Torta Caprese
If
you’re looking for a real taste of regional Italian dessert, you’re in the
right place. This cake was born in 1920 in Capri’s island, a few kilometers
from Naples.
It’s said that an apprentice of a local bakery was one day making
chocolate cakes for the many tourists of the lovely island and distracted by a
beautiful girl, forgot to add flour to the mixture. He didn’t dare to confess
his mistake and he kept silent hoping no one had noticed.. But some tourists
tried the cake and came back to the bakery to congratulate for the amazing
dessert! The apprentice got along with the mistake and created one of the most
well known Neapolitan cakes! The good news about this cake is that if you can
ignore the calories intake of each slice (be aware 1 medium slice is about 450
calories..), it is suitable for people with gluten intolerance and it keeps
moist and fresh for about 4-5 days.
My
personal touch is adding 2 spoons of good quality Italian ground coffee to the
mixture to intensify the dark chocolate flavor and please the Moka lovers.. The
only thing I recommend is to not overcook the cake as the dark chocolate is one
of those tricky ingredients that are very sensitive to heat and can dry out
with hot temperatures.
Ingredients
for 8 people
200
gr 70% dark chocolate
6
free range eggs
180
gr Brown sugar
200
gr peeled crushed almonds
180
gr organic unsalted butter
50
gr rice flour
2
spoons of ground coffee (optional)
Melt
the chocolate in a bowl over a pan full of water. Allow the water to gently
heat in order to melt the chocolate without burning it. Mix the sugar and eggs
and beat until pale. Process the almonds and add them to the egg mixture. Allow
the melted chocolate to cool down for 10
minutes than pour it into the mixture. Add ground coffee, baking powder and
rice flour. Mix all the ingredients and pour the batter into a greased 24 cm
round baking tray covered with baking paper. Cook for about 25 minutes at 180°.
Cool down and sprinkle with icing sugar.
