This is Lemon Torta Caprese, is often called Torta Caprese Bianca in Italy so as not to confuse it with the popular variant made with dark chocolate. This version is made with white chocolate and lemon as it’s name suggests. It is dense, delicious, naturally gluten free, and not too hard to make. Did you know Caprese just meant “Capri-style”. Enjoy this delicious lemon torte with tea, coffee, on on its own as a delicious dessert.
Lemon Torta Caprese (Torta Caprese Bianca al Limone)
Equipment
- 1 9 inch springform pan
Ingredients
- Ingredients
- 340 grams ground blanched almonds almond flour
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 170 grams white chocolate chopped
- 170 grams white sugar
- 170 grams unsalted butter diced at room temp
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 large eggs separated
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice + more for brushing
- 1 tablespoon limoncello substitutes include brandy, orange liqueur, bourbon, more lemon juice
- zest of 2 lemons
To garnish
- icing sugar
- candied lemons
Instructions
- Prep your pan. In a 9 inch springform pan (removable bottom) butter well and line the bottom with a circular piece of parchment paper. Do not skip this step.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- In a microwave safe bowl, add your butter and white chocolate and place in the microwave. I microwave in increments of 20 seconds so as not to over heat the white chocolate and butter. Take it out when it is mostly melted and mix to combine and used residual heat to melt any solid pieces of chocolate or butter. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl add your dry ingredients. Add your almond flour, cornstarch and salt and mix and set aside.
- Your eggs should be separated into yolks and whites. Add a tablespoon of total sugar in this recipe to your egg whites and beat using a hand mixer, stand mixer or a whisk until they are firm. They should form firm peaks and stay in bowl when it is inverted. Set aside.
- Take your egg yolks, in a separate bowl, and add the remainder of the sugar and bean until light and thickened. If your hand mixer is on medium-high speed this will take about 3 minutes. Set aside.
- To your dry ingredients add your lemon zest, liqueur of choice (like limoncello), lemon juice (I usually sneak in an extra tablespoon of lemon juice – 3 tablespoons total lemon juice) and mix. You can also increase the amount of limoncello (because it also has that beautiful lemon flavour) and remove a tablespoon of lemon juice. Overall, you want a total of 3-4 tablespoons of liquid going into the cake so mix and match. The mixture will be thick.
- Add your melted butter and white chocolate and mix until combined.
- Next add your egg yolks and sugar in and mix well with a stand mixer until combined.
- Finally, fold I your egg whites. It will seem hard to fold in the thick whites but use a large wooden spoon to help and keep the folding technique until they are combined and the mixture is uniform and more runny.
- Our your batter into your prepared pan and place on your middle oven rack. Bake for 45-50 minutes. Check after 40 minutes so it does not burn. My cake is usually only in the oven for just under 45 minutes, my oven runs hot. Because of the almonds in this cake, the cake does brown a decent amount so use your senses – sense of smell – to make sure the cake is not over-browning. Oven temperatures are not precise.
- Remove your cake from the oven, and you can test doneness with a tooth pick. It should come out with a few crumbs.
- I brush my cake with more lemon juice (about 3 tablespoons to 1/4 cup more) but this is only because I want this torte very tart. This is completely optional and if this is your first time making the cake, I recommend skipping this, tasting the cake when it is cooled and adjusting to your taste on your next bake.
- Let cool completely.
- Dust icing sugar over your cake and I decorated with some homemade candied lemons.
- Slice and enjoy!
- This cake is dense, depending on your combination of liquid added (limoncello, vs, lemon juice alone, other liqueur) your cake will be more or less lemony.
- It is dense, delicious and keeps very well. I store at room temp in with a glass lid over the cake. You can place yours in an airtight container. My cake keeps for about 5 days if it is not eaten before then.
Notes
For this recipe, weighing will produce a more accurate result and a tastier cake.
Love this recipe and I’ve made it a few times already.
So glad you liked it! It’s absolutely delicious so I can see why it is a repeat