1. Preheat the oven to 180 °C; butter or line a 26 cm cake tin with baking paper.
2. Roughly chop two-thirds of the almonds and leave the rest whole for the top.
3. In a bowl, mix the plain flour with the cornmeal, sugar, vanilla sugar, grated lemon zest, a pinch of salt and the chopped almonds.
4. Add the cold diced butter and the egg yolks and rub them in with your fingertips until you have large, irregular crumbs - don't knead it into a smooth dough.
5. Scatter the crumbs loosely into the tin without pressing, scatter the whole almonds on top and bake for 35-40 minutes until golden and crisp.
6. Let it cool completely in the tin and don't slice it: break it into pieces by hand - that's the tradition.
Tip: The crunchy "crumbly" cake of Mantua, which is where its name comes from (briciola = crumb); it keeps for two weeks in a tin and can be served with coffee or dessert wine, or even with whipped cream.
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