MARCH 30 • 2023 | 53
THE CLASSIC CUISINE OF THE ITALIAN JEWS
matzah, produced hastily without any
decoration. The Jews of Pitigliano
made their matzah hastily, too, but in a
distinctive and beautiful lacey pattern.
Why was the bakery so far
underground? Servi Machlin had long
believed that refugees from the Spanish
Inquisition wanted to keep their Jewish
rituals as secret as possible and so
located the special Passover bakery
as far as possible from prying eyes. In
later research, she did not find evidence
for this explanation (although perhaps
the bakery-builders did not want to
leave any evidence), and Servi Machlin
thought that the bakery might predate
the Inquisition.
STORY OF THE KING’S CAKE
Servi Machlin provides a romantic
explanation for how she obtained this
recipe and why she calls it Torta del Re,
meaning King’s Cake.
Many years ago, an Italian senator
hired a young woman to tutor his child.
The senator’s own wife was bedridden.
Servi Machlin dryly reports that the
young woman “was also apparently
consoling the senator.”
After some time, the tutor “found herself
pregnant.” She “jumped from the window
of her third-floor apartment, but she
didn’t die, which, of course, had been her
intention. While the tutor was recovering
from a few broken bones, the senator’s wife
died and the senator married my great-
aunt, thus saving her honor.”
The great-aunt maintained that
she had learned this recipe from the
senator’s chef, who, in turn, had learned
it from his friend, the chef of the king.
Servi Machlin serves Torte del Re at
important dinners and at Passover. She
concludes this tale with the observation
that “whether the story is true or not,
this cake is ‘fit for a king.’”
This romantic tale leaves out the
information that non-Jewish Italians
serve a fancy cake of one form or
another at the feast of the Three Kings
— and call that cake Tort del Re.
TORTA DEL RE, KING’S CAKE
Ingredients
2 tbsp. sweet butter (or parve margarine)
2 tbsp. matzah meal (for Passover) or
breadcrumbs (for the rest of the year)
5 eggs, separated
1 small pinch of salt
1½ cups sugar
2½ cups ground blanched almonds (10
ounces) Servi Machlin calls for the almonds
to be “chopped very fine.”
1 tsp. vanilla extract (needs Passover
approval)
1 tsp. almond extract (needs Passover
approval)
Grated rind of one lemon
Sliced or slivered almonds, toasted
Confectioner’s sugar (needs Passover
approval)
Directions
To toast the almonds, spread them
evenly on a baking sheet and broil
them for four or five minutes, shaking
them a couple of times. Take care not
to let them burn.
Grease a 10-inch spring form pan
and sprinkle with matzah meal.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
Fahrenheit.
Beat the egg whites with salt until
they become stiff and dry.
In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks
until they become foamy. Gradually
add sugar and continue beating until
they turn lemon yellow.
Gradually add the grated almonds,
the two extracts and the lemon rind.
You should have a very hard paste.
Mix a third of the beaten egg whites
in with the mixture to make it softer.
Delicately fold the rest of the egg
whites in and pour the batter into the
prepared cake pan.
Put the cake pan onto the middle
rack of the preheated oven and bake
at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for one
hour without opening the oven door.
Then leave the oven door open
for 10 to 15 minutes; then remove
the cake from the oven and turn it
upside down onto a cooling rack.
When it is thoroughly cool, place the
cake on a serving dish. Sprinkle with
confectioner’s sugar and toasted or
sliced almonds.
Matzah
Baking in
Pitigliano