Torta Barozzi

Flourless, shallow and deliberately underbaked, so it sets as it cools rather than in the oven.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg, dairy (butter).

Ingredients

• 200 g dark chocolate, 70 per cent, chopped
• 150 g butter, plus a little for the tin
• 150 g caster sugar
• 100 g ground almonds
• 30 g cornflour
• 4 eggs, separated
• 3 tablespoons strong espresso, cold
• 2 tablespoons dark rum
• 1 tablespoon cocoa
• icing sugar, to dust

Method

1. THIS IS MY OWN VERSION. The cake is associated with a single pasticceria and published recipes differ, so the page does not pretend to be theirs. What it does keep is the character: no flour, very dark, very short, and baked shallow.
2. Butter a 20 by 28 cm shallow tin and line the base.
3. Melt the chocolate and butter together over a pan of barely simmering water, then take it off and let it cool to warm.
4. Whisk the yolks with 100 g of the sugar until pale, then stir in the chocolate, the espresso and the rum.
5. Fold in the almonds, cornflour and cocoa.
6. Whisk the whites to soft peaks, add the last 50 g of sugar and whisk to a glossy medium peak. Fold a third in to loosen, then the rest in two goes.
7. Bake at 160C for 32 to 36 minutes. TAKE IT OUT WHILE THE MIDDLE IS STILL SOFT -- a skewer should come out sticky, not clean. Baked until clean it is a dry chocolate sponge, which is the one thing this cake is not.
8. Cool completely IN THE TIN. It falls slightly and firms to a dense, fudgy short texture as it goes cold. Dust with icing sugar and cut small.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes