140 grams (about 5 ounces) shelled walnuts
140 grams (about 5 ounces) icing sugar
140 grams (about 5 ounces) chocolate, powdered or grated
20 grams (about 2/3 ounces) candied citron, chopped very fine
4 eggs, separated
a dash of vanilla sugar

Pound the nuts and the sugar in a mortar until fine, then pout in a bowl and mix in the chocolate, vanilla sugar, and eggs, first adding the yolks and the whites, beaten until stiff. Lastly stir in the candied citron, chopped up very fine.

Take a baking pan large enough for the finished desert to be no more than two fingers high, grease it with butter, and coat with bread crumbs.

Bake in the oven or a Dutch oven at moderate temperature.

The recipe in this entry was taken from "La Scienza in Cucina e L'Arte di Mangiar Bene manuale Pratico per le Famiglie" compilato da Pellegrino Artusi. The book was first published in 1891. Since then many Italian editions have been published. Olga Ragusa's selection of recipes from Pellegrino Artusi's famous cookbook, titled "The Italian Cook Book," can be found in its entirety at www.archive.org (It's free). The University of Toronto recently published a new English edition of Pellegrino Artusi's "Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well"; many of the recipes in this edition can be found at www.books.google.ca.... N.B. I tried this recipe and found it to be very good, except it's not a very tall cake -- the mixture does rise in the oven, and drop when it is cooled. Still, the texture is good enough, and it has a pleasant taste. I used cocoa powder, and did not include candied citron. Also, if I were to re-do this cake I would double the ingredients, as the original cake is rather thin.... Photo and notes: Mary Melfi.

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