Italian flourless lemon and white chocolate cake or Torta caprese al limone.Heaven on a plate right here and the third course of our Valentine's Day dinner.
I'm not really sure where the inspiration came from for this cake. I've never cooked anything like it before, but I am so glad I did. Usually, if I bake a cake or make a dessert, it involves chocolate. But I am learning and branching out and trying different flavours.
This cake was so moist and lemony and sweet and crunchy and lots of other great adjectives. Man of the house said it was 'something I could make again', mumbled around mouthfuls of cake, and the little people will eat anything that looks vaguely like a cake - not the most objective observers - but they liked it too. The house smelled wonderful while this was baking - lots of lemon and almond smells wafting from the oven. I liken it a bit to eating a lemon tart, but as a cake. That's what the flavour's reminded me of.
You could serve this as a dessert with a dollop of cream or natural yoghurt or make it for a morning tea with friends. It is a rich and dense cake, so you don't need a huge slice, but it is well worth the effort.
See our Valentine's entree and main course.
Buon San Valentino!
What you'll need
Made one large cake, approximately 12 to 14 pieces.200g butter, chopped into cubes
200g white chocolate, broken into bits
5 eggs, separated
200g caster sugar
Zest of three whole lemons
60ml lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla essence or seeds from one vanilla bean
360g almond meal
Extra butter to grease the cake tin
Icing sugar to dust
Thickened cream or yoghurt to serve
What to do
Melt and chocolate and butter together, either over very low heat in a saucepan or in the microwave. Once melted and combined, then set aside to cool slightly.
In a bowl, cream the sugar and egg yolks together with electric beaters until the mixture is pale and fluffy.
Add the lemon zest, juice and vanilla. Mix well to combine. Add the almond meal and chocolate mixture and stir with a spoon to combine.
In another bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold half the egg whites back into the chocolate mixture, mixing very gently. Now fold the remaining egg whites and fold until just combined.
Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin.
Place in the oven and bake at 180 degrees for 10 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 150 degrees and bake for another 75 minutes. Check if it is cooked using a wooden skewer inserted into the middle of the cake.
This cake is very dense due to the nuts so it will need all its cooking time, if not a little extra.
Once cooked, remove from the oven and let stand in the pan for 15 minutes. Then remove from the pan and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
To serve, sprinkle the cake with icing sugar and cut slices. Serve by itself or with a dollop of cream or natural yoghurt.
The outside and top of this cake crisped nicely, and the middle was luscious, moist and dense. The lemon flavour was strong, but I really like that. As I said, heaven on a plate!
Tip
The top of this cake will brown very quickly, so after 10 minutes baking you may want to place a piece of foil or baking paper on the top of the cake to prevent it from going too brown.
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