Torta all'erba madre

I really wanted to share this feverfew cake recipe with you even if I know that for some of you won’t be so easy to find the main ingredient: feverfew herb. Feverfew (Tanacetum Parthenium) in Italian “erba madre” or “erba maresina” is a perennial herb that grows wild in our surroundings. It’s mainly used for its medical properties to cure headache and fever but here in Veneto we use it for cooking. It is in fact used in fritters or cakes. I knew the fritters but I had never heard of the cake until few year back when I went to the Festa della sparasina, “The Wild Asparagus Festival” and got addicted in a hurry.

The cake itself is really simple, just like a coffee cake, not overly sweet and with an aromatic flavor thanks to the herb. With great surprise I found some plants of feverfew growing wild in my garden as well as in the neighbors’. I asked them if they could give me the recipe for the cake and they did. I tried it and a few others I had found but none resembled the cake I tasted at the Festa della sparasina.

One day I made a simple ciambella (ring-shaped cake) that my mom used to prepare for my sister and I when we were little. It was called il Ciambellone di Achille from il Manuale di Nonna Papera, my first cookbook. When I tasted it again after so many years I thought it could be the perfect base for the feverfew cake. I tried making the cake again this time adding feverfew and it came out as I wanted it!
If you’re not lucky like me to have it in your garden you can always go herb hunting or purchase the seeds online. Please note: from what I read about this herb pregnant women shouldn’t eat it.

Ingredients

2 1/3 cups/ g. 300 unbleached all purpose flour
2 large eggs
1 cup/ g. 200 sugar
3.5 oz./ g. 100 unsalted butter, melted
from 1/4 to 1/3 cup whole milk or heavy cream for a richer texture
2 lightly packed cups feverfew herb, hard stem removed
1/2 lemon grated lemon zest, use an organic lemon
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of sea salt

Instructions

To make this cake you don’t need any electrical mixers just a fork and a wooden spoon.
Sift the flour together with the sugar, salt and baking powder then add the grated lemon zest. Finely chop the feverfew herb and set aside.

In a capacious bowl make a mound with the flour and scoop out a well in the middle. Pour the eggs into the hole and start mixing with a fork. Now add the butter and combine it using a wooden spoon adding few spoons of milk to make the batter softer. I added 5 tablespoons but it depends from the flour you’re using.
Lastly add feverfew herb and combine well. Spoon the mixture into a greased and floured 9 inch. donut cake pan. Spread the batter evenly using a spatula.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350° F. Cook for about 30-40 minutes then let it cool and serve.