Pastry Post Doc: Torrone dei Morti in Naples

The arrival of torrone, the delicious honey and nougat confection, means the holiday season is coming in Spain and Italy. We have had torrone many times before, but we have never seen the kind of torrone we recently encountered in Naples, which was sold by the slice, covered in chocolate, and at first glance, even looked like ice cream cake. Turns out this is “Torrone dei Morti” or “Torrone morbido”- “dead torrone” which is a traditional All Saints’ Day dessert with a base of cocoa. Neapolitan pastry shops were filled with this version of torrone at the end of October, in any number of nut, chocolate and fruit varieties. Our favorite was the gianduja, or hazelnut and chocolate blend, as seen below. Getting a slice of torrone will run you less than 1€ a slice, so you have every incentive to try many varieties. When we were in Naples we didn’t realize that this version of torrone was season-specific, so we don’t know if it will be on display at other times of the year. We hope it is! We looked for a recipe in English – and we finally found one – but Google Translate can help you out with some of the Italian versions.

Cross-Section of Gianduja Torrone in Napoli