11 January 2011

The Russian revolution a piece of cake

Rumour has it that the story behind the well-known mouth-watering "Torta Caprese" has actually everything to do with Maxim Gorky, the Russian writer and revolutionary... at least this is what my mother-in-law told me. During his stay on the isle of Capri (1906-1913) he took on a local cook. Gorky ordered him to make a cake with butter, eggs, almonds and chocolate. Except for the name not a typical mediterranean torta. In fact a lemon cake would have been more appropriate. But that doesn't matter, that is history... the famous Torta Caprese was born. The same goes for the Russian revolution, they say. According to tradition it was in Capri where the revolution was planned... during a game of chess between Gorky and Lenin... Or maybe over a cappuccino and a piece of Torta Caprese? Food can be very inspiring...


Torta Caprese


Ingredients
400 gr chopped almonds
270 gr butter
350 gr sugar
7 eggs
200 gr dark chocolate


Preparation
Mix the butter and the sugar until creamy. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites. Add the egg yolks to the butter mixture (one at a time) and stir well. Melt the chocolate au bain-marie. Add the almonds and and the melted chocolate to the egg and butter mixture. Whip the egg whites and gently fold the mixtures together. Pour it  into a greased and floured cake tin and bake in the oven for 45 minutes at 160 °C. Cover with powdered sugar.


Buonissima with a scoop 
of vanilla ice cream... heaven!!!


No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...