Tortionata or Torta di Lodi

This was the cake Nonna (my Italian grandmother who lived in Lodi) always made to give visitors to take home. It’s a speciality of Lodi, a beautiful old town in Lombardy, on the banks of the river Adda, south of Milan.
The cake itself is a crunchy, buttery, almondy shortcake, that is served broken into chunks – never sliced – it’s too crumbly to slice. It is sold in all the good pasticcerie in Lodi, and nowhere else.
There are various recipies. Here is my version, followed with a more standard recipe.

Tortionata or Torta di Lodi
My version
150g white flour
150g butter
150g sugar
150g whole unpeeled almonds
1 egg yolk
Warm the butter to room temperature. Chop the almonds, without removing their skins. Toast the almonds in a frying pan with a knob of butter until lightly coloured. Mix the almonds, butter, sugar, egg and flour to form a loose dough.
Press into a in 25cm cake tin.
With the back of a fork, form a pretty pattern on the cake.
Bake at 150°C for 30 minutes or until lightly coloured

Tortionata or Torta di Lodi
Standard version
300 grams white flour
300 grams butter
150 grams sugar
150 grams unpeeled almonds
1 egg yolk
grated rind ½ lemon.
Place all the ingredients in a processor and blitz till it forms a loose dough.
Press into a in 25cm cake tin. With the back of a fork, form a pretty pattern on the cake.
Bake in moderate oven on 120°C for 1 hour.