Torta Tre Monti
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Torta Tre Monti is Sanmarinese delicacy for all Nutella, whipped cream and coffee lovers. Wafle layers cut to your favourite shape and filled to form multi layered sandwich is the best no bake dessert to enjoy without turning your oven on!
The best way to enjoy Three Mountains Cake is to eat original version if you are visiting San Marino. However, here you can find details to make one from scratch.
The process to make this traditional cake is very simple. If you can get five layers pack of plain tort wafers (14 ½ x 10 ½ inches), all you need is Nutella or any other chocolate hazelnut spread, coffee granules and whipped cream to spread over thin waffled wafers. Once done, you need some chocolate ganache to roll individual cakes in. That way you get chocolate rounded tasty cake made in 30 minutes. No baking required.
Isn’t it great?
What does „Torta Tre Monti“ means on Italian?
Literary, it is Three Mountain Cake. It originates from San Marino Republic. It got it’s name after our (Dalmatian) stone-cutter, by the name of Marino, who fled nearly 1,600 years ago from his home on the Dalmatian coast at the time of a Turkish invasion, and took refuge among the rocky crags of Monte Titano, which commanded a view of the Adriatic Sea.
For more about the history look at Cityofsanmarino.org .
San Marino is three hours drive away from Florence on your way to Rimini , Italian seaside resort on Adriatic coast.
Torta Tre Monti is produced commercially from 1942. in two sizes: large cake and snack sized version. You can get large one for USD 14.00. This was the pre covid era price, at least.
I decided to make 3 ½ inches wide sandwich chocolate cakes. Since my package had 5 layers of wafers, I cut 6 rounded shapes. Then I assembled only 4 cut-outs to have not too high, easy to bite cakes. It seemed 5 would be to high. At the end of the process, we got 7 small sized cream assembled cakes to roll into chooclate ganache.
In ancient times, all wafers were made in cast iron moulds and are still produced this way in the factory. Luckily, store bought five large wafers are available and are so budget friendly! I payed less then one US dollar for the whole package!
What is the difference between wafer and waffle ?
Wafer is a light, thin, flat biscuit ( stroopwafel is, for example, a sandwich wafer assembled with keukenstroop) while waffle is a flat pasty pressed with a grid pattern. For more about the differences, look here .
There are wafer sheets available online in many colors but I used simple, thin layers easy to get at our local supermarket.
This San Marino dessert is the best with whipped cream or ice cream or more chocolate cream served aside. Fresh fruits are also a good choice. My son prefers Ferrero Rocher on the top of frozen whipped cream. What a decadence!
Although tagged as Italian, Bustrengo is Sanmarinese dessert also:
Torta Tre Monti
Torta Tre Monti is Sanmarinese delicacy for all Nutella, whipped cream and coffee lovers. Wafle layers cut to your favourite shape and filled to form multi layered sandwich is the best no bake dessert to enjoy without turning your oven on!
Ingredients
- Ingredients for sandwich cakes:
- 1 package plain tort wafers (14 ½ x 10 ½inches)
- 1 cup and 2 Tbsp whipping cream
- 1 cup Nutella
- 1 tsp instant coffee powder
- extra whipped cream, frozen or ice cream to top the cakes before serving
- fruits to garnish, optional
- Ingredients for choclate ganache:
- 16 Tbsp heavy cream
- 12 Tbsp melted semi-sweet chocolate
Instructions
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Place opened wafers on flat working surface and cut 3 ½ inches ø shapes out,all layers at once.
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Leave them aside and start making whipped cream.Mix until stiff peaks form.
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Add instant coffee to whipped cream and start pouring Nutella or any other favorite hazelnut spread. Mix until well combined.
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Spread 1 ½ tsp of cream over the first wafer and cover with the second one. Spread 1 ½ tsp of cream again and cover with the third wafer. Spread with 1 ½ tsp and cover with the forth wafer. Don't spread your cream over the top layer. Leave aside and repeat spreading with remaining wafers.
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In a small pot, prepare ganache or melt store bough one according to the package instructions.
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Prepare a rack to place the cakes once rounded with chocolate.
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Take one small cake at a time and roll through ganache, covering the sides.
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Place every cake on the rack so any extra chocolate slides down before serving.
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Serve with ice cream or whipped cream and fruits.
Recipe Notes
Notes:
- You may also dip the edges into store bought semi sweet chocolate ganache.
- It is up to your preferences to add coffee or not. For us, it reduces the sweetness of the filling with it's bitterness. Once you serve Tre Monti, it has no coffee flavour at all.
- I decided to make 7 small cakes instead of one large since the edges may fall apart once you start cutting the cake from the middle.
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