A Classic Southern Italian Recipe – Torta Caprese

I’ve been thinking about chocolate a lot lately. For days, I’ve had my mind set on a dense chocolate cake. Perhaps a thick, gooey dark chocolate brownie, ice cream with hot fudge sauce, or a chocolate lava cake. Dark chocolate, too. Something downright sinful.

Disclaimer: Some of the links on Olives & Okra are affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you. As an Amazon affiliate, I may earn from qualifying purchases.

After days of craving it, I finally settled on making Torta Caprese, a flourless chocolate cake named after Capri, an island in Southern Italy located in the region of Campania. In this recipe, finely ground almonds replace flour, and six eggs create a dense body. Although it’s primarily a chocolate cake, it’s sometimes called a chocolate almond cake. For me, it has always been about the dense chocolate experience—hence my choice to make Torta Caprese.

You can make this torta with either unsweetened bitter chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate. Today, I had a large bag of semi-sweet baking morsels, so I went with those. Typically, I prefer using unsweetened bitter chocolate morsels and add a little extra sugar (about 1/4 cup). I melted the semi-sweet morsels and added a touch of Americana: 2 tablespoons of dark chocolate cocoa (which we are pretty fond of here).

There are also variations of this recipe. I’ve had Torta Caprese that includes whole chocolate chips, which makes it look like an oversized chocolate chip cookie. You could even add a shot or two of chocolate or orange liqueur for extra flavor.

Here’s how I make Torta Caprese:

1. Start by melting the chocolate morsels and set them aside to cool.
2. Pulse the almonds in a food processor until they are finely ground.
3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites (I refrigerate the egg whites until I’m ready to use them).
4. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Then add the egg yolks, cooled chocolate, dark chocolate cocoa, and almonds. Mix well.
5. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter, adding a couple of heaping spoonfuls at a time with a wooden spoon.

The cake is baked in a 9-inch springform pan (a cheesecake pan) coated with baking spray (I use Baker’s Joy). Alternatively, you can butter and flour the pan and line the bottom with parchment paper, but I find baking spray easier.

Bake the torta at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then transfer it to a cooling rack. Once the cake is completely cool, sprinkle confectioner’s sugar over the top.

I enjoy my cake with an ice-cold glass of skim milk. Yes, I know it seems like a contradiction—skim milk and chocolate cake—but it works for me!