Torta Caprese – Capri Cake

I saw a lovely cake in a youtube video.  It was called Torta Caprese and was made with chocolate and ground almonds.  I thought I would like to try to make it, so I looked at several recipes and then vame up with my own, being a slightl variation on what I saw.  It seems that there are lots of different variations on this cake and for mine I decided to use a mixture of ground almonds and ground hazelnuts, since I just love the flavour that hazelnuts give to things.  

Some recipes use melted dark choclate and others use grated or ground dark chocolate.  I decided to the ground chocolate, so that it would melt as it cooks and hopefully give a lovely moist texture to the cake.

Being a very simple recipe I was fairly sure that it would turn out well and it certainly did so.  The flavour is wonderful with the rich, dark chocolate mixing well with the nutty tasted of the almonds and hazelnuts.   I am very please with the results, having enjoyed the cake with a cup of tea.  It would also be ideal as a dessert, served with some creme fraiche or whipped cream.

Ingredients:

• 175g ground almonds(or 250g if you omit the hazelnuts)
• 75g ground hazelnuts
• 4 large eggs(extra large in USA) separated into whites and yolks
• 200g melted butter, allowed to cool
• 200g dark chocolate(I used 55% cocoa solids), finely chopped in a processor(or by hand)
• 170g caster sugar.
• Icing Sugar to sprinkle over the top.

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 1990C/170C fan/375F
2. Grease a 9inch springform or loose bottomed cake tin and line the base with parchment paper.
3. In a bowl whisk the egg white to stiff peaks, adding a little of the sugar to help the process.
4. In another, large, bowl, whisk the egg yolks and the remaining sugar for a couple of minutes, until the mixture is very pale and has started to thicken.
5. Add the ground almonds, ground hazelnut and the chocolate and mix together until all is combined and almost a paste.
6. Add the melted butter and mix until combined.
7. Add the egg whites, a little and first and then the remainder, and carefully mix until all is combined.  Try not to knock all the air out of the egg white.
8. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and spread out so that the base is covered and the batter is level.
9. Bake in the oven for 45 to 50 minutes, until the top is crisp and a skewer in the centre comes out clean.
10. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely, then remove from the cake tin.
11. Sprinkle icing sugar over the top, then slice and serve.