From my seat on the train, I watch the Emilian countryside flow gently under my eyes.
It’s a series of villages that seem to hold hands, grain fields, and fruits.
As I approach the town of Vignola, I see only cherry trees for which the area is famous.
I am about to tell a story of secret recipes and a cake that smells of chocolate and coffee, the Barozzi Cake.
The original Barozzi cake
I am in the Gollini family café, enjoying a slice of Torta Barozzi and a slice of Torta Muratori, another pastry staple. I listen to Letizia and Benedetta, descendants of the cake’s inventor, as they tell the story of a cake originated in Vignola, a small town in the province of Modena.
Eugenio Gollini, the founder of the pastry shop that still bears the family name, created the Barozzi Cake in 1886.
The recipe is a well-kept secret at the bottom of a cocoa bag.
The ingredients are known: dark chocolate, almonds and peanuts, eggs, butter, sugar, and no preservatives.
Its incredible modernity is all here. It is a recipe from the late 19th century created without traditional flours but with almonds and peanuts. It is a gluten-free dessert accessible to all. Modern then, current today.
Initially, its name is Black Cake, alluding to its dark color and intense aroma.
And in the early 1900s, Eugenio Gollini started to commission a series of futurist-style-inspired boxes for his Pasta Barozzi. He intuits ante litteram that packaging also makes sales.
The cake’s definitive name came in 1907. It was a tribute Eugenio paid to the architect Jacopo Barozzi known as the Vignola (1507-1573), on the occasion of celebrations marking the birth anniversary of the illustrious fellow citizen.
The recipe for Torta Barozzi has been deposited since 1948 and, consequently, is secret.
Eugenio Gollini
Eugenio Gollini’s vision is extraordinary for the modern traits he imparts to the fledgling family business.
He opens his coffee and pastry shop in the center of Vignola. Listening to his granddaughters Letizia and Benedetta, one would think that being in Vignola or Paris would not have made some difference for him. Dreamers are not distracted by details. They think big and chase the dream until they grab it.
Gollini offers desserts from traditional Italian pastry and original recipes that he submits to family and friends in the creation stage. He wrote each experiment on the pages of the family recipe books with the date. It is his heritage.
The Black Cake, later to become famous as Barozzi is born in this way.
Finally, he deposits the recipe and works on the confections like a modern pastry chef, aware of his business.
Torta Barozzi my way
Benedetta and Letizia still remember the large family home adjoining the workshop, where their grandfather worked until he achieved the desired result, and the scent of chocolate invading the streets, an unmistakable signal to the people of Vignola that Barozzi is in the making.
The only original Barozzi is the one that comes out of the Gollini pastry shop’s laboratory, which you can taste by going to Vignola.
By telling you the story and offering a personal, homemade version of the dessert, I hope I have introduced you to an untold story of the Via Emilia and made you want to try it.
On the bakery’s website, you can read the cake has to be good if many try to imitate it. Dark and fragrant, Barozzi has a crisp surface crust, while the bottom is moist.
Attracted by the challenge of recreating that particular flavor, I made several trials. Of each, I jotted down the date, variations in ingredient quantities, and a flavor note after tasting. Because it isn’t possible to recreate a secret recipe, I went my own way.
Non avendo l’ossessione di creare una torta uguale all’originale, cosa che non ritengo possibile considerando che la ricetta è segreta, ad un certo punto ho seguito la mia strada.
Kitchen notes
On the web, I read that some colleagues use coffee grounds. When I interviewed Gollini’s heirs, I asked if that was the secret ingredient. I did not get a clear answer, but I saw two heads simultaneously signaling no. So the cases are two: either they tried to divert me, or coffee grounds are not an ingredient of Barozzi.
Cousins Gollini repeatedly emphasized the excellence of the ingredients they still use today. Could it be that they put in the dough coffee grounds that easily can give a burnt/smoky flavor?
I used instant coffee dissolved in water.
You won’t taste the hazelnuts or almonds, as in the original.
It is moist like the real, but the coffee flavor is less intense.
I turn it dark and bitter using a certain amount of bitter cocoa.
If you are wondering about the reason for the aluminum foil, it is quickly said. I imitated the presentation of Vignola’s ingenious Torta Barozzi.
The cake is rectangular and comes cut into squares.
Store it outside the refrigerator.
Buona cucina, Monica
Acknowledgments
Thank Benedetta and Letizia Gollini for their hospitality and helpfulness.
And thank Giuliana for having organized the meeting. She is a dear person whom I met via Instagram, and now we are friends in our real lives. I admire her a lot because she has a special gift. She is one of those people who do good without making noise.
Via Emilia cake recipes
My region offers many cake recipes unique in history and flavor!
On the blog, I have shared the recipe for the antique Torta Ricciolina or Tagliatelle cake; Torta di Riso of Bologna was born in the 1400s for a religious holiday; and the Vera Torta from Imola, a recipe passed orally since the 1700s and which was considered the the cake of weddings and family events (it is also gluten-free).
Barozzi cake my way
for 6-8 people
rectangular baking dish, 25x18cm
List of Ingredients
dark chocolate, 250 g
bitter cocoa, 40 g
butter, 120 g
ground almonds, 100 g
unsweetened peanut butter, 30 g
(or 40 g finely chopped peanuts)
eggs, 4
granulated sugar, 120 g
instant coffee, 15 g
hot water, about 70 ml
salt, a pinch
Method
If not using peanut butter, mix almond and peanut flour with bitter cocoa and a pinch of salt and keep aside.
Dissolve instant coffee in hot water and keep aside.
Put butter and chocolate in a saucepan and melt both while stirring.
Separate the egg whites from the yolks.
Whisk egg whites in one bowl and yolks with sugar in another.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 170C degrees.
If using peanut butter, add this ingredient to the melted chocolate and stir.
Combine the cocoa mixture and stir.
Now, pour in egg yolks and sugar and incorporate while stirring.
Finally, the egg whites and, stirring with a spatula from top to bottom, work the mixture until fluffy and smooth.
Pour into a rectangular baking dish lined with aluminum foil and bake in the hot oven for about 30 minutes.
Allow to cool before cutting.
