Capri cake II

I'm always on a look out for a good Capri Cake (Torta Caprese) recipe...

Capri cake II
adapted from RaiUno
time: 15 min preparation + 25 min baking

ingredients
100 g (7 Tablespoons) butter, room temperature
100 g (2/3 cup) powder sugar, quantity divided
100 g (2/3 cup) almond meal
25 g (2 Tablespoons) potato starch
10 g (1 Tablespoon) cocoa powder
3 medium eggs, room temperature, yolks separated from whites
1/2 vanilla bean, split open, seeds removed
100 g (3.5 oz) dark chocolate (I used 50% cocoa), grated

method
Preheat oven to 170C/340F (fan forced function). Line a 26 cm (10 inch) baking form with parchment paper. To line a baking dish: I cut a piece of paper large enough, crush it between my hands, soak it under water, squeeze the water out, shake (gently) the paper to open and line the dish.

In a medium bowl, mix together almond meal, potato starch, cocoa powder and grated chocolate.

Using a standing mixer, beat butter with half the sugar and vanilla seeds (paddle attachment, 3 minutes, medium/high speed) till creamy. Add egg yolks, one at the time, till each incorporated. Turn the mixer off, using a rubber spatula, incorporate almond meal mix.

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites with the rest of sugar till smooth and glossy. Slowly, with a rubber spatula, incorporate them into the batter. Pour everything into the prepared form and bake for 25 - 30 minutes. The toothpick from the middle of the cake should come out clean but moist. Remove it from the oven, let it cool in the form for at least 15 minutes before taking a bite. I like to cover it with some extra cocoa on top.

notes

• this recipe included baking powder; well, I was out, I panicked a bit but decided to skip it anyway; the cake turned out fantastic: moist, delicate, almost creamy;
• the second time I made it, I did add powder; the cake turned out dry and less attractive all the way;
• grating a chocolate bar is quite difficult, you can probably just use your food processor to do the job;
• ah...the question of beating the whites when the only mixer you have is already at work...I tried to do it by hand but I gave up after about 20 moves so I actually removed the batter (w/o whites) from the mixing bowl, cleaned the bowl, beat the whites and added the batter the bowl;
• they are so many capri cakes recipes on Italian sites; I've tried many and this one is one of the best.