Torta Caprese

Named after the island of Capri, torta caprese is a low, round cake made mainly from almonds and chocolate. Beneath the white powdered sugar lies a thin, dry crust, while the inside keeps a moist crumb that holds fine particles of nut. The island’s artisans achieve a density unlike that of a light sponge through their proportions and the way they bake it. Several origin stories overlap in this cake, from a legend about forgotten flour to the theory that it was devised at a seaside guesthouse.

A Batter Built on Almonds, and Differences in How It Is Mixed

The proportions of almonds, chocolate, butter, eggs and sugar, and the way they are mixed, differ according to each artisan’s recipe (the proportions of ingredients and the method of making). The finely ground nuts are not pieces that occasionally meet the teeth; they create the flavor of the whole batter and a crumb that comes apart easily.

The recipe of Bar Grotta Azzurra on the island uses 250 grams of chocolate for every 500 grams of almonds. Using the whole-egg method, in which the yolks and whites are not separated, the eggs are gradually mixed into the butter and sugar, which are then combined with the almonds, melted chocolate, rum and vanilla.

In the method that Sal De Riso publishes through Crispo, butter, sugar and egg yolks are whipped, and the egg whites are whipped separately with sugar. After the two foams are combined, almond flour and other ingredients are mixed in along with shaved chocolate. Compared with methods that use whole eggs and melted chocolate, both the way air is incorporated and the form of the chocolate differ.

De Riso’s recipe also includes roasted hazelnuts, cocoa, potato starch and a small amount of leavening agent. The almond flour and starch refine the crumb, and the batter rises not only from the egg foam but also from the small amount of leavening agent.

Some versions combine two kinds of nuts. The method that Tsuji Culinary Institute published in Japan uses equal amounts of almond flour and toasted, chopped walnuts. Melted chocolate is mixed into the butter, and then the whole eggs, almond flour and walnuts are added in that order, so no separately whipped meringue is made. The fine flour and the chopped nuts give the batter its crumb and its bite, respectively.

A Dry Surface, a Moist Center

During baking, the center is cooked through while still retaining moisture. Because overbaking would cause that texture to be lost, the artisans at Grotta Azzurra also place importance on the balance between the outside and the inside. After baking, the cake is left to settle, removed from the pan and finished with a dusting of powdered sugar. A thin crust encloses the moist interior packed with nuts and chocolate.

That shop also mentions serving it with ice cream, cocoa and whipped cream. De Riso’s products also include pairings with vanilla ice cream or a chocolate sauce containing sour cherries. Each is a plate on which the rich cake is accompanied by something of a different temperature or acidity.

In the Tsuji Culinary Institute dish introduced in Japan, the cake is served with a jam made by cooking lemon flesh with sugar and with unsweetened whipped cream. Unlike methods that work lemon into the batter, this presentation sets the acidity alongside the brown cake so that the two are combined as it is eaten.

Proportions That Differ Between Homes and Shops, and Island Scenes Drawn in Powdered Sugar

Caprese is a product sold by pastry shops and also a cake baked in island homes. Some households use more almonds to bring out a toasty aroma, while some artisans make the chocolate more intense. Some bake it tall and soft, others low and with a clean bite. In 2019, the island journalist Marco Milano wrote that homes and shops alike have their own proportions, and that in recent years the balance of flavor has shifted from almond-based versions toward methods that strengthen the chocolate. Even among the island’s makers, preferences differ over which ingredient should take the lead.

Powdered sugar does more than whiten the surface; it also serves as a material for drawing lettering and island scenery. When a stencil is placed on the cake, dusted with powdered sugar and then removed, a pattern appears through the contrast between the brown cake and the white areas. In 2022, a stencil was also made depicting the Faraglioni, the sea stacks of Capri, together with the moon and the word “Caprese.” Sal De Riso’s workshop also gives customers a small packet of powdered sugar and a stencil of the sea stacks. Before eating, customers can finish the decoration depicting the island themselves.

The Legend of the Forgotten Flour, and a Theory Linked to Postwar Chocolate

The most frequently told story is that around 1920, the artisan Carmine Di Fiore forgot to add the flour. One version adds that he was working in a hurry because three Americans had come to the island as emissaries of Al Capone. The cookbook Il Cucchiaio d’Argento also includes the story of the forgotten flour as a tradition, but it is an origin story that links an island artisan with foreign guests.

Another theory traces the beginning to ingredients available after the Second World War. A local article based on interviews with island cooks explains that it may have been a cake created using chocolate brought in by American soldiers. The forgotten flour and the postwar chocolate differ both in era and in what prompted the cake to be made.

Another tale of a mistake is set at Fontelina, a seaside establishment. In the story handed down in Claudio Novelli’s book on Capri cuisine, a stand-in cook named Capocchiella, worn out, mixes up the flour and the cocoa and dozes off while the cake bakes. When he wakes, the scent of chocolate fills the air; unable to make it again, he serves it to the guests, and because it is well received, it comes to be called by the island’s name. The story differs from Di Fiore’s in both the person involved and the nature of the mistake.

A Theory of Its Invention at a Seaside Guesthouse, and a Queen’s Legend Whose Dates Do Not Match

In accounts that do not begin with a mistake, the almonds and chocolate are combined intentionally. The July 2010 issue of the magazine Yacht Capri carries the theory that the cake was devised in the early 1930s at the Strandpension Weber in Marina Piccola. Two Austrian women, heirs of the painter August Weber, are said to have combined Mediterranean almonds with northern chocolate.

Set in an even older court is the story of Maria Carolina, Queen of Naples. In the version related in 2022 by Emmanuele Cuomo, a culinary expert from Campania, the queen longed for the Sachertorte of her homeland. Neither the queen nor the cook knew the exact ingredients, and while they tried to recreate it from a description, a different and delicious cake came into being.

This story contains a chronological contradiction. Maria Carolina died in 1814, while the origin of Sachertorte is placed in 1832, so the story that she longed for it does not fit the dates. An artisan, American soldiers, the women of the guesthouse, a queen and her cook: a wide range of people appear in the stories about the cake’s origin.

Capreses Made with Lemon or White Chocolate

De Riso’s “Caprese al limone della Costiera” makes use of lemons and extra-virgin olive oil. Artisans on the Amalfi Coast also make capreses that bring out citrus flavor in place of the intense taste of chocolate.

In Anacapri, on the island itself, there is also the “caprese sbagliata.” In the methods of the shops and households that local journalist Marco Milano covered in 2021, the dark chocolate is replaced with white chocolate and the almonds are ground with their skins on, so the baked cake turns beige. The “anacaprese,” which the former cook Antonio distinguishes from it in the same article, uses lemon and skinned almonds.

Sbagliata means “mistaken.” The name alludes to the Negroni sbagliato, a cocktail in which an ingredient is substituted, and, separate from the legend of the forgotten flour, it is used for a cake whose ingredients were deliberately changed.

A Low-Moisture Cake for the Beach, and Cake on a Stick

Older ideas for taking the cake to the seaside have also been handed down. Milano reports that in Marina Piccola in the 1950s, a cake that was not creamy and contained less moisture was made so that it would be easy to eat while sea bathing in summer. Today’s moist center is not the only form of the cake that has been described on the island.

The way it is eaten also changes. Eugenio Manari, a pastry chef whom Milano interviewed in 2022, makes the cake on a stick, like an ice pop. It is not frozen ice cream but a slice that can be held while walking through the lanes or heading to the sea. There is a black version made with dark chocolate and a white version made with lemon, and beyond being served on a plate, it has also become a sweet to eat while walking around the island.

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