The lemon caprese is a delicious and aromatic variation of the chocolate caprese, an iconic dessert of Campanian pastry, originating from the island of Capri.
The recipe I propose today is the original version created by the famous Campanian pastry chef Salvatore De Riso. The feature of this extremely aromatic and soft variant is the presence of Amalfi lemons, both fresh and candied, and olive oil.
Since I don’t like cakes with olive oil, I decided to follow his recipe by replacing the oil with the same amount of butter; after all, on his site, there is also the butter variant that I find much more similar to the original.
The ingredients that make it up are not many and must be of excellent quality. The lemon caprese is a delicious dessert that contains no gluten, made with ground sweet almonds and potato starch, which give it an unmistakable lightness.
If you love caprese, do not miss my favorite version, the pistachio caprese that I created 5 years ago; perfectly balanced in sugars and fats, it is an absolutely fantastic dessert!
Also try other gluten-free desserts:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 10People
- Cooking methods: Electric oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 396.22 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 37.21 (g) of which sugars 29.18 (g)
- Proteins 8.29 (g)
- Fat 25.39 (g) of which saturated 10.30 (g)of which unsaturated 14.24 (g)
- Fibers 2.76 (g)
- Sodium 50.08 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 85 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- 7.05 oz almonds (sweet blanched or almond flour)
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup butter
- 6.35 oz white chocolate
- 1.06 oz lemon peels (candied, I replaced with the zest of one organic lemon and 0.7 oz lemon juice)
- 5 medium eggs
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup potato starch
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- Half pod vanilla
- 1 lemon (preferably from Amalfi or a large organic lemon)
Tools
- 3 Bowls
- 1 Electric mixer
- 1 Mold flared for caprese cake from 9.5 inches
- 1 Spatula
- 1 Grater
- 1 Scale
- 1 Mixer
Procedure
Cut the butter into small pieces and leave it at room temperature for 20 minutes.
Grate the white chocolate and set aside.
Put the blanched whole almonds with 1/4 cup powdered sugar and the seeds of the vanilla pod into the mixer and blend them until they become flour.
Mix the almond flour with the baking powder and potato starch on a sheet of parchment paper. Add the grated chocolate.
Chop the candied lemon peels in the mixer; I didn’t have them and replaced them with the zest of one lemon + 0.7 oz juice.
Grate the zest of an organic lemon, preferably from Amalfi.
Crack the eggs and separate the whites from the yolks, putting them in two different bowls; whip the whites with 1/4 cup powdered sugar and set the yolks aside.
Add 1/4 cup sugar to the softened butter and mix with the electric mixer. Once well whipped, add the yolks one by one until you get a homogeneous mixture, add the grated zest of one lemon and chopped candied lemon peels (I didn’t have them, so I added the zest of another lemon and 0.7 oz juice).
Add the flours to the whipped butter and yolks, alternating with the egg whites, mix gently with a spatula, from bottom to top, being careful not to deflate the mixture.
The batter is ready. Pour the mixture into a greased and floured mold with potato starch.
Bake the cake in a preheated static oven at 338°F for about 45 minutes. Do the toothpick test to check the doneness, considering that it is a moist cake.
The caprese cake is ready, let it cool for 10 minutes and turn it upside down on a tray. Let it cool completely, sprinkle with plenty of powdered sugar, and serve.
Advice
Storage
The Lemon Caprese keeps at room temperature for 3 days in the appropriate cake holder; however, I prefer to store it in the fridge and leave it at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.
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