Flourless Chocolate Almond Cake (Torta Caprese)
Torta Caprese is an Italian flourless chocolate almond cake dessert. Toasted almond flour makes a difference. You need only 5 ingredients and it’s gluten-free!
Originated from the island of Capri in Italy, Torta Caprese is a flourless chocolate almond cake made with toasted almond flour. It is known to be a popular dessert in Naples.
Since there is no gluten in it, it is a perfect gluten-free dessert for those who are in the gluten-free diets. Besides with only 5 ingredients, it is a super easy cake to make.
If you have an intense chocolate craving, this light yet intense chocolate cake will satisfy your yearning.
Recipe Tip
Toast the almond flour, period! It makes a huge difference in the taste. Although it has one extra step of toasting the almond flour, it is super easy and worth extra effort. You will love the deep nuttiness it adds to the cake.
Watch Video Tutorial
Only 5 ingredients
You only need 5 ingredients total;
- chocolate
- almond flour
- butter
- sugar
- egg
Powdered sugar is for dusting purpose. You can omit that step if you wish not to use.
- Chocolate: Use a good quality chocolate. I use bittersweet chocolate and melt with butter in a double boiler. Your can certainly use semi-sweet chocolate instead and reduce the amount of sugar accordingly.
- Almond flour: I highly recommend to toast the almond flour. Toasting the almond flour is no brainier work. Put the required amount of almond flour in a skillet over med-low heat and stir intil you see the color turn golden brown. Then remove from the heat and transfer the flour in a bowl to cool down. You will love the nuttiness of toasted almond flour in the cake
- Eggs: Separate egg yolks and whites. The yolks goes into the chocolate butter mixture. Beat egg whites to turn into meringue and fold into the batter.
More Chocolate Desserts
Flourless Chocolate Almond Cake
Recipe Video
Ingredients
- 2 cups almond flour
- 8 oz bittersweet chocolate, broken into pieces
- 3/4 cup butter, cut into pieces
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 4 eggs, separated
- powdered sugar for dusting
Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Grease a 9-inch springform pan.
- Place a skillet over med-low heat. Add the flour and toss around frequently with a wooden spatula until the flour turns its color to golden brown, about 3-4 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and transfer the flour into a bowl; let it cool.
- Put chocolate and butter in a heat proof mixing bowl and place it in a double boiler over simmering water, and let them melt; about 2-3 minutes, string occasionally. Remove from the heat.
- Add the sugar to the chocolate butter mixture and mix well. Add the egg yolks and mix well. Add the toasted almond flour; mix well.
- In another mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Put the egg whites into the chocolate and egg yolk mixture, and fold together.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared springform pan. Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes or a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean with a few moist crumb attached. Let the cake cool completely and dust with powdered sugar.
So why did I toast almond flour????
I have to tell you a funny story about your recipe! I was looking for a recipe for almond and chocolate cake so I tried this one. I do hope you remembered to put your almond flour in at some stage because I don’t see when to do that in the directions! So I followed the directions, put the cake in the oven and proceeded to clean up and that is when I saw the almond flour on the counter, cooling away! I let it the cake cook as it was. The end result is that the cake is rather cracked. I tasted a bit and it seems fine. It is for dessert for Christmas dinner tomorrow. I plan to serve it with whipped cream and raspberry jam, topped with chocolate chips. I may have accidentally stumbled on a fine chocolate cake! Sans almond flour! Many thanks and a Merry Christmas.
Oh, No!!! I can’t believe that I forgot to mention the almond flour in the recipe card. So sorry about that and thanks for letting me know. I think you just made the flourless cake and it is good as is. Hope you get to enjoy the almond flour version this time.
Thanks to you as well and wish you a very merry Christmas!
I love cakes like this — so luscious. This looks great — moist and flavorful. Thanks!