Pasticceria Penso

Dobos torte (or “torta Dobos,” as it’s called in Italian) is a traditional Hungarian cake composed of five layers of sponge cake filled with chocolate buttercream and topped by a…

Pinza is a sweet bread from Trieste that is commonly served at Easter time. For my mini version, I used a color mix of Fimo vanilla, Premo ecru, white, and…

The real-life Pasticceria Penso wrapped their apple strudel in puff pastry rather than the paper-thin sheets typical of true Austrian strudel, and naturally, I used their recipe as my inspiration.…

Putizza is another dessert typical of Trieste. It is similar to Friuli's ubiquitous spiral cake called gubana, with a filling of biscotti crumbs, dried fruit, nuts, and spices, but I…

Presnitz is a dessert typical of Trieste, Italy, the city where Pasticceria Penso was located.* It's essentially a spiral of puff pastry filled with dried fruit, nuts, and spices. For…

Austrian Linzer cookies are typically made with a pair of almond shortbread cookies sandwiched together with a layer of jam. A cutout in the top cookie reveals the jam beneath.…

When I spent three weeks in Trieste doing research for my cookbook Flavors of Friuli, Pasticceria Penso had not yet begun producing chocolates. It was only when I returned for…

These chocolate-dipped candied orange peel and fruit gelée candies are two more of the sweets at Pasticceria Penso. In photos from the real-life bakery in Trieste, their orange peel is…

These are two more of the numerous sweets sold at the real Pasticceria Penso. Palline di cioccolato are chocolate balls covered in sprinkles. My friend at the bakery, Antonello, explained…

Sachertorte (or "torta Sacher," as it's called in Italian) is a traditional Viennese torte composed of layers of chocolate cake, with a glaze made of apricot jam and covered in…