A Passover Cake That Zigzagged Across the Mediterranean

Photo by Penny De Los Santos, Food Styling by Judy Haubert, Prop Styling by Vanessa Vazquez

Shared by Benedetta Jasmine Guetta
Recipe Roots: Tripoli, Libya > Milan > Santa Monica, California

Cookbook author Benedetta Jasmine Guetta remembers dueling religious services at the Sinagoga Centrale or Central Synagogue of Milan. Upstairs, a community that followed Italian traditions prayed, while downstairs, Jews from Libya and Lebanon hosted services according to their customs. “For part of my life, I was conflicted,” Benedetta explains. The two services represented “both sides of my identity” — Libyan and Italian.  

In 1955, Benedetta’s father and grandparents fled Tripoli for Milan to escape pogroms that followed World War II. In Italy, they joined a Jewish community that’s more than 2,000 years old, becoming both part of it and apart from it. “Like every Libyan Jews, they had a really strong connection to their motherland. They never grew out of it,” Benedetta says. Meanwhile, her mother Donatella grew up in an Italian home in Piemonte and “converted for love.” 

Benedetta’s grandmother Emilia in Italy, 1976.

The cooking in their home was a mix of Italian and Libyan recipes that Donatella learned from her mother-in-law Malu (a nickname for Emilia). Libyan Jewish dishes like chraime or fish in a spicy sauce and mafrum, or meat and vegetable fried together and plunged into tomato sauce,  were reserved mostly for holidays, while day to day, the food in the family was more classic Italian.

In one pastry, though, Benedetta’s Italian and Libyan roots met up. For a long time, Benedetta debated if bocca di dama, a delicate almond cake her grandmother made, was Libyan or Italian. Researching her new book “Cooking alla Giudia: A Celebration of the Jewish Food of Italy,” she learned the recipe zigzagged around the Mediterranean. “While the origins of this cake are most likely Portuguese, it had a first wave of popularity in Italy in 1660, in Livorno, when a local Jewish baker served it to the grand duke of the region,” she writes. Through trade routes between Tripoli and Livorno, the cake spread to the Jewish community in Libya. 

“When my grandmother came from Libya to Italy, she brought this recipe with her,” Benedetta tells us. She wasn’t alone, other Libyan cooks who immigrated to Italy around the same time did as well. And, four hundred years after its first wave of popularity, it became fashionable again.

Bocca di Dama (Almond Cake)

Bocca di dama, which translates as “mouth of a lady,” is a fluffy, delicate sponge cake made with almond flour and eggs. Since it doesn’t contain wheat flour and it doesn’t rely on baking powder for rising, it’s generally considered a classic Passover dessert, but it’s absolutely delightful year-round as well, and it’s gluten-free too.

Makes one 10-inch (25 cm) round cake; serves 6 to 8

Ingredients
For the Cake:
7 large eggs, separated, plus 2 large egg whites
2 cups almond flour or finely ground almonds
1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
Sliced almonds for sprinkling

For the Icing:
2⁄3 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 large egg whites

Preparation
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line the bottom of a 10-inch springform pan with parchment paper. To make the cake, in a large bowl, using a handheld mixer, beat the 7 egg whites on medium speed for about 5 minutes, until stiff peaks form.

2. In another large bowl, using the handheld mixer (no need to clean the beaters), beat together the almond flour or ground almonds, egg yolks, granulated sugar, and the remaining 2 egg whites on medium speed until well combined, about 5 minutes.

3. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the beaten egg whites into the almond mixture until just combined, then scrape the batter into the prepared pan.

4. Bake the cake for about 35 minutes, until golden; a wooden skewer inserted into the center should come out clean. If the top of the cake starts to brown too fast, cover it loosely with foil.

5. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the pan and gently remove the springform ring. Let cool completely.

6. In a small skillet, toast the sliced almonds over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, until just browned. Remove from the heat and let cool.

7. To prepare the icing, in a large bowl, using a handheld mixer, whip the confectioners’ sugar with the egg whites on high speed to make a light, glossy icing.

8. Preheat the broiler (or use a kitchen torch).

9. Cover the cake with the icing, then sprinkle the sliced almonds on top. Optional: Place the cake under the broiler for 3 to 5 minutes, until the top of the cake is golden (or use the kitchen torch). Let cool.

10. Lift the cake carefully from the bottom of the springform pan and peel off the parchment paper, then transfer to a serving plate.

Chef’s Note: The frosted cake keeps well in the fridge, wrapped in aluminum foil, for a couple of days. If left unfrosted, the cake keeps well at room temperature for up to a week.

Excerpted from Cooking alla Giudia by Benedetta Jasmine Guetta (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2022.