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Sweet Italian baking

Sweet Italian baking recipes

Give your bakes a continental spin with these sweet Italian baking recipes. Many Italian regions have a rich baking heritage, and our collection includes iconic dishes from across the country.

Take a trip to Rome with a batch of maritozzi buns, cloud-like sweet buns filled with whipped cream, or try Sicily’s beloved cannoli. Our step-by-step recipe will help you master their distinctive crispy shell and creamy filling.

Looking for a simple but stunning dessert? Try torta barozzi, a rich flourless chocolate cake from Northern Italy. Got time to linger in the kitchen? A lemony torta del nonna or seriously indulgent mocha tiramisu torte is just the ticket.

Italian biscuits make perfect food gifts or treats to share over coffee with friends. Check out our recipes for biscotti, florentines and cantucci below. Once you’ve had your sweet fix, take a look at our savoury Italian baking collection, too. Buon appetito!

Showing 1-16 of 26 recipes

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Italian dessert recipes

Theo Randall’s torta sacripantina (cherry and raspberry genoise)

Torta sacripantina is a dessert from Liguria. Theo Randall shares his recipe for this genoise cake with cherries, raspberries and zabaione.

Medium

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Italian dessert recipes

Theo Randall’s torta barozzi (flourless chocolate, almond and rum cake)

Torta barozzi is a rich and fudgy flourless chocolate cake from Northern Italy. Perfect when you need an easy make-ahead dessert.

Gluten-free Make-ahead

Easy

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Italian dessert recipes

Theo Randall’s torta della nonna (lemon custard tart with pine nut topping)

Torta della nonna is a lemony custard tart topped with pine nuts, popular across northern Italy. Chef Theo Randall shares his recipe.

Vegetarian

Medium

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Apple recipes

Strudel di mele (Italian apple strudel)

Apple strudel gets an Italian makeover with pine nuts and lemon. It's a classic Alpine dish, often served in cafés in Trentino-Alto Adige.

Freezable

Medium

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Almond recipes

Tegole (Italian almond and hazelnut biscuits)

These Italian biscuits are named for their shape – tegole means ‘tiles’. They’re a nutty treat from the Alps and go perfectly with espresso.

Easy

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Italian dessert recipes

Cannoli

Cannoli are undoubtedly the most popular dessert of Sicilian baking. A bite into a homemade cannoli delivers a simple yet glorious triumph of flavours.

Medium

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Summer fruit recipes

Raspberry cream maritozzi buns

Maritozzi, delightful enriched-dough buns from Italy, are as light as a cloud. We've filled them with a raspberry cream to finish.

Vegetarian

Easy

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Sweet tart recipes

Sweet ricotta tart

Julia Busuttil Nishimura's sweet ricotta tart with dark chocolate and Italian candied fruit is a perfect dessert for Easter or a dinner party.

Vegetarian

Easy

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Italian dessert recipes

Torta della nonna (ricotta and lemon tart)

Angela Hartnett's elegant ricotta and lemon tart (torta della nonna) makes a fine dinner party dessert or a great finale to an Easter feast.

Medium

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Biscuit recipes

Apricot and pistachio cantuccini

Cantuccini, otherwise known as biscotti, are a fabulously crunchy Italian biscuit great for dunking in coffee. Try our apricot and pistachio recipe...