Chocolate Torta Caprese

Submitted by Daydream

"From the Isle of Capri, this flourless cake is moist and deliciously chocolatey. Can be served dusted with powdered sugar, or with raspberry sauce and a dollop of cream. For a special dinner party, I offer Whisky Oranges with Honey Cream (recipe #113108) alongside."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 20mins
• Ingredients: 7
• Serves: 8

ingredients

• 7 ounces best quality bittersweet dark chocolate or 7 ounces semisweet chocolate
• 4 eggs, separated
• 6 ounces superfine sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 9 ounces ground almonds (almond meal)
• 7 ounces butter, melted and cooled until tepid
• powdered sugar, to finish

directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350F (180C).
2. Grease the sides of a 9 1/2" springform pan, then line the base with non-stick baking paper.
3. Chop the chocolate finely with a large knife, or process until finely chopped, but still retaining some texture.
4. Using a mixer, beat the egg yolks with the sugar and vanilla extract until the mixture is pale and thick.
5. With a rubber spatula, fold in the chocolate, the almonds and melted butter.
6. In a clean, dry bowl, beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks.
7. Fold the beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture.
8. Spoon into the prepared cake tin and bake for between 50-60 minutes, until just firm to the touch.
9. Leave to cool for 20 minutes before turning out.
10. To serve, dust with powdered sugar.

Reviews

[cm2530]

I am not sure what went wrong, but this cake was completely inedible. The directions are confusing, and my teenaged daughter who normally bakes a lovely cake got flummoxed. I suspect the problem was trying to figure out how many cups = 9 ounces of ground almonds (internet goes from ground almonds in metric to ounces to cups and it was a lot of math....). And the direction to "finely chop or process" baking chocolate turned into a crazy timesuck (she didn't grasp what "process" meant). And perhaps bittersweet American chocolate is more bitter than European or something? Anyway, we ended up with something very hard, dry, and barely sweetened. It was for a dinner party, and we threw it away and ordered something from a restaurant. I think more practical directions and measurement units would help a lot.

 

[ChefEmma]

wOW! this is a delicious cake. It has an unusual taste - rich, nutty, chocolaty - that surprised my guests. My cake took 25-30 minutes to be "just firm to the touch" in a normal cake mold lined with greaseproof paper. It looked a bit undercooked on the inside but it was just very moist and I think this is a recipe that wouldn't stand to be overcooked as it would probably get very crispy first, then burn in no time. I followed the recipe exactly and the only change I will probably make next time is use a bit less butter (around 150g). I am also going to try making cookies with this batter as I suspect that it makes perfect crunchy-on-the-outside-chewy-on-the-inside cookies. Thanks for posting Daydream! PS-please see my rating criteria!!