Ancient Roman Torte!

While home over break, I decided to bake an ancient roman torte.  I did some research on common desserts in ancient Rome and learned they were usually made with some combination of fruits, cheeses, and nuts.  I found a simple recipe made with fruit and cheese filling.  I don’t often cook with ricotta cheese and it is not one of my favorite foods.  However, the recipe intrigued me.  It calls for the ricotta to be sweetened and paired with strawberry jam.  That seemed like an interesting combination of simple ingredients that might be complementary.  In ancient Rome, they didn’t have the variety of ingredients we have today so it is not surprising that they were creative in combining that which they had at their disposal.

The cooking process was straightforward.  The dough called for six ingredients mixed in a large bowl and refrigerated for a short time.  After flattening it with a rolling pin, it was stretched across a pie plate to create the first layer of the torte.  Then strawberry jam is spread generously to create the second layer.  A combination of ricotta and sugar comprises the third layer with the rest of the dough spread across the top to form the rest of the crust.  

After assembling the torte, there is not much else to do.  It is placed in the oven for about 30 minutes.  It smelled wonderful!  My Mom, Dad, and our neighbors all tried the finished torte.   My Dad initially didn’t like the sound of the recipe but he ended up eating several slices!!!  The reviews were all positive! 

In the future, I would add a thicker layer of strawberry jam and a thinner layer of the ricotta filling.  That might be a personal preference, however.  The crust was my favorite part.  It was flaky and mildly sweet.  While making it, I was contemplating the accessibility of some of the necessary ingredients and tools in ancient times.  I did some research and found that sweet cheeses and fruits were readily available to many Romans, but ingredients like granulated sugar and butter were almost non-existent.  I suspect that they must have been using honey and oil which was much more widely obtainable at the time.  The dough and torte needed to be refrigerated before it was placed into the oven and that would have presented a challenge in ancient times, as well.

The recipe: https://anitalianinmykitchen.com/ancient-roman-cake-torta-antica-roma/