Caprese cake recipe

I like to define caprese cake as the Italian brownie, said Angelo Coassin. It was invented in 1920 by a pastry chef from the island of Capri. The story goes that he accidentally forgot to add the flour when he was making a cake, and what resulted was so delicious that it became the island's signature dessert.

Ingredients:

• 300g dark chocolate, finely chopped
• 220g unsalted butter 
• 5 large eggs, separated
• a pinch of salt 
• 220g caster sugar 
• 150g almond flour 
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• icing sugar, to finish

Method:

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• Preheat the oven to 170°C fan, and line a 22cm baking tin with parchment.
• Place the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and melt in the microwave on high in three to four 20-second bursts, stirring between each one. Set aside to cool.
• In a large bowl, whisk the egg whites with the salt for a couple of minutes, or until firm.
• In another bowl, combine the egg yolks and the sugar and whisk until fluffy. Add the chocolate and butter mixture, along with the almond flour and vanilla, and mix until smooth.
• Gently fold in your egg whites, then transfer to the tin. Bake for 45 minutes until the top of the cake starts to crack and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out pretty clean.
• Allow to cool in the tin, then serve with some icing sugar dusted on top. Buon appetito!

Taken from Cook Like a Real Italian by Angelo Coassin, published by Hardie Grant at £24. To buy from The Week Bookshop for £18.99, visit theweekbookshop.co.uk.