This cake, as the name implies, comes from the island of Capri.
Legend tells that two emissaries of Al Capone visiting Capri went to the most famous pastry shop on the island to buy some sweets.
The pastry chef Carmine di Fiore was so frightened that he made the mistake of forgetting the flour in the cake dough.
The Caprese cake was born by chance, without flour, very almondy, super chocolatey, and moist on the inside.
This recipe was given to me by my friend Francesca Corona (excellent pastry chef and personal food and wine guide) in the Neapolitan alleys on a long weekend on the Immaculate Conception Bridge where I managed to gain weight!
Caprese cake
- Preparation time: 60 minutes
- Ingredients for a 10 15⁄64 inch cake pan
- Difficulty: Easy recipe
- Ingredients
- 200gr or 7 oz of butter
- 200 gr or 7 oz of sugar
- 5 yolks
- 5 egg whites
- 200 gr or 7 oz of finely chopped almonds
- 200 gr or 7 oz of dark chocolate
- ½ teaspoon ground coffee
- 1 tablespoon rum
- Instructions
- In a food processor, chop the almonds until they become a coarse flour.
- In a saucepan, melt the butter and chocolate in a water bath. Remember that the bain-marie is a cooking method in a container not in direct contact with fire, but immersed in water kept at the desired temperature. In this case, therefore, you must put the pan with the butter and chocolate in another pan full of water. Once dissolved, let cool.
- In a bowl, whip the egg yolks with the sugar.
- In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff.
- Add the almonds, the coffee, the rum, the melted butter, and the chocolate mixture to the egg and sugar mixture.
- Finally, mix in the beaten egg whites until stiff, stirring gently with a spatula using a movement from the bottom up to not disassemble the mixture.
- Pour the dough into a 10 15⁄64 inch buttered and floured cake pan.
- Bake at 350° F for about thirty-five minutes.
- Serve with whipped cream.
Tips to ensure the success of the dish:
- When chopping dried fruits, it is always better to insert a spoonful of sugar, taken from the total, and use the impulse mixer to prevent the blade from getting too hot and causing the oil to ooze.
- Before melting the chocolate in a water bath, it should be minced: this speeds up the process a lot.
- If desired, it can be melted in the microwave.
- Baking times will vary because each oven cooks differently. This type of cake must remain very moist inside, so the toothpick test doesn’t work.
