Torta Caprese

Legend has it that this flourless Almond and chocolate cake came about by accident. On the Island of Capri in the 1920s a cook by the name of Carmine di Fiore was busy preparing meals in his local kitchen for some very particular guests; some American mafiosi doing business for none other than Al Capone. Feeling under pressure he forgot to put the flour in a chocolate and almond cake. The result was a cake with a slightly crunchy crust on top and moist, light and slightly moussy inside.What might have been seen as a total stuff up by Carmine di Fiore's  professional colleagues has become one of the most popular cakes in Italy. Even Al Capone's "friends" none the wiser, enjoyed it so much that they asked for the recipe..I don't know if they got it... Recipes may vary slightly as the original recipe has never been revealed ( unless Al Capone's associates got it) but ingredients are almost always the same and never, ever have flour, baking powder or cocoa! Typically Torta Caprese is made in a  cake tin. with tapered sides, then turned out upside-down then the word "Caprese" is either  piped on top using ganache or dusted with icing sugar using a "Caprese" template.  I used a 24 cm spring form tin and simply dusted the cake with icing sugar.

Recipe      24cm tin
240 g whole blanched  almonds
240 g dark chocolate
200 g butter
160 g sugar
4 x  60 g eggs
30ml rum (optional)

Grease tin and line only the bottom with baking paper.

Pre-heat the oven to 180° c

Lightly roast the almonds in the oven until the are only very slightly coloured..the objective here is to dry out the almonds slightly drawing out their flavour. Allow them to cool.

Melt chocolate and butter together stiring gently until liguid but do not over heat.

Separate eggs. Set aside the whites, they will be whipped last.

Finely chop almonds in a blender..this can be done by hand but is a particularly laborious job to chop all the almonds evenly. It's possible to use almond meal but the cake is drier and doesn't have as nutty a flavour.

Whisk the yolks with half of the sugar until they are light and creamy. Fold in the chocolate and butter and add the almonds gently.

In a clean bowl whisk the whites with remaining sugar until firm peaks form then gently fold into the  the chocolate mixture.

Spoon into cake tin and bake for approx 25 mins. Take out of the oven and cover with a clean tea towel and alolw to cool. Dust with icing sugar or pipe "Caprese" on the top.