Caprese bianca
'Caprese' means literally ‘from Capri’, which is one of the most beautiful and typical
Italian island. It only takes a 40 minutes ferry trip to get to this little
island, right in front of Naples, the city where I come from. I used to go to Capri
when I was 3 or 4 with my parents, enjoying the extravagant fashion of the 80’s
and the lemon strawberry ice cream cones.. Such a classic.
I often make this cake for my gluten free stall around Sydney's markets, but it is also to bring some memories into my house here, so far and so close from my native one.
This ‘caprese
bianca’, or ‘white caprese’, is a fruity version of the traditional ‘Torta
caprese’, which is made with dark chocolate and almonds and it is actually a
very, very old ‘gluten free cake’.. The lemon version was shown to me by a good
friend of my dad, miss Pupa, a woman without a proper chef training but with so
much passion, talent and knowledge she could beat many well known chefs all around the world.. I had
the chance to be trained in her family owned restaurant in Naples last Christmas, and all we
ve been cooking was self produced and local, with recipes older than my grandmother..So inspiring. Her orange and lemon trees are
some of the most beautiful plants I’ve ever seen. This cake celebrates my country and regional cuisine heritage.
It is something
suitable also to those with gluten intolerance and can be made in a diary free
version substituting the butter with 120 ml of light olive oil.
Ingredients
for 8
6 free
range eggs
180
gr white chocolate finely chopped
200
gr soft butter or 120 ml of Olive oil
180
gr White sugar
50
gr rice flour
18
gr baking powder
200
gr peeled crushed almonds
zest
of 4 lemons
juice
of 1 lemon
Beat
the eggs with the sugar. Add soft butter and mix until pale. Put almonds in a
food processor till finely chopped. Gently add processed almonds, lemon zest,
baking powder, rice flour, finely chopped white chocolate and lemon juice to
the egg and sugar mixture. Combine and pour into a 24cm greased cake tray, covered with
baking paper. Bake for 40 minutes at 180°. Allow to cool before serving.
