I can't say that this cake is a traditional Cretan dessert, as it was made specially for the Casa dei Mezzo Music Festival. But I would imagine it's an heir of the Cretan culinary tradition. In any case, it sounded interesting (I've never made a cake with breadcrumbs before), so I made it.

It's perhaps not the wisest idea for a novice baker to convert a recipe from metric weights into cups and teaspoons - but I really didn't want to bother weighing all the ingredients (so instead I bothered doing the math - hmmm, weighing might have been quicker :-). The cake came out reasonably well. It was delicious, but the center was very moist (read undercooked), perhaps a result of cooking it in a springform pan (the original recipe did not specify what to use). It may be better if you use two 8" regular pans instead. Still, I really enjoyed it.

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Casa dei Mezzo Music Festival Chocolate Cake Ingredients 7 oz dark chocolate 2 tsp. brewed dark coffee 3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp. butter 1 cup + 2 1/2 Tbsp. superfine (bakers or caster) sugar 5 eggs, separated 1 1/4 cup shredded sweetened coconut 1 cup plain breadcrumbs Instructions Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9" springform pan and cover the bottom and sides with parchment paper. Grease paper. Melt chocolate in a small pot. Add the coffee and mix well. Set aside until lukewarm. Cream together the butter and the sugar. Add yolks, one at a time, while beating. Add the coconut and breadcrumbs. Add the chocolate and beat well. Beat the egg whites until firm. Fold into the cake dough, a little bit at a time. Pour into prepared cake pan and bake in the oven until a fork pushed in the middle comes out dry - about 35 minutes.

Adapted from a recipe at Pure Crete.com