Italian Almond Cake

This divine Italian almond cake - torta Elvezia - is made with almond-meringue layers (almond dacquoise) alternated with buttercream and sliced almonds. Serving up to 12 people, the cake makes a perfect celebration. What's more? It is gluten-free!

This almond dacquoise cake is the obvious appearance on the blog after cashew dacquoise cake Sans Rival, its pistachio version (available for members of the Baking Like a Chef club), gorgeous coconut dacquoise, and beautiful pistachio dacquoise.

Italian almond dacquoise cake Elvezia, or torta Elvezia, is a typical Mantuan dessert with a Swiss name.

The right spelling of the cake is "Helvetia," which is the Latin name of Switzerland. As per Giallo Zafferano, it is a cake

with a Swiss heart but born in Italy.

Elvezia cake

Elvezia cake, or Helvetia, was invented by Swiss confectioners - the Samson  Putscher family.

When the Putschers moved to the Italian Province of Mantua from Switzerland in the late 1700s, they created a recipe for the cake Elvezia and opened their pastry shop.

So, this Italian almond cake is a beautiful combination of Swiss pastry techniques with Italian ingredients.

Italian almond cake recipe

I came across an Italian almond cake recipe when I was looking for a cake to serve up to 12 people for a birthday party.

Authentic Elvezia cake is a combination of almond dacquoise, the tasty zabaglione, and a delicious cocoa buttercream. 

The Italian almond cake recipe below is the adapted version of the Elvezia cake created by Italian chef Luca Montersino.

The cake consists of three almond dacquoise layers sandwiched with the buttercream and generously sprinkled with sliced almonds.

It is generally an Italian almond flour cake with added white rice flour to make the dacquoise.

Nowadays, different versions enriched with hazelnut flour, whipped cream, and chocolate chips also exist. So, you are free to experiment.

Why you should try this recipe

1. Italian almond cake is extraordinary in every bite.
2. The cake is gluten-free.
3. It is perfect for any celebration: it serves up to 12 people.
4. This almond cake recipe worth making and keeping in your cakes' recipe collection.

Ingredients

Here is a quick overview of what ingredients you will need. Follow the full recipe below for exact amounts and instructions. I recommend making the recipe as written for the best results.

Egg whites and yolks: use an egg separator to separate the egg whites from the yolks while the eggs are chilled. Then make sure to bring them both to room temperature.

Sugar: use caster sugar or process granulated sugar in a food processor for a few seconds to make the sugar superfine.

Almond flour: the recipe calls for blanched finely ground almond flour (not a coarse almond meal) to make the cake. While measuring almond flour, spoon it from a container gently into a measuring cup. Please, do not pack/press it down!

Rice flour: use white rice flour.

Acacia honey: it is the most neutral honey among others. Replace it with glucose if desired.

Butter: use unsalted softened butter. Take it out of the fridge 1 to 2 hours before you start.

Vanilla bean: it brings a beautiful flavor to the buttercream. Use Madagascar vanilla beans.

Sliced almonds: use store-bought toasted sliced almonds or toast nuts yourself in the oven at 300 F/150 C for 10 to 15 minutes.

Icing sugar: make it yourself with a coffee grinder or use store-bought powdered sugar to dust the ready cake.

How to make Italian almond cake

Preheat the oven to 355 degrees F/180 C. To make the almond dacquoise, place egg whites and 185 g caster sugar in a saucepan and beat with a hand whisk.

Continue whisking and bring the mixture over low heat to warm up (photo 1).

Remove the egg whites/sugar mixture from heat and beat with an electric or stand mixer to get the glossy meringue (photo 2).

Place almond flour, 205 g sugar, and rice flour in a bowl of the food processor and crush the dry mixture until homogeneous.

Add this mixture to the meringue to two-three times and mix with a rubber spatula (photo 3).

Prepare three parchment paper sheets and draw three discs with a diameter of 8.5 inches/22 cm. Flip these paper sheets so that the drawn circles will be facing down.

Transfer the preparation in a pastry bag fitted with Ateco plain pastry tip 809 and pipe three dacquoise disks in a spiral shape within the pencil marks (photo 4).

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Remove the ready dacquoise disks from the oven and let them cool (photo 5).

To make the buttercream, place egg yolks with the scraped vanilla seeds in a stand mixer bowl and whisk.

In a saucepan, place water, honey (warm it up in a microwave for a few seconds in advance), and granulated sugar and bring to a boil.

Once the syrup reaches 250 F/121 C, pour the sugar syrup into the egg yolks while whisking. Continue to whisk for the mixture to cool down and become whitish (photo 6).

Add the softened butter cubes, one at a time, and continue whisking till the cream becomes smooth and homogeneous (photo 7). 

To assemble the cake, cut the dacquoise disks' edges with a knife to get the right circles. 

Cover the first dacquoise disk with the buttercream, sprinkle with toasted almonds. Place the second disk and repeat the operation (photo 8).

Finally, put with the third disk and cover the cake's top and edges with the buttercream.

Sprinkle the cake all over with the sliced almonds (photos 9 - 10). Dust the top of the cake with icing (powdered) sugar. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Expert tips

1. Toast sliced almonds in the oven at 300 F/150 C for 15 minutes.
2. Make sure to serve the cake at room temperature: take it out of the fridge 30 minutes before serving.

Frequently asked questions

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• German Black Forest Cake
• Chocolate Meringue Concorde Cake
• Royal Chocolate Cake - Trianon
• Browse all the Cake Recipes

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Recipe card

The nutritional information has been calculated using an online recipe nutrition calculator such as Verywellfit.com and is intended for informational purposes only. These figures should be used as a general guideline and not be construed as a guarantee.

The recipe was originally published on November 8, 2018. It has been revised to include improved content and photos. All the posted pictures are mine.