Well, that’s what this blog post is for! Keep reading as we explore the history and origin of this cake, what it contains, give you serving suggestions, and so much more. 

Key Takeaways

• Torta Caprese is a traditional Italian cake that originated on the island of Capri. The true story of its creation is unknown, but people believe it to have been created between the 1920s to 1930s.
• The cake is made with ground almonds, sugar, butter, and chocolate and is typically gluten-free.
• Torta Caprese is often served with whipped cream or gelato.
• There are many variations of Torta Caprese, including versions with added liqueur or citrus zest.
• Torta Caprese is relatively easy to make at home, but it’s important to use high-quality ingredients and follow the recipe closely to ensure the best results.

So… What is Torta Caprese?

Torta Caprese is a traditional Italian chocolate cake that is named after the island of Capri. That answers the question, “Why is it called Caprese?” Why the word “torta”, though? 

Well, it’s not the Mexican or Filipino term for sure. Check out what Google Translate says:

Now, what makes it special, you ask? Well, the fact that it’s a flourless chocolate cake! 

So yes, in case you were wondering, a flourless cake is totally possible. You won’t see any Italian 00 flour in this chocolate cake recipe! The batter of this particular cake has chocolate and almonds, as well as butter, sugar, and eggs. 

And if you’re wondering what the result is of a cake without flour, well, it’s delicious, to say the least. You’ll get a cake with a crispy exterior and a soft, moist interior. But what does torta caprese taste like, you ask?

Well, It has a dense, moist, fudgy texture with a very deep chocolatey flavor. The almond flour in the cake adds a slightly nutty flavor that goes well with the chocolate. Chocolate lovers will really enjoy it.

You can eat the cake on its own, or add extra flavor and taste with whipped cream, fresh berries, or vanilla ice cream. Either way, you’re in for a treat!

Did we mention that it’s gluten-free? It’s not a keto dessert, though.

The Origins of Torta Caprese

We all know that this chocolate almond flourless cake is from Italy. But what’s the story behind it? 

Well, there’s no definitive Torta Caprese history, but there are awesome stories about it! For example:

• One story goes that in 1920 Capri pastry chef Carmine di Fiore was preparing an almond cake for three American gangsters who were visiting Capri. Because of his intense concentration, he forgot to add flour. To his astonishment (and probably thankfulness), the cake turned out to not only be delicious but became a unique delicacy. Apparently, though, no one in Capri knows this version!
• Another version of the story above refers to an unnamed baker who ran out of flour or forgot to add flour while making a cake for a tourist. It’s a less exciting version, agree?
• One more account says that the invention of this Italian chocolate cake was because of Neapolitan chefs who were asked to make a Sacher cake (one of many chocolate desserts of Austrian origin) by the King of Naples’ Austrian wife. They didn’t and instead, improvised by making an almond flourless cake. Good thing the wife liked it, eh?

Whatever the true story of the cake is, we can all be sure of one thing: Italians—and the rest of the world—are grateful that it’s around! 

How do you make torta caprese?

At this point, there are probably many variations of this chocolate cake recipe, but here’s an overview of what you’ll need and the process you’ll go through.

At this point, there are probably many variations of this chocolate cake recipe, but here’s an overview of what you’ll need and the process you’ll go through. This Torta Caprese recipe is for a 22 cm (8.5 inches) cake.

Torta Caprese Ingredients

You’ll need the following:

• 200g or 7 oz of chopped dark chocolate, 
• 200g or 7 oz diced unsalted butter
• 200g or 7 oz of blanched almonds or almond flour. You can also try almond meal but you have to make sure it’s very fine.
• 200g or 7 oz of granulated sugar
• 4 eggs, separated
• A pinch of salt
• Powdered sugar for dusting

Tools

The basic rules of baking include having the proper equipment to achieve baking perfection. So make sure you have these:

• A 22 cm or 8.5-inch cake pan
• Some parchment paper or butter/cooking spray for greasing the pan
• A heatproof bowl
• A large mixing bowl
• Spatula or wooden spoon
• Electric mixer (optional) or whisk for beating the egg whites
• A wire rack for cooling the cake
• Bowls

Baking the cake

Ready to get baking? Here’s what to do next:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C or 50°F.  Grease your cake pan with butter or cooking spray.

2. Melt the chocolate and butter together in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir occasionally until the melted chocolate and butter look smooth.

3. In a separate bowl, mix the almond flour and sugar until they’re fully combined.

4. Add egg yolks to the almond mixture and mix with a whisk or your stand mixer until you get a mixture that is pale and fluffy.

5. Fold the melted chocolate and butter into the almond mixture. Make sure it’s fully combined!

6. In another bowl, whisk your egg whites together with salt until stiff peaks form. After that, gently fold the egg whites into the earlier chocolate mixture. When it’s fully combined, proceed to the next step.

7. Pour the batter into your cake pan. Smoothen the top as much as possible with the spatula.

8. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

9. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

10. Make sure you have dusted it with powdered sugar before serving. This is entirely optional though.

And there you have it – a delicious and easy recipe for making Torta Caprese! Feel free to adjust the Torta Caprese recipe depending on the size of your available cake pans.

Torta Caprese serving suggestions

This Italian chocolate cake is a very versatile dessert that can be served in many different ways, such as:

With whipped cream: Whipped cream or whipping cream is a perfect complement to Torta Caprese’s rich and chocolatey flavor. Top the cake with a dollop of whipped cream, or serve it on the side.

With fresh berries: Fresh berries like raspberries or strawberries not only add a pop of color but also a bright and fruity flavor to the cake. Scatter them over the top of the cake, or serve them on the side.

Dust with powdered sugar: The powdered sugar gives Torta Caprese an elegant and festive look. Dust over the top of the cake before serving.

With vanilla ice cream: Want to be sure you have an authentic Torta Caprese recipe? Serve it with a ball of vanilla ice cream. Hey, if restaurants in Capri are doing it, why not you, right?

Torta Caprese Variations

The traditional Torta Caprese is delicious already. But if you feel like it, there are many ways to modify it and create new flavor combinations. Here are a few ideas.

Add orange or lemon zest: Adding citrus zest to the batter gives Torta Caprese a fresh, zesty flavor that pairs well with the chocolate. Grate the zest of one orange or lemon and stir it into the batter before baking.

Make a white chocolate version: If you prefer white chocolate instead of dark, you can make a white chocolate Torta Caprese! Change up the dark chocolate for white, and follow the same procedure. That’s definitely a sight to be seen!

Add a shot of espresso: For an extra kick of flavor, add a shot of espresso to the batter. 

Keto: Hey, it’s already gluten-free, and it has almonds. Why not make a keto version of this cake? Just replace the sugar with a keto-friendly sweetener which you can see in this list and you’re good to go!

How to Store Torta Caprese

Since this Caprese cake is very indulgent, you may not want to finish the whole thing at once. That’s especially if you’re the only one eating! So what you can do for storage is to cover the remaining cake with plastic wrap to keep it fresh for an additional 3 to 5 days.

You can also freeze the cake. Cut it up into slices, then wrap and freeze each piece for better storage. It will last up to 3 months, but don’t forget it!

If you want to eat it once again, thaw the cake at room temperature for about an hour before serving.

Final Thoughts

Torta Caprese is a classic Italian dessert that will please any chocolate lover. While it’s delicious already in its original form, you can also serve it with whipped cream or other things to make it even more perfect. We encourage you to experience and enjoy this Italian chocolate dessert today!

Want to make a surefire delicious Torta Caprese?

Did this blog post inspire you to make your own Italian flourless chocolate cake? If you’re looking for a
Torta Caprese recipe that you will surely enjoy and succeed at making, we’ve got it here at The Bailiwick Academy.

Check out Chef Joey Prats’ Torta Caprese class!

For this course, you can be sure that you’ll get an authentic Torta Caprese recipe. Chef Joey wanted to remain true to the original Italian formula, so he had an associate fly in three cakes from three different Italian cities. And after 4 weeks of research, he had a recipe ready to roll out!

This variation is a leveled-up one that comes with a layer of dark chocolate ganache and strawberries. And while it’s definitely next level, Chef Joey made sure that you’ll have an easy and no-frills experience in preparing the recipe. 

So if you’re looking to add another chocolate cake recipe to your offerings, or simply to your baking repertoire, why not this one? Enjoy the moist, chocolatey, and delightfully nutty cake today! Sign up at The Bailiwick Academy now!

— 

Keep coming back to The Bailiwick Academy blog for more kitchen tips, tricks, and much more!

The post What is Torta Caprese? appeared first on Online Baking and Cooking Classes - The Bailiwick Academy.

You might be wondering about that very important question if one, you’ve been told to start keto by your doctor or your nutritionist, and two, you love eating sweet, sugary cakes.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but the usual cake batter for any cake flavor is not keto.

But here’s good news for you: if there are keto dessert foods, if there are different kinds of keto bread and keto meals, then there’s definitely such a thing as keto cake! And thanks to a lot of keto-friendly ingredients on the market these days, you’ll get plenty of flavors and cake recipes that you can be sure you’ll enjoy on your keto diet.

Let’s take a closer look at keto cakes, shall we?

What is a keto cake?

A keto cake is pretty much a cake. The difference between a keto cake with other cakes is that you don’t use traditional ingredients like flour. What is keto cake made of, you ask? Well, as mentioned above, keto-friendly ingredients such as almond flour, coconut flour, unsweetened chocolate chips, cocoa powder, coconut milk, heavy cream and so much more. 

Most importantly, what makes it keto is that its net carb is low compared to the usual cakes. Carbs are practically zero in any keto meal, and keto cakes are not exempted from that fact. 

Does it have sugar?

The answer is no. Brown or white sugar is not used on keto cakes. Nor do you use sweeteners like honey or maple syrup. Instead, the cake is sweetened with a sugar substitute like powdered sweeteners (Equal Gold or Stevia), or monk fruit. They’re sweet, but they’re sugar-free!

What cakes are keto friendly?

Any cake can be keto-friendly, as long as its ingredients are legit keto-friendly ingredients. It doesn’t matter what flavor it is (i.e. cheesecake, avocado) or how many cake layers it has! Remember, there are ingredients that can never be keto-friendly, like bananas. So before you eat any supposed keto cake, remember to research! You can also ask your nutritionist or doctors for a complete list of ingredients that fit your new diet.

Does it taste good?

If you’ve ever tasted anything keto before, we’d be willing to bet that you weren’t happy with it. For example, one bite might have left you wondering why do keto desserts taste so bad? Or why is my keto cake grainy? Or even just why don’t they taste good? If you check out this Reddit thread, you’d find others like you who are wondering the same thing and are looking for keto desserts that actually taste good.

Well, according to Keto.Global, most keto desserts don’t taste good because of the lack of ingredients, like sugar and flour. This particular lack, plus a change of ingredients (because you’re using keto substitutes, right?) may cause desserts to have a distinct flavor, texture, and look that aren’t necessarily appetizing. And some ingredients also have a more chemical taste or a bad aftertaste.

To fix this, what you do is basically to find the right balance of substitute and ingredients. It’s that simple. You might have to do a lot of experimenting but you’ll eventually find the right balance. Or you’ll have to try out a lot of keto stores. Once you find the store or bakery with the desserts you like, just keep buying there. Problem solved!

Is keto cake healthy?

If you’re a cake fanatic, you might be wondering, “How much keto cake can I eat?” Is there an amount where you can be considered to have eaten too much keto cake? 

Well, like we mentioned in previous blog posts about keto food, we’re not doctors or nutritionists. And the keto diet definitely has some unpleasant side effects. But we do know that because of the little to no sugar content of keto cakes, it’s definitely helpful for controlling your blood sugar content while still tasting something sweet.

And as for the amount of cake you can eat, the only thing we have to say about it is that too much of a good thing can be bad. Remember, you’re going on a keto diet to help you lose weight. But if you still eat too much food, you may be preventing your own weight or fat loss.

In short, we recommend you keep eating keto cakes as a treat. And again, consult your doctor or nutritionist!

Can you make a keto cake?

Now you might be wondering if you can just make your own cake instead of having to Google “is there a keto bakery near me.”

Well, the answer to that is yes, you can – with The Bailiwick Academy! 

We’ve just recently released new classes by Ms. Chiqui Ortiz Dingcong, and they’re all about making keto cakes!

Keto carrot cake

Carrot cake is one of those classics with plenty of different cake recipes. With Ms. Chiqui’s keto carrot cake class, you can enjoy the classic and stay on your diet! It’s low-carb, sugar-free, and has moist crumbs and delicious cream cheese frosting.

Keto red velvet cake

Here’s another favorite (and low carb) cake with cream cheese! And rest assured that with the recipe you’re going to learn, you’ll produce a moist, fluffy keto red velvet cake with the perfect balance of sweet and tangy!

Keto chocolate cake

Who doesn’t love chocolate cake? Whether you’re having a slice as a snack or you’re getting a whole one as your birthday cake, chocolate cake is always welcome. And when you enroll in the keto chocolate cake class, you’ll be able to produce one that’s moist, fudgy, luscious, and stick-to-your-teeth delicious! And yes, it’s low carb and free of regular like the two cakes.

With these recipes, we promise you won’t be Googling “why do keto desserts taste so bad” – guaranteed!

But why not learn all recipes for these low carb cakes?

Each class mentioned above costs Php1295. So if you multiply that by three, you get a total of Php3885. 

But because The Bailiwick Academy is behind you in turning your passion into profit, we packaged each keto cake recipe in one class! Check out our Keto Cakes class!

That’s right: Learn not one, not two, but all three guilt-free keto recipes by Ms. Chiqui. Not only will you say goodbye to the days of dry and tasteless sugar-free cakes, but you’ll also be able to cater to a brand new market of people looking for keto desserts, like these people in Singapore!

And we can tell you right now, you’ll be able to sell these cakes at premium prices.

Speaking of prices, you won’t get this class at Php3885. Instead, you’ll get it at a very discounted rate of only Php2995, AND you’ll also get a bonus recipe for Keto Condensed Milk! What a deal!

If you’re starting keto for the first time ever or just discovering keto, what better way to start than by learning and indulging in these keto cake recipes, right? You’ll be off to one sweet (but sugar-free!), delicious beginning!

What are you waiting for? Enroll in The Bailiwick Academy today!

The post Is Cake Keto? [and Other Keto Cake Questions 2022] appeared first on Online Baking and Cooking Classes - The Bailiwick Academy.