Torta Sabbiosa with Rum Cream
I found this recipe in an old file of my late mother-in-law’s, Deitha. I’ve no idea whether she actually ever made it, but it caught my eye as it’s a naturally gluten-free, plus there was the mention of rum cream! Torta Sabbiosa is a traditional Italian cake from the Veneto region. Its name translates to ‘sandy cake’, referring to its sandy texture. However, fortunately, rather than dry and grainy sand, it’s the soft and moist kind! The key ingredient is potato starch which gives the cake its distinctive dense yet fluffy sponge. It’s quite a plain cake but then there’s the all-important addition of the rum cream which lifts it’s simplicity to higher realms.
*I used ‘Penin Pero’ Potato starch available from Amazon
*You will need a round 20cm tin, greased and base lined with greaseproof paper.
For the Cake:
200g icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
200g unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
200g potato starch (fecola di patate – see above)
1 teaspoon baking powder
50ml cognac
For the Rum Cream:
250ml mascarpone
50ml single cream
40-50ml dark rum (to taste)
50g icing sugar
- Place the icing sugar and soft butter in a bowl and use an electric whisk to mix at a high speed for at least five minutes until the mixture is ‘peaky’ rather like thick cream.
- Gently stir in each egg by hand. Then sift the potato starch and baking powder, and fold through the mixture. Finally, fold in the cognac.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake in a preheated oven, 160’c fan, for 15 minutes, then increase the temperature to 180’c and bake for 20 minutes. Finally, switch off the heat and leave the cake in the oven for a further 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile make the rum cream. Combine all the ingredients together and put to one side.
- Remove the cake from the tin, leave to rest for half an hour until cool. Dust with icing sugar. Slice the cake and serve on plates with the rum cream spooned over.
Menu Mistress 