{ "slug": "parrozzo", "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/parrozzo/", "name": "Parrozzo", "english": "Pescara's dome-shaped almond and semolina cake covered in dark chocolate", "aka": [ "pan rozzo", "parrozzo abruzzese", "parrozzino" ], "summary": "Pescara's Christmas cake, created by a pastry maker in 1920 and named by Gabriele D'Annunzio: whisked eggs, sugar, chopped almonds with a few bitter ones and semolina, baked in a dome and covered in dark chocolate.", "essentials": [ "Eggs, sugar, finely chopped almonds with a few bitter ones, semolina and orange zest; no baking powder, as the whisked eggs alone make it rise.", "The yolks are whisked with the sugar until pale and foamy, the whites until stiff, then folded in a spoonful at a time.", "Baked in a hemispherical mould, so it keeps the dome of the pane rozzo, the cornmeal bread it was modelled on.", "Covered entirely in melted dark chocolate once cold: the dark coat stands for the scorched crust of bread from a wood-fired oven." ], "diet": [ "vegetarian" ], "region": { "slug": "abruzzo", "name": "Abruzzo", "url": "https://nonnario.com/regions/abruzzo/" }, "place": "Pescara", "coords": [ 42.4618, 14.2156 ], "course": { "id": "dolci", "it": "Dolci", "en": "Desserts" }, "level": { "id": "tradition", "name": "Documented tradition", "it": "Tradizione documentata", "description": "A regional tradition documented in cookbooks and local practice, with no single official text.", "url": "https://nonnario.com/method/#level-tradition" }, "status": "checked", "published": "2026-11-02", "checked": "2026-11-02", "cooked": null, "pending": null, "provenance": { "by": "Abruzzese tradition", "reference": "Compared across 6 sources, listed below; this page publishes the most widely recognised version.", "year": null }, "sources": [ { "label": "Agrodolce: parrozzo, the Christmas cake of Abruzzo (Italian)", "url": "https://www.agrodolce.it/ricette/parrozzo" }, { "label": "Dissapore: parrozzo abruzzese, the cake D'Annunzio loved (Italian)", "url": "https://www.dissapore.com/ricette/parrozzo-abruzzese/" }, { "label": "Il Cucchiaio d'Argento: parrozzo (Italian)", "url": "https://www.cucchiaio.it/ricetta/ricetta-parrozzo/" }, { "label": "Abruzzo Region, its tourism site: the sweet history of parrozzo, as archived in October 2022 (Italian)", "url": "http://web.archive.org/web/20221022050826/https://abruzzoturismo.it/it/la-dolce-storia-del-parrozzo-tra-sapori-e-tradizioni-dabruzzo" }, { "label": "Abruzzo Region, its agency for agricultural development (ARSSA): Atlas of the traditional products of Abruzzo, 2006, parrozzo on page 142 (Italian and English)", "url": "https://www2.regione.abruzzo.it/system/files/agricoltura/pord_agroalimentari/Atlante_prodotti_tipici.pdf" }, { "label": "Abruzzo Region: its list of traditional food products (PAT), parrozzo at no. 99 (Italian)", "url": "https://trasparenza.regione.abruzzo.it/system/files/servizi-erogati/966/prodotti-agroalimentari-tradizionali-abruzzo-lr-1-2018.pdf" } ], "story": [ "Parrozzo is the Christmas cake of Pescara. Abruzzo's farmers once baked for themselves a dome-shaped bread of cornmeal in wood-fired ovens, the pane rozzo or rough bread, while the white wheat bread was sold to the gentry. Luigi D'Amico, a Pescara pastry maker, turned it into a sweet in 1920 (regional accounts say only the start of the 20th century): he kept its dome by baking in a hemispherical mould, took the yellow of the corn from egg yolks with almonds, and covered it in dark chocolate for the scorched crust. Gabriele D'Annunzio, born in Pescara, gave it its name and wrote verses to it in dialect; in a letter of 1934 he told the pastry maker that his parrozzo was like the deepest stone of the Maiella turned into angels' bread. Others contributed too: the playwright Luigi Antonelli wrote a ‘Storia del Parrozzo’, Cesare De Titta the words of the ‘Canzone del Parrozzo’, set to music by Maestro Di Jorio, and the ceramist Armando Cermignani drew its box; some accounts give that title to D'Annunzio's own verses. The name was registered as a trademark in 1926, and it was still a registered trademark in 2023. In July 1927 D'Amico opened the Ritrovo del Parrozzo, a tea room in piazza Garibaldi, a few steps from the poet's birthplace. The Abruzzo Region lists parrozzo among its traditional food products, and describes it as dark outside and yellow within, tasting strongly of almond and chocolate with a hint of orange.", "There is no official recipe: no deposited text and no De.Co. of Pescara, and the Region's description gives no quantities. We compared the serious sources and publish the most widely recognised version. They agree on eggs whisked with sugar, the whites whisked stiff and folded in last, ground almonds, semolina, citrus zest, a hemispherical mould, a moderate oven for 40 to 50 minutes, and a full coat of dark chocolate once the cake is cold. They differ on the bitter almonds (a few, or almond liqueur instead), on butter in the batter, which some cooks add and others leave out, on orange or lemon, and on what goes into the coating with the chocolate: butter, milk or oil. This version has six eggs, six bitter almonds and orange zest, with butter only in the coating. Ours are the blanched almonds, the times for whisking and cooling, the melting temperature of the chocolate and the hour for it to set; each step has a check to judge it by." ], "serves": 8, "makes": "one parrozzo about 20 cm across, for 8", "minutes": { "handsOn": 47, "cooking": 60, "resting": 185 }, "plan": "About 4 hours 50 minutes from start to table, most of it waiting: 15 minutes for the oven to heat while you prepare the mould and chop the almonds, about 25 minutes to separate, whisk and fold the batter, about 50 in the oven, 2 hours for the cake to cool completely, about 20 minutes to melt, cool and pour the chocolate, and an hour for the coating to set. Bake it in the morning to serve it in the evening.", "equipment": [ "Kitchen scale", "A hemispherical mould about 20 cm across, preferably aluminium", "Pastry brush, for buttering the mould", "Food processor or mini chopper, for the almonds", "Fine grater, for the orange zest", "Two large bowls, one perfectly clean and grease-free for the whites", "Electric whisk", "Flexible spatula", "Oven thermometer", "Wooden toothpick or thin skewer; a probe thermometer helps, for the cake and the chocolate", "Wire rack and a sheet of baking paper", "Heatproof bowl and a pan that holds it, for the bain-marie", "Palette knife or a second spatula, for spreading the chocolate" ], "ingredients": [ { "group": "The batter", "per": "cake", "items": [ { "quantity": 6, "unit": "pc", "item": "eggs", "note": "separated", "text": "6 eggs (separated)", "recipe": null }, { "quantity": 200, "unit": "g", "item": "granulated sugar", "note": "2 tablespoons of it go in with the almonds", "text": "200 g granulated sugar (2 tablespoons of it go in with the almonds)", "recipe": null }, { "quantity": 150, "unit": "g", "item": "almonds", "note": "blanched (peeled), whole", "text": "150 g almonds (blanched (peeled), whole)", "recipe": null }, { "quantity": 6, "unit": "pc", "item": "bitter almonds", "note": "no more; or 2 tablespoons of amaretto liqueur instead (see the variants)", "text": "6 bitter almonds (no more; or 2 tablespoons of amaretto liqueur instead (see the variants))", "recipe": null }, { "quantity": 150, "unit": "g", "item": "fine semolina (semolino)", "note": "if you cannot find it, the recipe allows part plain flour and part durum-wheat semola, or plain flour with potato starch, in its place", "text": "150 g fine semolina (semolino) (if you cannot find it, the recipe allows part plain flour and part durum-wheat semola, or plain flour with potato starch, in its place)", "recipe": null }, { "quantity": 1, "unit": "pc", "item": "unwaxed orange", "note": "the grated zest only", "text": "1 unwaxed orange (the grated zest only)", "recipe": null }, { "quantity": 1, "unit": "pinch", "item": "fine salt", "note": "for the egg whites", "text": "1 pinch fine salt (for the egg whites)", "recipe": null } ] }, { "group": "For the mould", "per": "cake", "items": [ { "quantity": null, "unit": null, "item": "butter", "note": "soft, for greasing", "text": "butter (soft, for greasing)", "recipe": null }, { "quantity": null, "unit": null, "item": "plain flour", "note": "for dusting", "text": "plain flour (for dusting)", "recipe": null } ] }, { "group": "The coating", "per": "cake", "items": [ { "quantity": 150, "unit": "g", "item": "dark chocolate", "note": null, "text": "150 g dark chocolate", "recipe": null }, { "quantity": 20, "unit": "g", "item": "butter", "note": null, "text": "20 g butter", "recipe": null } ] } ], "method": [ { "phase": "Before you start", "intro": null, "steps": [ { "n": 1, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/parrozzo/#step-1", "title": "Heat the oven", "text": "Heat the oven to 170 °C, static (top and bottom heat), with a shelf in the middle.", "kind": "passive", "minutes": 15, "celsius": 170, "heat": null, "official": false, "check": "The oven has reached 170 °C: its light has gone off, or the oven thermometer reads it.", "tips": [ "The recipe asks for a preheated oven at 170 °C; static heat and the middle shelf are our guide. Home ovens drift, so trust the thermometer rather than the dial." ] }, { "n": 2, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/parrozzo/#step-2", "title": "Butter and flour the mould", "text": "While the oven heats, brush the inside of the hemispherical mould with soft butter, then spoon in a little flour, turn the mould so it coats every part, and tap out the excess.", "kind": "active", "minutes": 3, "celsius": null, "heat": null, "official": false, "check": "A thin, even white film all over the inside, with no bare patches and no loose flour in the bottom.", "tips": [ "Our guide: the curve is where the cake sticks, so brush the butter right up to the rim. The recipe says only that the mould is buttered and floured." ] }, { "n": 3, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/parrozzo/#step-3", "title": "Chop the almonds with some of the sugar", "text": "Put the 150 g of almonds and the 6 bitter almonds in the food processor with 2 tablespoons of the 200 g of sugar, and chop them finely in short pulses.", "kind": "active", "minutes": 3, "celsius": null, "heat": null, "official": false, "check": "Like fine sand, with nothing bigger than a grain of rice; dry and loose, not oily or clumping.", "tips": [ "Our guide: pulse rather than run the motor, and stop as soon as it is fine. Run too long, the almonds warm and turn to an oily paste.", "Our guide: never use more than the 6 bitter almonds. They give the cake its bittersweet almond scent, but they contain a compound that releases cyanide, so a few flavour a whole cake and they are never eaten by the handful. Keep the rest of the packet away from children.", "Our guide: blanched almonds keep the crumb pale yellow; the recipe does not say whether they are peeled." ] }, { "n": 4, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/parrozzo/#step-4", "title": "Zest the orange", "text": "Grate the zest of the orange on the fine grater.", "kind": "active", "minutes": 2, "celsius": null, "heat": null, "official": false, "check": "Only the orange skin, with none of the bitter white pith beneath it.", "tips": [] } ] }, { "phase": "The batter", "intro": null, "steps": [ { "n": 5, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/parrozzo/#step-5", "title": "Separate the eggs", "text": "Separate the 6 eggs, the whites into the clean, grease-free bowl and the yolks into the other.", "kind": "active", "minutes": 5, "celsius": null, "heat": null, "official": false, "check": "Not a trace of yolk in the whites.", "tips": [ "Our guide: crack each egg over a cup first and tip the white into the bowl only when it is clean: a speck of yolk, or any fat, and the whites will not whisk stiff." ] }, { "n": 6, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/parrozzo/#step-6", "title": "Whisk the whites stiff", "text": "Add the pinch of salt to the whites and whisk them with the electric whisk until stiff.", "kind": "active", "minutes": [ 3, 5 ], "celsius": null, "heat": null, "official": false, "check": "Stiff, glossy peaks that stand up when the whisk is lifted; the bowl can be tipped without the whites sliding.", "tips": [ "The cake has no baking powder: the whisked eggs are all that make it rise, so whisk the whites fully, and handle them gently from here on." ] }, { "n": 7, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/parrozzo/#step-7", "title": "Whisk the yolks with the sugar", "text": "Whisk the yolks with the rest of the sugar until pale and foamy.", "kind": "active", "minutes": [ 5, 8 ], "celsius": null, "heat": null, "official": false, "check": "The mixture is much paler than when you started, light and foamy, and falls from the whisk in a thick ribbon.", "tips": [ "Our guide: use the same beaters without washing them. A little white on them does not hurt the yolks, while yolk on them would have stopped the whites rising; that is why the whites come first." ] }, { "n": 8, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/parrozzo/#step-8", "title": "Add the zest, almonds and semolina", "text": "With the spatula, stir the orange zest, the chopped almonds and the 150 g of semolina into the yolks.", "kind": "active", "minutes": 2, "celsius": null, "heat": null, "official": false, "check": "A thick, even batter, with no dry pockets of semolina or almonds.", "tips": [] }, { "n": 9, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/parrozzo/#step-9", "title": "Fold in the whites", "text": "Add the whites a spoonful at a time, folding each in gently with the spatula, lifting from the bottom of the bowl up over the top, until they are all in.", "kind": "active", "minutes": 5, "celsius": null, "heat": null, "official": false, "check": "No white streaks left; the batter is light, airy and evenly coloured.", "tips": [ "Our guide: stir the first spoonful in more firmly, to loosen the thick batter; then fold the rest lightly, so the air you whisked in stays in." ] } ] }, { "phase": "Baking", "intro": null, "steps": [ { "n": 10, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/parrozzo/#step-10", "title": "Fill the mould", "text": "Pour the batter into the mould and level the top gently with the spatula.", "kind": "active", "minutes": 2, "celsius": null, "heat": null, "official": false, "check": "An even surface, and the batter into the oven straight away.", "tips": [ "Our guide: do not let the batter wait: the whites slowly lose their air.", "Our guide: a round-bottomed mould rocks on a flat shelf: stand it in a cake ring on a baking tray, or on a ring of crumpled foil, so it sits level." ] }, { "n": 11, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/parrozzo/#step-11", "title": "Bake it", "text": "Bake at 170 °C for about 45–50 minutes, until it is well cooked and dry. Test it with a toothpick after the first 45 minutes and, if needed, bake it a little longer.", "kind": "passive", "minutes": [ 45, 50 ], "celsius": 170, "heat": null, "official": false, "check": "A toothpick pushed into the centre comes out dry; the top is golden and springs back when pressed lightly, and a probe in the centre reads about 95 °C.", "tips": [ "Our guide: do not open the oven in the first 40 minutes, or the whisked batter may fall.", "Our guide: if the toothpick comes out moist, give it 5 minutes more and test again." ] }, { "n": 12, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/parrozzo/#step-12", "title": "Turn it out", "text": "Take the cake out of the oven, turn it out of the mould straight away and set it on the wire rack, dome up.", "kind": "active", "minutes": 2, "celsius": null, "heat": null, "official": false, "check": "It comes out whole, with no crumb left in the mould.", "tips": [ "Our guide: if it holds, run a thin knife round the rim and tap the mould. Use oven gloves: the metal is hot." ] }, { "n": 13, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/parrozzo/#step-13", "title": "Let it cool completely", "text": "Leave the cake on the rack until it is cold right through, about 2 hours.", "kind": "rest", "minutes": 120, "celsius": null, "heat": null, "official": false, "check": "The base and the top of the dome feel cool to the touch.", "tips": [ "Our guide: on a warm cake the chocolate stays soft and slides off." ] } ] }, { "phase": "The chocolate coating", "intro": null, "steps": [ { "n": 14, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/parrozzo/#step-14", "title": "Melt the chocolate with the butter", "text": "Chop the 150 g of chocolate and put it in the heatproof bowl with the 20 g of butter. Set the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, clear of the water, and stir until melted, no hotter than 45 °C.", "kind": "active", "minutes": [ 8, 10 ], "celsius": null, "heat": "low", "official": false, "check": "Smooth and glossy, with no lumps, and no hotter than 45 °C.", "tips": [ "Our guide: 45 °C is enough to melt all of the cocoa butter; much hotter and the chocolate thickens and turns grainy. Keep water and steam out of the bowl: a drop makes chocolate seize.", "Our guide: the butter makes a soft, glossy coat, so the chocolate is not tempered." ] }, { "n": 15, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/parrozzo/#step-15", "title": "Let it thicken a little", "text": "Take the bowl off the pan and stir now and then for about 5 minutes, until the chocolate is about 35 °C.", "kind": "rest", "minutes": 5, "celsius": null, "heat": null, "official": false, "check": "Still runny, but it coats the back of a spoon thickly rather than running off it.", "tips": [ "Our guide: too hot, it runs off the dome and the coat is thin; it should still flow easily." ] }, { "n": 16, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/parrozzo/#step-16", "title": "Pour it over the cake", "text": "Slide the baking paper under the rack. Pour the chocolate over the top of the dome and help it down the sides with the spatula or palette knife until the whole cake is covered.", "kind": "active", "minutes": 5, "celsius": null, "heat": null, "official": false, "check": "No cake shows anywhere, down to the base; the coat is even and glossy.", "tips": [ "Our guide: scrape what drips onto the paper back up onto any bare patch while it is still soft." ] }, { "n": 17, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/parrozzo/#step-17", "title": "Let the coating set", "text": "Leave the cake in a cool room, about 18 °C–20 °C, for about an hour, until the chocolate has set.", "kind": "rest", "minutes": 60, "celsius": null, "heat": null, "official": false, "check": "The coating is no longer tacky, and a light touch leaves no mark.", "tips": [ "Our guide: not in the fridge, where damp can dull and mark the chocolate." ] }, { "n": 18, "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/parrozzo/#step-18", "title": "Serve", "text": "Lift the cake onto a plate and cut it into 8 wedges with a sharp knife, its blade warmed in hot water and dried.", "kind": "active", "minutes": 2, "celsius": null, "heat": null, "official": false, "check": "Cut, it is dark outside and yellow within: a fine, moist, almond crumb inside a thin shell of chocolate.", "tips": [ "Serve it with coffee or tea, or with a sweet wine or an orange liqueur." ] } ] } ], "quick": [ "Heat the oven to 170 °C and butter and flour a hemispherical mould about 20 cm across.", "Chop 150 g of blanched almonds and 6 bitter almonds finely with 2 tablespoons of the 200 g of sugar.", "Whisk 6 egg whites stiff with a pinch of salt, then whisk the yolks with the rest of the sugar until pale and foamy.", "Stir the zest of an orange, the almonds and 150 g of fine semolina into the yolks, then fold in the whites a spoonful at a time.", "Bake for 45–50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out dry, then turn it out and let it cool completely on a rack.", "Melt 150 g of dark chocolate with 20 g of butter, no hotter than 45 °C, and pour it over the cake, spreading it until the whole dome is covered.", "Let the coating set for about an hour in a cool room before cutting." ], "when": { "text": "Christmas: it was first made only for the Christmas holidays.", "source": { "label": "Abruzzo Region, its tourism site: the sweet history of parrozzo, as archived in October 2022 (Italian)", "url": "http://web.archive.org/web/20221022050826/https://abruzzoturismo.it/it/la-dolce-storia-del-parrozzo-tra-sapori-e-tradizioni-dabruzzo" } }, "keeps": { "text": "Out of the fridge, away from heat, for 5 to 7 days. Butter melted into the chocolate keeps the coating from drying out and keeps it supple.", "source": { "label": "Dissapore: parrozzo abruzzese, the cake D'Annunzio loved (Italian)", "url": "https://www.dissapore.com/ricette/parrozzo-abruzzese/" } }, "variants": [ { "name": "Without bitter almonds, with lemon", "text": "Leave out the bitter almonds and add 2 tablespoons of amaretto liqueur to the batter instead; use the zest of a lemon in place of the orange.", "source": { "label": "Agrodolce: parrozzo, the Christmas cake of Abruzzo (Italian)", "url": "https://www.agrodolce.it/ricette/parrozzo" }, "recipe": null }, { "name": "With butter in the batter", "text": "For 6: 100 g each of almond flour, semolina and sugar, 4 eggs, a pinch of salt, the zest of a lemon and 80 g of melted butter stirred into the yolks with the almonds and semolina; baked in a buttered zuccotto mould dusted with almond flour, in a static oven at 180 °C for 40 minutes, cooled completely before it is turned out, then covered with 200 g of dark chocolate melted in a bain-marie with a drop of milk. The same batter makes 4 small parrozzi in individual moulds.", "source": { "label": "Dissapore: parrozzo abruzzese, the cake D'Annunzio loved (Italian)", "url": "https://www.dissapore.com/ricette/parrozzo-abruzzese/" }, "recipe": null }, { "name": "With flour and honey", "text": "For 8: 140 g of yolks whisked with 180 g of sugar, 15 g of honey and, optionally, lemon zest; 50 g of toasted unpeeled almonds ground with 5 g of apricot kernels and mixed with 60 g of 00 flour and 40 g of semolina; 210 g of whites whisked stiff and folded in. Baked in a buttered and floured mould 21 cm across, in a fan oven at 170 °C for about 45 minutes, checked with a toothpick; once cold it rests overnight in the fridge, wrapped, and is then set on a rack and covered with 400 g of extra dark chocolate melted with 50 g of seed oil and left to cool a little, poured from a jug.", "source": { "label": "Il Cucchiaio d'Argento: parrozzo (Italian)", "url": "https://www.cucchiaio.it/ricetta/ricetta-parrozzo/" }, "recipe": null } ], "variantOf": [], "usedIn": [], "mistakes": [ "Whisking the whites too little, or stirring them in hard: with no baking powder, the whisked eggs are all that lift the cake, and it comes out dense.", "Adding more bitter almonds than the six: they turn the cake bitter, and they are not safe in quantity.", "Opening the oven early: the whisked batter can fall.", "Coating the cake while it is still warm: the chocolate stays soft and slides off.", "Overheating the chocolate, or letting water or steam into it: it thickens, turns grainy and will not pour.", "Setting the coated cake in the fridge: damp dulls and marks the chocolate." ], "abroad": [ "Bitter almonds can be hard to find outside Italy. The recipe's own alternative is to leave them out and add 2 tablespoons of amaretto liqueur to the batter; bitter almond extract for baking, used as its label directs, also gives a similar flavour.", "Apricot kernels (armelline) can stand in for bitter almonds. Our guide: no more than 6, the same cap as for the bitter almonds, about 5 g, and never eaten raw or by the handful.", "Semolino is fine semolina, sold for puddings and cakes: not the coarse kind for pasta or bread. Without it, the recipe allows part plain flour and part durum-wheat semola, or plain flour with potato starch.", "Choose unwaxed oranges, since the zest goes into the batter.", "Plain flour (all-purpose in the US) is fine for dusting the mould." ], "image": "https://nonnario.com/assets/img/parrozzo.jpg", "video": "https://nonnario.com/assets/video/parrozzo.mp4?v=774c7f30d4", "versions": { "page": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/parrozzo/", "markdown": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/parrozzo.md", "json": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/parrozzo.json" }, "cite": "Cite the recipe's page and the month its sources were checked; for the official text itself, cite the document listed under its sources.", "license": { "name": "CC BY-NC 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" } }