Recipe#3529

Title: Chocolate Almond

Newsgroups: rec.food.chocolate 
 From: karen.reznek@idealink.washington.dc.us (Karen Reznek) 
 Message-ID: <6a.2501.161@idealink.washington.dc.us> 
 Date: Fri, 08 Sep 1995 08:49:00 -0820 

I used to make this one for Passover, before I discovered
 Chocolate Oblivion Truffle Torte by Rose Levy Berenbaum.
From "Helen Nash's Kosher Kitchen"
 Makes 2 9-inch cakes, each serving 10 to 12
 Unsalted butter (substitute margarine for non-dairy
 meals) for greasing pans
 unbleached flour or passover potato starch for dusting pans
 9 ounces imported semi-sweet chocolate, broken into small
 pieces
 1/2 pound unsalted butter (see note above)
 Scant 1 1/4 cups sugar
 6 eggs, separated, at room temperature
 1/4 cup strained, freshly squeezed orange juice
 1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
 2 teaspoons cognac
 1 1/2 teaspoons unbleached flour or potato starch
 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
 1 teaspoon grated orange rind
 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
 9 ounces blanched almonds, finely ground
 unsweetened cocoa powder or confectioners' sugar for dusting
 the cake
 Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Grease the bottoms and
 sides of 2 9-by-1 1/2-inch round pans. Line the pans with
 wax paper, and grease the wax paper. Dust with flour or
 potato starch, then invert the pans and tap to shake out
 excess.
 Place the chocolate on the top of a double boiler, cover,
 and set over simmering water until melted. Let cool.
 In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter or
 margarine at medium speed, adding the sugar gradually until
 the mixture is pale and bubbles appear, approximately 10
 minutes. While still beating, add 1 egg yolk at a time,
 beating well after each addition. Lower the speed and beat
 in the cooled chocolate and orange juice. With a large
 rubber spatula, mix in the cocoa powder, cognac, flout or
 potato starch, lemon rind, orange rind, vanilla extract, and
 almonds.
 In a clean, dry bowl, beat the egg whites at high speed,
 until stiff. Fold half of the whites into the batter with a
 rubber spatula. Repeat with another quarter of the whites,
 then reverse the process, pouring the batter over the
 whites. Gradually fold the two batters together, making a
 motion like a figure eight, until all the whites have
 disappeared.
 Divide batter equally between the two pans, and smooth the
 tops. Bake both cakes on the center rack of the oven, not
 touching, for 50 minutes. Let the cakes cool for 10 minutes
 on wire racks, then invert the cakes onto the racks, peel
 off the wax paper, and cool completely. Refrigerate.
 To serve: Sprinkle with cocoa powder or confectioners' sugar
 and slide the cakes onto a serving platter.
 Karen