Parrozzo - A Delicious Italian Almond Cake

Parrozzo, or Italian Almond Cake, is a flavor-filled and decadent dessert that will impress your guests for any occasion! It's an easy cake with amaretto, chocolate, almond flour, and semolina as the main ingredients.

Course Dessert

Cuisine Italian

Servings people

Calories 895kcal

Author Pina Bresciani

Ingredients

For the cake

6 eggs separated yolks and whites
¾ cup (200g) granulated sugar
½ cup (60g) unsalted butter melted
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 tablespoon amaretto liqueur
¼ teaspoon almond extract
½ tablespoon lemon zest
1 ¾ cup (200g) almond flour
1 cup (150g) semolina flour

For the Ganache

1 ¼ cup (200g) semi sweet chocolate
2 tablespoon unsalted butter

Instructions

Make the cake

In the bowl of a KitchenAid stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, add the egg yolks and the sugar. Cream together at medium speed until a creamy texture is achieved - a few minutes.
Add the melted butter, oil, amaretto, almond extract, and lemon zest. Mix together until incorporated well.
Add the almond flour, and continue mixing with the mixer until blended into the mixture. Add the semolina and mix until well incorporated.
With an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Fold the egg whites into the cake mixture, working in 3 batches. Fold them in from using a spatula, working from the bottom of the bowl to the top, this will ensure the egg whited do not deflate.
Grease a hemisphere pan with butter and dust with semolina.
Preheat the oven to 320F. Pour the cake mixture into the pan, place the pan on a baking sheet, and bake the cake for about 1 hour-1 hour 15 minutes. To check if it's done, ensure a toothpick or knife comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cake.
Remove from the oven and let cool for 8-10 minutes. Invert the cake onto a cooling rack. If it does not come out easily from the pan, use a spatula to loosen the edges and try again.
Let the cake cool completely.
Once the cake is cooled, make the chocolate ganache. Make a double boiler and place the chocolate and butter in the bowl. Melt the chocolate and butter until combined and liquid.
With the cake still on a drying rack and a piece of parchment paper under the drying rack, pour the ganache over the cake and smooth out with a spatula. Top with sprinkle if desired, although this is not traditional.
Let the ganache harden, slice and serve!

Video

Notes

If you don't have lemon zest, you can use orange zest. Or if you prefer orange over lemon, go for orange zest! Or you can use both for extra citrus flavor.
The almond extract is optional - it just takes the almond flavor up a notch.
A hemisphere pan sometimes doesn't sit properly on the wire racks in an oven, so putting the pan on a baking sheet ensures that the cake comes out level.
I used this hemisphere pan. It is 8 inches by 4 inches
If you don't have a hemisphere pan, you can use a regular bundt pan, but please keep in mind that the cake may not be very high, as it is a small cake to begin with.

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