This cake made me nauseous every step of the way.
Opening the bag of amaretti for the first time, a bomb of almond odor overtook my senses. I honestly thought I was going to vomit right then and there, but, miraculously, I held fast. I resolved to make every recipe for Tuesdays With Dorie this month (the line-up has been pretty awesome, am I wrong?), and so that I would do. The chocolate was chopped, the almonds were on hand, and I had plenty of heavy cream. I forged on, and it was absolutely the right decision.
It's a strange and fortunate coincidence that Holly of Phe/MOM/enon picked Dorie's 15-Minute Chocolate Amaretti Torte this week, because that's really all the time I could stand to be in the kitchen. Having been attacked with food poisoning 24 hours earlier, I couldn't ingest food or look at food, let alone talk or read about it. Candles had to be relegated to the closet and music had to be silenced. Almond is such an intoxicating fragrance when it is welcome, but completely overwhelming -- and nauseating -- when it isn't. I left the kitchen during the short time it was baking, came back to take it out of the oven and so very reluctantly returned to turn it out.
I was much improved the next morning and made the glaze and almond whipped cream without a problem before taking the torte to work. No longer nauseous but still having no desire to try the cake, after several "Mmmmm...this is so good!" responses, I took a sliver and made a composed bite with the cake, cream, and crushed amaretti. It was bliss. I'm a nut fanatic in general and love texture in my baked goods, so the inescapable almondiness in each bite on my tongue and in my nose was pure joy. Though I'm not usually a fan of flourless chocolate cakes, the generous addition of almonds and amaretti made the torte divine.
I'm a little disappointed that I wasn't up to having a full slice, but I rest assured that this recipe will be turned to again, no doubt.
