Torta margherita (Daisy cake)

Name: Torta margherita Daisy cake recipe
Yield: 8
Ingredients: 130g caster sugar; 4 eggs, separated; 130g potato starch, sifted; Finely grated zest of 1 lemon; Juice of 1/2 lemon; Icing sugar, to dust

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by Silvia Colloca

Cook and author

Mar 09, 2021

“This gluten-free, dairy-free sponge cake was first created some 200 years ago, back when dietary restrictions were the ones dictated by poverty." This is an edited extract from Simple Italian by Silvia Colloca, (Plum, $39.99). Available February 23. Photography by Rob Palmer.

130g caster sugar
4 eggs, separated
130g potato starch, sifted
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Icing sugar, to dust

Method

1.

Preheat your oven to 180°C. Grease and line a 20cm round cake tin with baking paper.
2.

Place the sugar and egg yolks in a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and whisk for 3-5 minutes or until fluffy and tripled in volume. You can do this by hand if you don’t have a mixer; just be prepared to whisk for a good 10 minutes. Add the potato starch, lemon zest and lemon juice and beat in gently.
3.

In a separate, clean bowl, whisk egg whites until soft peaks form, then very gently fold them into the yolk mixture. Pour the batter into the prepared tin, level the top with a spoon or spatula and bake for 50-55 minutes or until golden and set and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with plenty of icing sugar and serve. Cake will keep in an airtight container for up to 2 days.