Capri chocolate-almond cake
( Torta “Caprese” )

Almond-and-chocolate cake was born at Capri, near Naples in Italy. Famous all over the world, it tastes fantastic!
It is no-flour cake and then is suitable for those suffering from celiac disease.
There are a lot of versions of Caprese cake. Some of them are very fast: chocolate is melted with the butter, the whites wipped apart, yolks processed with sugar, almonds toasted in the oven and then chopped. In the end you have to mix all and bake.
We prefer a longer version. Even if it requires a bit of time and effort, we say the sumptuous results more than justify the means. If you have to throw a party try our recipe and you'll have a great success!
You'll need few ingredients that you can also choose among organic food: almonds, unsalted butter, sugar, eggs, plain chocolate, baking powder and an aromatic liqueur such Strega.

Here's the recipe!

Please note: bring the butter back to room temperature an hour before preparing the cake.

Prepare all the ingredients and equipment. Grate the chocolate. It's the most disagreeable step, but the secret of your success.
Chop the almonds finely in the food processor.
Weigh the other ingredients and put a colander with baking powder and liqueur handy.
Prepare two tureens.

Work the butter with the sugar. Cream the sugar with the butter until fluffy in the first tureen.

Prepare the baking pan. Grease an 11-inch round pan with removable bottom, line it with parchment paper and then butter the paper.
Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).

Prepare the eggs. Beat the whole eggs for a long time until frothy in the second tureen.

Mix all the ingredients. Add the beaten eggs to the sugar-and-butter mixture and blend. Stir in the almonds, chocolate and liqueur. Blend all the ingredients accurately. Finally add the baking powder through a colander and stir again.

Baking. Pour the mixture into the pan, level the surface and bake for about 45 minutes.
Use a toothpick or long skewer to test the cake. Poke the toothpick or skewer into the thickest part of the cake. If it does not come out clean, the cake needs to bake longer.

Let the cake cool and then transfer it on a serving plate. Dust with confectioners' sugar just before serving.

Note

• - You can prepare almond-and-chocolate cake, Capry-style ahead. The day before. Indeed it is better.
  Keep it for 48 to 72 hours.
• - Serve the cake cut into slices and with a dessert fork as you can see in the photo.

A bit of history

The Capri cake is famous throughout the world but its origin seems fairly recent. It would have less than a century of life. The writer from Sorrento, Cecilia Coppola, tells us its story in "Zeppole, struffoli and chiffon rosso - Eidos editions Longobardi - 2001. In summary, a cook of Capri, Carmine Di Fiore, forgot one day to add flour to chocolate-and-almond cake that he was used to do. Three American mobsters who had come to Capri to buy and wear leggings in America for Al Capone tasted this "abnormal" sweet thing. They liked it enormously and asked for the recipe. So it was known in the States. The cook, on his part, began to produce it in a systematic way ... and the rest is today's history.

What's the right wine for " Capri chocolate-almond cake "?

It is difficult to match a dessert wine with a cake rich in chocolate. Our tip is serving an orange-flavored liqueur (Italian arancino) after.