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Torta Caprese

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Torta Caprese

Torta Caprese

Chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate; I vowed to eat it everyday and in one form or another, I do. I absolutely ADORE dark chocolate and now that the medical field has found it healthy, I have a guilt-free addiction. Life is so good!

Probably like many of you, I have a bunch of gluten-free friends and coming up with yummy desserts that taste good aren’t always the easiest feat for me (I do make pasta for a living afterall). So when I played around with a recipe of a “torta caprese”, translation, chocolate and almond cake, which I learned in my beloved Italy, and it tasted good, I was completely jazzed!

For those of you who don’t know what torta caprese is, it’s this delicious chocolate almond cake from the island of Capri (doesn’t that fact just make you want to indulge)? The torta, it is a simple cake and was first created by the hospitality industry of the island primarily for tourists. It is traditional to the area and makes for a wonderful story to tell when you serve this little bit of chocolate heaven.

I usually top it with powdered sugar because I love a rustic looking cake but if you feel so compelled, I think whip cream would work beautifully especially with a little orange flower water or lemon zest.

So, when you feel like escaping for dessert in Capri, prepare this tort and transport yourself to the island….

Torta Caprese
 
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Ingredients
  • 10.5 Ounces - Dark Chocolate
  • 6 - Large Eggs, Separated
  • 1¾ + ⅛ Cup - Sugar
  • 1½ tsp. - Vanilla Extract
  • 1¾ + ⅛ Cup of Almond Flour
  • 10.5 Ounces of Butter, Melted & Cooled
  • Powdered Sugar for Dusting
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F. and lightly grease a 9 inch spring form pan.
  2. In a double broiler over medium heat, melt chocolate and butter together. Stir and remove from heat.
  3. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar and vanilla extract until pale and thick.
  4. Fold the chocolate, butter and almond flour into the egg yolk mixture.
  5. Use a clean bowl to beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks, then fold these into the chocolate almond mixture.
  6. Pour the batter into your prepared pan, and bake for about 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out of center with a little "fudgyness"
  7. Cool 20 minutes, then remove from the tin.
  8. Allow to cool to room temperature, then dust the top with powdered sugar or cocoa. Serve with whip cream

Torta Caprese

 

 

Molka Cake with Penuche Frosting

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Do you have that favorite childhood birthday cake recipe? Maybe it’s nothing more than a box cake with frosting out of a can but it brings back the BEST memories of days gone by? That time each year where for one day you feel special to the world…..and the birthday cake was the secret.

For me, I was blessed to get a homemade molka cake with penuche frosting. It came from my Dad’s side of the family, passed down several generations and still going. This is my ultimate cake fantasy ABOVE and BEYOND ANY other cake in the world. Not only is it dense, rich, moist, and delicious, it is jammed packed with memories of anticipation for each one of our birthdays as it was the ULTIMATE treat. I still have photos from all our birthdays with that molka cake as the centerpiece of the table. I don’t remember ONE gift I received but I remember that cake, perhaps that was my gift.

I have such fond memories of watching my mother, grandmother or great grandmother make this for each one of us children. We weren’t able to request it except on our birthdays so the anticipation almost exceeded everything. When I grew up and still got this as my cake of choice, it always met the expectation, always. Now, I make it for my nieces and nephews and it has become their favorite too.

As you read the ingredients, some of them might look peculiar….potato? Seriously? In a cake??? But because of this one ingredient, you will never worry about a dried out or overbaked cake, it keeps it moist and dense.

So, if you have someone special to bake a cake for whose recipe goes back over 100 years, this is a gem. Hopefully the memories you create will be as fond as the ones I remember…..

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Molka Cake with Penuche Frosting
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Serves: 8-10
Ingredients
  • Molka Cake:
  • 1½ cup sugar
  • 1 c butter or crisco (I prefer butter)
  • 4 T cocoa
  • 1½ cup mashed potato (russet) - boiled and pushed through a mesh strainer
  • 1 c buttermilk
  • 1 tsp. baking soda (in buttermilk)
  • 4 eggs, separated
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • ½ cup golden raisins
  • ½ cup chopped walnuts
  • Penuche Frosting: (recipe adapted to make 1½ quantity)
  • ¾ cup butter
  • 1½ cup brown sugar
  • ¼ cup + ⅛ cup whole milk
  • 2¾ - 3 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
  1. Molka Cake:
  2. In a sauce pan over medium heat, bring 2 russet potatoes to a boil and cook until very tender ( I cut in half and this will be a little more than you need for cake). Drain, cool, then put through mesh strainer and measure out 1½ cups.
  3. Turn oven onto 350 and grease and flour 2 cake pans.
  4. In a mixer, combine sugar and butter (or crisco) until light and fluffy, about 10 min.
  5. Add in the cocoa and potato and mix well.
  6. Add egg yolks and mix well.
  7. Pour milk into glass measuring cup and add soda and mix.
  8. Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl.
  9. Add the dry and wet ingredients, alternating between flour mixture and buttermilk mixture (start and finish with flour). Mix for 15 minutes or so.
  10. In a separate bowl, whip egg whites until stiff. Fold into batter.
  11. Add nuts and raisins and fold in.
  12. Pour mixture evenly between both cake pans.
  13. Cook for 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
  14. Penuche Frosting:
  15. Over medium heat on stove in a saucepan, melt butter.
  16. Stir in brown sugar and bring to boil and stir over heat for 2 minutes.
  17. Add milk and bring to boil stirring constantly.
  18. Cool to lukewarm and gradually mix in powdered sugar until spreadable frosting.
  19. *Note - Cake is easier to frost if it has been frozen and frosted frozen. Put in fridge til ready to serve.

 

Dried Fig and Hazelnut Biscotti

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I love to make biscotti any time of year but at Christmas especially, they make the BEST dunking cookies (well, along with the taralli wine cookies!) and with a hot cappuccino, I couldn’t ask for a happier breakfast.  The only problem is the number I consume due to how much I love them….

It brings me back to the times when my italian grandmother made them for us, she would have never varied from the traditional recipe of anise or almond but it didn’t matter because they were one of those delectables that I waited to have every time we went to her house for a visit. I can remember the old antique plate stacked full of biscotti waiting on the table when we arrived. I am not even sure I said hello or gave her a hug, I just made a bee line to that table. Of course no vin santo for us but milk did the trick when I was younger, she probably wished she would have given us a sip or two of vin santo when she agreed to watch all 8 of her grandkids together. Oh mama mia, poor lady!

Each year during Christmas baking, I change up the dried fruit and nut mixture which makes them seem like a whole new invention and a whole new invention needs A LOT of sampling, right? Works in my world…These particular biscotti really hit my happy button because they contain dried figs and hazelnuts, two of my favorite. I also added in a little fennel seed and drizzled with really good dark chocolate.  I thought about adding a little cinnamon but since fennel seed is so yummy and not used as much, I went that route and it was a beautiful discovery,  it is a happy dance in your mouth and washing down with cappuccino (maybe some vin santo for a evening treat) just starts your day right (or ends it right!). Seriously, these are an explosion of flavors, you will love it.

So forgive me nonna for veering away from tradition but I promise if you were here to try them, you would approve

5.0 from 1 reviews
Dried Fig and Hazelnut Biscotti
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Cookies
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 2½ dozen
Ingredients
  • Ingredients
  • 2¼ cups flour
  • 1½ tsp baking powder
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 tsp grated lemon zest
  • 1 tsp fennel seed
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • ¾ cup hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
  • ¾ cup dried figs, coarsely chopped
  • 12 ounces good-quality dark chocolate, chopped
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
  2. Line a heavy large baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk the flour and baking powder in a medium bowl to blend. Using an electric mixer, beat the sugar, butter, lemon zest, fennel seed and salt in a large bowl to blend. Beat in the eggs 1 at a time. Add the flour mixture and beat just until blended. Stir in the figs and hazelnuts.
  3. Form the dough into 2 logs. Bake until light golden, about 25-30 minutes. Cool for 30 minutes.
  4. Place the logs on the cutting board. Using a sharp serrated knife, cut the log on a diagonal into ½ to ¾-inch-thick slices. Arrange the biscotti, cut side down, on the baking sheet. Bake the biscotti until they are pale golden, about 10-15 minutes. Transfer the biscotti to a rack and cool completely.
  5. Stir the chocolate in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water until the chocolate melts. Drizzle the chocolate over the biscotti. Refrigerate until the chocolate is firm, about 35 minutes.

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