A history of Flourless Cakes

A story from Italy tells of the possible history of Flourless Chocolate Cakes...

All over the Isle of Capri and along the Amalfi coast, I kept seeing these deep dark chocolate cakes.  More tempting than any siren, they called my name whenever I'd peep into pastry windows.  Being the devout chocoholic that I am, I had to have a sample, or two.  Like so many of the desserts of the Campania region, these are topped with a dusting of powdered sugar, just enough to brand my shirt or lap; the white insignia branding me a pastry lover. Doing some research into the making of this cake and its history, I found that there are three different stories about how the Torta Caprese was invented. Two common threads of all the stories are that it was invented on the Isle of Capri, and the cake was an accident.  A women making the cake for American gangsters forgot to add flour, or a sous pastry chef working on no sleep mistook flour for cocoa powder.  The last of the legends has a baker completely messing up the recipe and adding the almonds instead of flour.  Whatever mistake was made to create it, we should all be glad it happened.   Almond flavor blends with the chocolate. It's dense, decadent and delicious.  Restaurants serve it with a scoop of vanilla gelato, pastry shops serve it in a variety of ways.  The richest way I found was with a layer of ganache on top, then a sprinkling of the requisite powdered sugar.

Going back a bit further...

Tortes and pastries made with ground nutmeats (almonds and walnuts, pistachios and hazelnuts) are common in the Passover menus of Jewish communities around the world given the prohibition against foods that are considered leaven. Grains such as rye, spelt, wheat, barley, and oats, which can ferment, cannot be used to make baked goods to be eaten at Passover. Ground nutmeats, and potato starch, are then used instead.