Known and loved worldwide, the caprese cake is the traditional dessert from the island of Capri. Made with almonds and hand-grated dark chocolate, to be truly good it must be soft and moist to the bite. The cake is believed to have been created in 1920 after a mistake by chef Carmine Di Fiore, who forgot to add flour to the batter. A mistake that, instead of being disastrous, turned out to be a truly delicious dessert. After all, you know, often the best things come from mistakes 😉
The caprese cake, thanks to its gluten-free ingredients, is the perfect dessert to offer on any occasion to those who are gluten intolerant or celiac. But not only that — I guarantee that chocolate lovers will adore it.
If you love almond desserts you can also try the Cristina Cake, made with meringue discs and almonds, filled with fresh cream and strawberries. But if you want a small nostalgic treat, I recommend trying these Pralined Almonds — in just a few minutes and with only two ingredients your wishes will come true. Finally, if you are looking for a single-portion sweet, you might choose the Citrus and Almond Flake Muffins.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 40 Minutes
- Cooking time: 35 Minutes
- Portions: 8
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
For a 9-inch pan (22 cm)
- 170 g butter (softened)
- 170 g powdered sugar
- 5 eggs
- 170 g dark chocolate 50% (to grate)
- 170 g almonds (finely chopped)
- 20 g cocoa powder
- 40 g potato starch
- 4 g baking powder
- 2 g fine salt
- 1 pod vanilla
- as needed powdered sugar
Tools
What you need for the Caprese Cake
- 1 Cake pan
- 1 Grater Grater
- 1 Electric mixer
- 1 Spatula Spatula
- 3 Bowls
- 1 Small bowl
- 1 Food processor
- 1 Baking pan
- Parchment paper
- 1 Sugar shaker
How to make the Caprese Cake
Start by toasting the almonds. 15 minutes at 284 °F (140 °C) in a convection oven are enough to obtain a perfect toast. Once the almonds have cooled, pulse them in a food processor until you obtain a fine flour. Put them in a bowl and proceed with the other ingredients.
Grate the chocolate by hand (but if you don’t have the patience you can use the food processor), to avoid melting it from heat, and add it to the bowl with the ground almonds.
Then add the cocoa, the potato starch, and the baking powder, and mix all the dry ingredients well.
Separate the egg whites from the yolks using a large bowl (for whipping the whites) and a small one (to hold the egg yolks).
In a bowl, place the softened butter with half of the powdered sugar and beat with the mixer; if you prefer you can use a stand mixer with the paddle. While the butter is whipping, split the vanilla pod, scrape out the seeds and add them to the bowl where you are whipping the butter. Add one egg yolk at a time and continue to beat. When you obtain a creamy mixture, add the salt to the batter.
Whip the egg whites with the remaining powdered sugar until they become white and slightly foamy (not stiff peaks, but soft peaks), using electric whisks.
Incorporate the dry mix (ground almonds, grated chocolate, potato starch, cocoa and baking powder) into the bowl with the whipped butter in three additions (1/3 at a time), and fold in the whipped egg whites also in three additions, mixing gently with a spatula from the bottom up until you get a homogeneous batter.
Pour the batter into the previously buttered and dusted pan with potato starch, level with the spatula and bake the cake at 338 °F (170 °C) for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let the cake cool in the pan, then invert and unmold; finally dust with powdered sugar.
Your Caprese Cake is ready. Enjoy!
