One version of the famous Italian dessert is Torta Caprese. In the original recipe, Torta Caprese is a dessert consisting mainly of almonds and chocolate. This recipe uses white chocolate, almonds and olive oil.
What makes this recipe unique is that the author is an Italian pastry chef, and the recipe was shared with me by a girl who lives in Italy, in the region of Lombardy, in the province of Brescia.
INGREDIENTS
- 200 gr. roasted almonds
- 80 gr. white chocolate
- 120 gr. powdered sugar
- 60 g. sugar
- 50 gr. potato starch
- zest of one lemon
- 5 g. baking powder
- 4 large eggs (270 gm)
- 100 ml. extra virgin olive oil
- A few drops of vanilla extract
- A little butter to grease the tin
white chocolate ganache:
- 70 ml. 33% cream
- 100g white chocolate
Instructions
It’s best to use peeled almonds – blanched (but I just had roasted ones, I didn’t peel them). Grind the almonds in a blender. Mix the almond flour with the starch, powdered sugar and baking powder.
One important point – be sure to sift the powdered sugar through a fine sieve. You’d be surprised, but there are always lumps or clumps that we don’t need.
Grate the white chocolate with a fine grater and put it in the freezer for a while.
Separately, beat the eggs and sugar until the egg mixture has increased in volume and lightened in color. Pour a thin stream of olive oil into the egg mixture, add the vanilla extract and grated chocolate. In two or three steps, incorporate the dry mixture, stirring with a spatula from bottom to top. Add the lemon zest.
Butter the baking tin and lightly dust it with flour. Place the dough in the form and bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees C for 5 minutes. Then lower the oven temperature to 160 C and bake the cake for another 45 minutes.
Prepare the white chocolate ganache – bring the cream to a boil and dissolve a bar of chocolate in it. Add the cream to the chocolate while it is hot, otherwise the chocolate may curdle, forming kernels. Cover the cooled cake with ganache.
The cake is great, soft, melts in your mouth. It tastes like almond cookies or baklava. I was happy with the result. My husband said it was the most delicious dessert he has ever tasted.
If you can find candied lemon peels, use them instead of the zest (they are listed in the original recipe for White Caprese Cake).
