat
- 24.2 g
- Saturated fat
- 12.7 g
- Fibre
- 1.9 g
- Sugar
- 36.2 g
- Sodium
- 84 mg
Calculated from canonical ingredient data (USDA FoodData Central averages and equivalent published tables). Estimates only.
Allergens
Informational only. Not a medical guarantee. Cross-contamination happens in real kitchens.
- Wheat
- Eggs
- Milk
- Tree nuts
- Vegetarian
Adapt this recipe
The original recipe stays as it is. Personal versions are labelled. Serving changes are simple maths.
Adaptations · 0 / 15 used. Resets 11 November.
Substitutions
Pine nuts → Flaked almonds
A common variation outside Florence.
Tips
- Keep the pastry cold and handle it as little as possible, or it turns tough.
- Cut it only when fully cool, or the custard runs.
History & culture
It is the cake of Tuscan Sunday lunches and the dessert on almost every Florentine trattoria's list. Versions have spread all over Italy, some open-topped, some with almonds instead of pine nuts or ricotta in the cream; the Florentine one has a pastry lid, custard and pine nuts.
Despite the homely name, it seems to be a restaurant creation: Florentine accounts credit Guido Samorini, a cook from Arezzo, with inventing it in the twentieth century after customers complained the desserts were always the same. Its parts are much older: pasta frolla and crema pasticcera are both long-standing classics of Italian pastry.
Traditional — The Florentine version: pasta frolla with a lid, lemon and vanilla crema pasticcera, pine nuts and icing sugar.
Provenance: Editorial adaptation.
Questions about this recipe
Answers taken from this dish's times, amounts, swaps and tips.
How long does Torta della nonna take?
2 hr 50 min all in — 50 min prep, 1 hr cook, 1 hr rest. Cook and rest follow the method. Leftover storage and optional extra waits are not included.
How many does it serve?
The recipe is written for 10 slices. Scale the ingredient list on the page if you are cooking for a different number.
How hard is it?
Medium.
How spicy is it?
No chilli.
What allergens should I watch?
This recipe is labelled for Wheat, Eggs, Milk, Tree nuts. Labels are informational — check the packets in your kitchen. This is not medical advice.
Does it fit a diet?
The published recipe is labelled Vegetarian.
7 more questionsFewer questions
What does it cost to cook?
Weeknight budget — about $8–16 USD, as a grocery budget for this recipe, not a restaurant price.
What equipment do I need?
Mixing bowl, Rolling pin, Saucepan, Oven.
How much salt do I put in?
The recipe lists Salt at 1 pinch.
How much sugar?
300 g (150 g for the pastry, 150 g for the custard) of Sugar.
What can I use instead?
Pine nuts → Flaked almonds. A common variation outside Florence.
Any tips from this recipe?
Keep the pastry cold and handle it as little as possible, or it turns tough. Cut it only when fully cool, or the custard runs.
Can I use an air fryer?
This method is not written for an air fryer. The core technique on the page still applies.
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