Boca di Dama

Boca di Dama, or “Lady’s Lips” in Italian, is my favorite childhood cake.  My grandmother, who grew up in Libya (which was at that time under Italian occupation) made the cake according to her grandmother’s recipe.

We used to wait all year to eat this amazing cake at our Seder. Since I learned from my grandmother to make Boca di Dama, no Sabbath is complete without “Lady’s Lips” on the menu. 

• 5 egg yolks
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoon oil
• 2 teaspoon almond extract
• Zest of 1 big lemon skin
• 3 cups fine grinded white almonds
• 5 egg whites
• ¼ cup sugar

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Fahrenheit.

In the mixer, mix egg yolks on high speed. Add cup of sugar slowly while mixing. Reduce the speed and add oil and lemon skin zest.

In a clean bowl, whip the egg whites. Add ¼ cup sugar while mixing.

Fold the egg yolks mix into the whipped egg whites.

Add the almond extract and ground almonds.

Grease a round cake tray with butter; place the cake dough in the tray.

Bake in oven at 180 degrees for 15 minutes.

Reduce the oven heat to 170 degrees, cover with aluminum foil, and bake for more 35 minutes.

The cake can be covered with whipped cream or vanilla pudding, but it's just great as is.