In 1891, Pellegrino Artusi wrote about the potato in his cooking manual, La Scienza in Cucina e L’arte di Mangiar Bene (Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well). He noted that the potato, a member of the solanaceae family native to South America, was introduced to Europe in the 16th century. Large-scale cultivation in Italy began in the 18th century, as the potato became more accepted by the masses due to its good taste and ability to satisfy hunger. In Artusi's seminal book, out of 790 recipes, 30 include potatoes or a significant proportion of potato flour. The first potato recipe is a brothy minestra with gnocchi made from potatoes, boiled chicken, yolks, and cheese. The potato is formally presented in the chapter Torte e dolci al Cucchiaio (Cakes and Desserts Eaten with a Spoon), where it is used in 13 other recipes, including biscuits, souffles, a bake with amaretti biscuits, a shortcrust-type pastry, a sweet focaccia, another sweet bread, a budino with almonds, and three cakes. The third cake, a torta di patate (potato cake), is made with almonds, melted butter, five eggs, and lots of lemon zest. The more floury the potatoes, the lighter the texture of the cake. Artusi suggests baking the cake and serving it later. A serving suggestion is to let the cake cool completely, then cut it in half horizontally to make a lid and a base. Spread the base with lemon curd, jam, or jelly, then cover with the cake lid. Mix icing sugar and the finely grated zest of another unwaxed lemon into a tub of thick cream or mascarpone, then spread this on top of the potato cake. The potato cake recipe requires 500g of floury potatoes, 5 eggs, 130g of sugar, 140g of ground almonds, 50g of melted butter, the grated zest of 2 large unwaxed lemons, 2 tsp baking powder, a pinch of salt, 3-4 tbsp of lemon curd, and a 250g tub of mascarpone or thick cream. Peel and quarter the potatoes, then steam or boil until tender. Mash or rice the warm potatoes into a bowl. Beat the eggs with the sugar until pale and light. Add the egg mix to the mashed potato with the almonds, melted butter, grated zest of one lemon, baking powder, and salt. Butter and flour a 24cm cake tin, then scrape the batter into the tin. Bake at 170C (150C fan)/340F/gas 3½ for an hour, until a skewer or dry spaghetti strand inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool completely, then cut it in half horizontally to make a lid and a base. Spread the lemon curd on the base half, then top with the lid. For the top, dust it with icing sugar or mix the remaining lemon zest and the icing sugar into a tub of thick mascarpone or cream and spread that thickly on the top.
