Lemon Torta Caprese (Torta Caprese Bianca al Limone)

This put up could include affiliate hyperlinks. Please see my full disclosure for particulars.

Hello Daring Bakers!

WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS RECIPE: My dreamy Lemon Torta Caprese recipe is an Italian gem, and when you’ve by no means heard of it, you’re in for a deal with! Moist and bursting with brilliant lemon taste, this simple cake from Capri, an island in Italy’s Bay of Naples, is a dream. This torte was an enormous win with my group once we examined the recipe—not only for the flavour, however for the tender, buttery texture. The key actually comes all the way down to the white chocolate, so please use a high-quality bar—I swear by Lindt for each taste and soften. Keep away from chocolate chips, as their high quality can fluctuate and they are often difficult and irritating to soften correctly.

• Sunshine on a plate: Each forkful of this citrus cake delivers dreamy Mediterranean vibes.
• Fuss-free: There’s a lot taste on this cake—you’ll be able to even skip the confectioner’s sugar on the highest.
• Naturally gluten-free: Everybody can take pleasure in this almond flour cake!
• Make it forward: This torte will get even higher when it sits for a bit.
• Easy, however elegant: This cake reads fancy, however it takes beneath half-hour to prep, and everybody (together with youngsters!) loves it.

Lemon is among the high go-tos in my baking rotation, particularly at the moment of 12 months, once we might all use a little bit of brightness and a burst of taste. Whereas we name this a cake, technically it’s a torte—a dessert made with out wheat flour. The mixture of almond flour, white chocolate, butter, and eggs provides it an irresistible creaminess, and a double dose of beautiful lemon taste—zest and juice—creates a very particular dessert.

My high tip for this recipe is to decide on your substances rigorously, particularly the white chocolate. For the most effective taste and texture, use a high-quality white chocolate bar, finely chopped. White chocolate chips include much less cocoa butter and received’t present the identical richness and taste. For extra lemon dessert recipes, you should definitely strive my No-Bake Lemon Meringue Cheesecake, Lemon Blondies, and Smooth Lemon Cookies with Zesty Lemon Glaze.

Desk of Contents

What’s Torta Caprese al Limone?

Lemon Torta Caprese (Torta Caprese al Limone) is a single-layer,  flourless Italian cake with a tender, custardy texture. This gluten-free cake, a variant of the unique torta caprese—a famed cake from Italy’s Capri island—is made with almond flour and will get its richness from white chocolate and its brightness from lemon zest and juice.

Legend has it that the unique Torta Caprese, made with darkish chocolate, was created when a baker in southern Italy mistakenly disregarded the flour from a cake recipe, leading to a melt-in-the-mouth dessert that shortly turned in style. Lemon Torta Caprese highlights the well-known lemons of southern Italy and affords a lighter, citrus take that’s easy sufficient for an on a regular basis dessert or to take pleasure in with espresso or tea, and elegant sufficient to serve at a celebration.

Key Elements and Substitutes

Almond flour

• Almond flour supplies the construction on this Torta Caprese al Limone.
• Moreover, the almond flour provides moisture, a pleasing texture, and a heat, wealthy, nutty taste.
• It’s fast and simple to make your personal almond flour.
• Substitute: you should use the identical quantity of hazelnut flour.

White chocolate

• White chocolate provides a buttery sweetness with a observe of vanilla.
• Importantly, the chocolate provides creaminess and construction to this flourless cake.
• Please use a high-quality white chocolate bar for this recipe. Decrease-quality white chocolate—and most white chocolate chips within the grocery store—include synthetic substances and don’t soften properly.

Lemon zest

• Lemon zest, from the citrus-oil-rich peel, provides deliciously intense taste.
• Importantly, the lemon cuts by the richness of the white chocolate, almonds, and butter.
• Substitute: Use orange zest as a substitute for a sweeter taste.
  • Observe: Don’t use extra lemon juice instead of the zest. The juice doesn’t have the identical concentrated taste, and it’ll make the cake too moist.

Granulated sugar

• Granulated sugar sweetens the cake.
• Moreover, sugar provides moisture, and whipping the sugar and butter helps aerate the cake.
• Substitute: Change half of the granulated sugar with gentle brown sugar for a heat caramel observe.

Butter

• Butter provides richness and creates a melt-in-the-mouth crumb.
• Moreover, butter provides taste.
• Substitute: If you happen to don’t have butter, you should use the identical quantity of a high-quality plant-based butter. Don’t use olive oil—it’ll make the cake greasy and unfastened.
  • Observe that dairy butter is essential to creating the right texture, and any substitute received’t yield the identical consequence.

Eggs

• Eggs bind the substances and provides the cake construction.
• Crucially, the eggs give the lemon torta its distinctive crumb.
• Be sure you use room-temperature eggs in order that they combine in easily.
• Substitute: If you happen to don’t have eggs, you should use 3 tablespoons aquafaba (liquid from cooked chickpeas) per egg. On this recipe, you’d substitute the 5 eggs with 3/4 cup aquafaba (6 fl oz/180 ml). If you happen to make this transformation, your cake shall be much less custardy, and extra mousse-like and delicate.
  • Observe that eggs give this cake its distinctive custardy texture, so utilizing a substitute received’t yield the identical consequence.

Lemon juice

• Lemon juice provides acidity, making the white caprese cake flavorful and brilliant.
• Importantly, citrus balances the cake’s sweetness and richness.
• Freshly squeezed lemon juice will give the most effective taste. Bottled juice is extra acidic, so when you use it, lower the quantity by 1 tablespoon.
•  Substitute: Swap the lemon juice for a similar quantity of orange juice.

Powdered sugar

• Powdered sugar provides the cake a completed, fairly look.
• The confectioner’s sugar is ornamental on this recipe—you’ll be able to skip it when you’d like.

The best way to Make Lemon Torta Caprese

1. Put together to bake: Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and butter and line a 9-inch (23 cm) springform pan with parchment paper. Put aside.
2. Course of the almond flour, chocolate, and zest: Add the almond flour, white chocolate, and lemon zest to the bowl of a meals processor and course of for about 1 minute, till the white chocolate is finely floor.

3. Add sugar and butter: Add within the sugar and butter to the chocolate combination and course of once more till mixed, about 30 seconds.

4. Whip with eggs: Switch the combination to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or use a big bowl and a handheld mixer) and add the eggs, one after the other, whisking on medium pace for about 1 minute per egg.

5. Add lemon juice: Lastly, combine within the lemon juice earlier than pouring the batter into your ready pan.

6. Begin baking at excessive warmth: Bake for 5 minutes at 400°F (200°C).
7. Decrease temperature and end baking: Cut back the oven temperature to 325°F (165°C) and bake for about 45 minutes, till a skewer or a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out principally clear with a number of moist crumbs hooked up.

8. Cool cake: Let cool within the pan for 10 minutes earlier than releasing the perimeters to let cool fully.

9. Serve and luxuriate in: Simply earlier than serving, mud the highest with powdered sugar and serve with whipped cream.

FULL (PRINTABLE) RECIPE BELOW! 

Gemma’s Professional Chef Suggestions

• If you happen to don’t have a meals processor, you’ll be able to soften the white chocolate, then whisk it with the almond flour, butter, and sugar.
• Please use good-quality white chocolate, not baking chips, which include synthetic substances and emulsifiers that stop them from melting properly.
• Use orange zest and juice as a substitute of lemon for a sweeter cake.
• You can also make this lemon white chocolate cake forward. It is a nice cake to make upfront as a result of the feel improves the subsequent day after resting and permitting the white chocolate and butter to set.
  • Mud the cake with powdered sugar simply earlier than serving.
• Begin the oven on 400°F (200°C), and decrease it to 325°F (165°C) after 5 minutes. This preliminary blast of warmth helps the cake rise with none chemical leaveners. Baking it at a decrease temperature for the remainder of the time preserves the custardy texture.
• For a chocolate model of this cake, you should definitely take a look at our Flourless Chocolate Almond Torte.

Make-Forward and Storage Directions

Make-ahead suggestions

• You can also make the cake forward and retailer it coated at room temperature for as much as three days.
• If you happen to’re making it forward of time, mud with powdered sugar proper earlier than serving.

The best way to retailer leftovers

• Retailer the Lemon Torta Caprese coated at room temperature for as much as three days.
• You can even freeze a well-wrapped cake for as much as 8 weeks. 

FAQs

Is that this cake gluten-free?

• Sure, this cake is of course gluten-free as a result of it’s made with almond flour.
• As well as, make certain the opposite substances are licensed gluten-free.

What can I do to make sure that my cake has a custardy, tender texture?

• To make certain your cake has a young, custard-like texture. Be sure you measure the substances accurately.
• Moreover, make certain the substances are at room temperature—chilly substances might trigger the combination to interrupt.
• Add the eggs one after the other. Speeding this step might make the cake dense.
• Don’t overbake the cake. It’s prepared when a skewer or skinny knife inserted within the center comes out with a number of moist crumbs.

How do I make certain my lemon cake will get the most effective rise?

• Begin baking in a sizzling oven after which decrease the temperature after 5 minutes. This provides the torte carry.
• Let the cake cool step by step to maintain it from sinking—wait 10 minutes earlier than releasing the skin ring of the pan.

The best way to Serve Lemon Torta Caprese

Extra Lemon Cake Recipes