How to make Italian lemon cream cake (from Liguria): step by step recipe by a local mama

Italian lemon cream cake: step by step recipe. Learn how to make this lemony cake typical of the area of Cinque Terre (Liguria) with our traditional recipe.

I am very fond of lemon cake, and today I learned about a new one that I hadn’t come across before but seemed to have all the ingredients (literally!) to be absolutely delicious: Torta al Limone Ligure – Ligurian lemon cake.

Liguria is the Italian region with Cinque Terre and it’s the land that gave pesto to the world; so in terms of culinary pedigree, all I needed to know was that this recipe was from there and I was ready to give it a go.

I am happy to report the result was indeed great and so, here I am sharing it with you.

The recipe is made of the combination of two preparations: pastry and lemon cream filling

The person who gave me this recipe is the mom of my closest friend and she is from the area (Genoa, to be precise) so this is as authentic as it gets, a real Italian mama’s homemade recipe!

The quantities are in grams and the temperature in C as this is what is used in Italy. The cups are calculated from the grams to the best of my ability so if you are in any doubts about my conversion, the grams are the quantities to go with!

Ingredients for the lemon cake

Ingredients for the pastry:
250 gr flour (2 cups)
1 egg
100gr sugar (1 cup)
120 gr butter, room temperature, cut into cubes (about half cup)
Grated rind of one lemon (I used a bio one, not waxed)

For the cream:
250gr water (about 1 cup)
45 grams flour (1/3 of cup)
150 gr sugar (1 and a half cup)
Juice of 1.5 lemons
50 grams butter (a little more than half cup)

For dusting: icing sugar

Good to know! This recipe makes delicious pastry and perfect cream but together they make for a rather sweet cake. It is not excessive, especially if eaten cold, but if you prefer a less sugary result you can reduce sugar in both by about 10-20 grams in both preparations.

Proceeding: how to make the pastry

In a large bowl, mix the sugar and the egg, then add lemon zest and the butter. I used my stand mixer but you can also easily do it with a wooden spoon and a fork to mash the butter.

Once all is well amalgamated, add the flour slowly and use your hands to create a dough.

At the start it will be very floury but don’t desist: pour it on a flat surface and work it quickly until you have a smooth and non sticky consistency. Wrap in cling film and put in the fridge.

Now make your cream.

How to make the lemon cream (no eggs)

In a cooking pot, add all the ingredients and put on a hob at medium heat. Use a spatula or a wooden spoon and mix continuously until the cream starts bubbling up lightly. As soon as that happens, turn off the heat and set aside. The consistency should go from watery to creamy and sticky.

Turn on the oven, 180C static. Take a 22 cm large cake tin and butter it well. Set aside.

While the oven gets hot, take your dough from the fridge, cut into half and use a rolling pin to create to sheets of pastry large enough to fit your cake tin.