Dell’Anno says: “Torta Caprese owes its name to the beautiful and romantic island of Capri, just off the coast of Naples, from which it originates. The recipe is naturally gluten-free: in fact, the story goes that this cake is the result of a mistake made at the beginning of the 20th century by a local chef who, in a hurry, forgot to add flour to his batter.

The result is a light and flavoursome cake with a crispy, delicate skin and a moist centre. Some modern variations use ready-made ground almonds, but I find that blitzing whole unblanched almonds together with the chocolate chips delivers a better, more rustic, texture while preserving the freshness and flavour of the nuts.”

Serves up to 14 for a 27cm (10 ¾ in), 5cm (2in) deep cake tin.

Ingredients

Cornflour (cornstarch), for dusting
200g (1½ cups) whole unblanched almonds
150g (5½oz) dark chocolate chips (50–55% cocoa solids)
40g (scant ½ cup) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
180g (¾ cup) unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
180g (1 cup) caster (superfine) sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
½ tsp natural almond extract
2 tbsp dark rum
250g (9oz) egg (about 5 medium eggs) at room temperature, separated
Pinch of salt
Icing (confectioners’) sugar, for dusting

Method

Set the shelf in the middle of the oven and preheat it to 170°C (340°F/Gas mark 3). Grease the bottom and sides of the tin with butter and dust with cornflour. I recommend also lining the bottom of the tin with a disc of baking paper as this will ensure a smoother cake top.

Grind the almonds and chocolate chips in a food processor at high speed for about 1 minute until the mixture looks gritty. It is fine to leave some coarser bits of almond in the mix: these will give the cake a pleasant bite.

Sift the cocoa powder and the baking powder into the almond and chocolate mixture and combine well with a spoon. Set aside for later. On a warm day, the dry mixture might clump up, so make sure that all clumps are broken up before moving on to the next step.

Soften the butter in the microwave until creamy but not liquid; 10–20 seconds should be enough. Add the softened butter to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Add half of the sugar, the vanilla, almond extract and rum, and whisk the mixture until soft and creamy. Start at very low speed and gradually increase to full speed as the butter softens. Incorporate the egg yolks one at a time and keep beating at high speed until pale and fluffy. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with the salt using a handheld electric whisk until foamy. Gradually add the remaining sugar to the egg whites and keep beating to make a stiff meringue. Do not over-beat the whites or it will be more difficult to incorporate them into the batter: the meringue should form stiff, shiny peaks but not look dry and clumpy.

Add one third of the dry mixture and one large spoonful of meringue to the yolk and butter cream and keep folding until well combined. Repeat twice more until all the dry mixture has been added. Incorporate the remaining meringue, gently folding it into the batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin, gently flatten the top and immediately bake for 55 minutes–1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Don’t be tempted to over-bake this cake: the skin should be crispy, but the core should remain moist. Leave the cake to cool in the tin on a wire rack for about 1 hour.

Pass a blunt knife around the sides of the tin and turn the cake upside down over a cooling rack to cool completely. Transfer to a serving plate and dust with a generous amount of icing sugar. You can add a simple but effective finish by placing a few fabric ribbons over the cake and using them as stencils before dusting it with icing sugar. Store under a cake dome for up to 3–4 days or freeze for up to a month.

You could also try…

The best bakeries in Naples serve Torta Caprese as individual servings baked in hemispherical moulds, so why not give it a try?

Giuseppe’s Italian Bakes: 3 delicious Italian cake recipes from Giuseppe Dell’Anno