Morsels

For six

Butter and flour for the cake pan

3/4 cup sugar

4 eggs, separated

6 ounces German’s sweet chocolate, broken into pieces

3/4 cup butter

4 T cake flour

2 T almonds, blanched and pulverized (I have substituted almond paste here in the past with no bad effects)

pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

Your cake pan should be 8 or 9 inches and 1 and 3/4 inches deep.

Cut a round of waxed paper to fir the bottom of the cake pan. Butter the sides of the pan and one side of the paper. Lay the paper butter side up in the pan and flour the paper and the sides of the pan. Set aside.

Beat the sugar with the 4 egg yolks until they are a creamy yellow. Put the chocolate and the butter in a saucepan over simmering water, and stir until the chocolate is smooth. Add the egg and sugar mixture, continue stirring over low heat until well blended.

Stir in the flour and the pulverized almonds. (I use a coffee grinder to pulverize the almonds — you just have to make sure that they have dried out from their blanching so that they get powdery enough).

Beat the 4 egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff but not dry (this means that they stand up in peaks when you lift the beater out). Stir one quarter of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten int; then fold all back into the remaining egg whites.

Full the cake pan three-fourths full and tap it gently on the table to distribute the mixture evenly. Bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, watching carefully, until the outside is solid and the center still creamy (not runny and not dry) when tested with a sharp knife. Let the cake cool before unmolding.

To glaze:

Chocolate Butter Cream (yum)

3 1/2 ounces German’s Sweet Chocolate, broken into pieces

2-3 T coffee or water

3 T butter

Melt the chocolate with the coffee or water until smooth, remove from the heat, and stir in the butter. Pour on top of the chocolate cake, using a metal spatula to spread.

To decorate:

Slivered almonds, toasted.

Decorate the cake with roasted slivered almonds. Refrigerate before serving.

I have also put a layer of raspberry jam over the cake before icing it and then plopped fresh raspberries in a nice ring around the perimeter, which is really good.