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