Torta Caprese--Rich Chocolate Almond Torte

I almost forgot about this delightful cake until my recent visit to Rome. And there I found it displayed in pastry shops and on the menu of restaurants, next to such classic desserts as tiramisu or semifreddo. I also had a chance to try a wonderful home-made torta caprese at a dinner I was invited to by my friend's family.

So today, for Valentine's Day which is all about chocolate treats, I share a recipe for torta caprese, which in essence is a very simple cake but its secret is that it must be made of best quality delicious ingredients.

Most often I make a traditional, most neutral, version of it with ground almonds. However, my favorite torta caprese is made with hazelnuts, especially those from Oregon, which give the cake that special gianduja flavor. Almonds can also be replaced by walnuts. And I recently bought ground cashews to experiment with them next time.

Torta caprese is made without flour (as the ground nuts make up for it entirely) so it is a gluten-free dessert. It is quite rich and moist but I add also some liqueur which gave it an extra flavor and moisture.

Torta caprese can be served with a scoop of good gelato or topped with a dollop of crème fraîche or whipped cream. Anyway, in whatever variation it is served, there is no one, and particularly no true chocolate lover, who will resist a piece of torta caprese.

Torta Caprese

Ingredients:
6 eggs, separated, preferably organic,
6 oz bittersweet good quality (preferably, Belgian) chocolate, broken in small pieces,
1 stick ( 1/2 cup) unsalted butter, plus extra tsp for the form,
3/4 cup sugar,
1 and 1/2 cup blanched and ground almonds (hazelnuts or walnuts),
2 tbsp Amaretto Liqueur, Frangelico, or Grand Marnier,
1 tbsp vanilla,
pinch of salt,
confectioners sugar for dusting.

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 350F. prepare a baking 9.5-inch baking form with high, removable walls. Cut out a round piece of waxed paper to the size of the form and place it at the bottom of the form. Grease it with a tsp of butter.
2. Place chocolate in a heat-proof bowl. Add butter cut into small pieces and melt either on top of a pot with steaming water or in a microwave oven. If you use a microwave oven, first run it for 30 seconds, then mix chocolate. Repeat again 3-4 times running the microwave oven for no longer than 15-20 seconds at a time, stirring in between with a spatula, until chocolate and butter make a smooth cream. Add vanilla and liqueur to the chocolate cream.

3. In a standing mixer, beat egg yolks with sugar until pale. Add melted chocolate and mix. Sift in ground almonds and mix gently again.
4. In a separate bowl, beat whites of eggs with salt until stiff. Fold the whites into the chocolate batter gently using a spatula. Transfer the batter to the baking form. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the top is set. Cool, dust the top with confectioners sugar, and serve with crème fraîche or vanilla gelato.

An Easy Chocolate Dessert

If you are craving for chocolate, this is your dessert. Easy and extremely satisfying. The original recipe calls for dark chocolate. However, for me, a lover of the milk and white chocolate, the original version was almost too intensive. So, my second edition of this cake was made using milk chocolate and I liked it better. But everyone who tried the first version loved it and raved about it as well.

The reason why this dessert is so rich and delicious is that it simply tastes as whipped chocolate to the point that it is hard to qualify it as a cake or even a mousse, so, for the lack of a better term, let me just call it a dessert. You cannot eat much of it so a small portion of it goes a long way. I decided to post this recipe today as the first in this year to start it with a burst of sweet indulgence.

Chocolate Dessert

Ingredients:
2 cups of heavy whipping cream plus an extra 1/2 cup for decoration,
1 lb (about 2 and 1/2 cup) of a good quality dark (or whichever) chocolate or chocolate chips,
2 tsp vanilla extract,
cocoa powder for dusting,

Preparation:
1. Line a small baking form (e.g., seven inch) with high walls, or a small bowl, with a clingfilm foil, so the foil overhangs from the wall.
2. Melt the chocolate over the pot with boiling water or in a microwave oven. If you use a microwave oven, do it for no longer than 30 seconds, several times, stirring in between each turn, until it is melted completely.

3. Whisk the heavy whipping cream with vanilla until stiff then add half of the chocolate. Gently fold it in. Add the rest of the chocolate.
4. Pour a chocolate mix into the baking form or a bowl lined with foil, so the edges of the foil stick out. Using a spreading knife finish the top of the dessert and let it chill in a refrigerator for at least two hours.

5. Beat the extra cream until stiff.
6. Remove the cake from the bowl by pulling the foil ends, Gentle remove the foil. Dust the dessert with cocoa powder.
7. Cut it in small triangles and serve with whipped cream.