Recipe - Lundi Gras Chocolate Cake

CAKE
9 Eggs, separated, room temp.
Three fourths cup Sugar
1 tablespoon Vanilla
1 pn Salt
One fourth teaspoon Cream of tartar
Three fourths cup Unsweetened cocoa powder
14 ounce Almond paste
1 tablespoon Amaretto liquer, 1 to 2 T.
Powdered sugar
Three fourths cup Amaretto liquer

CHOCOLATE FILLING
27 ounce Extrabittersweet or
bittersweet chocolate,
chopped
3 tablespoon Unsalted butter
1 qt Whipping cream, room temp.
2 cup Whipping cream, whipped

There are two simple tricks to preparing this fancy dessert. First, be
certain to use almond paste, not marzipan Second when making the filling,
fold the unwhipped cream into the melted chocolate gently; do not beat.

For cake: Preheat oven to 350F. Line lOxl5xlinch jelly roll pan with
parchment; butter parchment. Beat yolks, Three fourths cup sugar, vanilla and salt
with electric mixer until pale yellow and slowly dissolving ribbon forms
when beaters are lifted. Beat whites with cream of tartar in another large
bowl until soft peaks form. Fold 1/3 of whites into yolks to lighten; spoon
remaining whites atop yolks. Sift on cocoa and fold until just combined.
Spread in prepared pan. Bake until springy to touch, about 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, if almond paste is dry or crumbly, combine in processor with 1
tablespoon amaretto. Blend until soft enough to roll out, adding more
amaretto by teaspoons if necessary. Roll almond paste out between 2 sheets
of waxed paper into 9x14inch rectangle. Refrigerate.

Dust kitchen towel with powdered sugar. Turn cake out onto towel; remove
paper. Trim One half inch off edges of cake. Place almond paste on hot cake.
Roll cake up jelly roll fashion, starting at one long side. Cool
completely.

Pour Three fourths cup amaretto into pie plate. Cut cake into 1/3inchthick slices.
Dip one side of each slice briefly into amaretto. Cover bottom of 10inch
springform pan with some of cake slices dipped side down, working from edge
to center and arranging open ends of slices facing in same direction. Press
very firmly to secure slices. Place remaining slices upright against sides
of pan; press firmly to secure. Refrigerate while preparing filling.

For filling: Melt chocolate and butter in top of double boiler over barely
simmering water, stirring until smooth. Transfer to large bowl. Immediately
add 1 quart cream in 3 additions, gently folding just until combined; do
not beat. Pour into cakelined pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Cut edges of cake even with filling if necessary. Invert cake onto serving
platter. Let stand at room temperature 20 minutes. Spoon whipped cream into
pastry bag fitted with star tip. Pipe some cream decoratively around cake.
Pass remaining cream separately.

Formatted for MC and shared by dianne@olynet.com
Recipe by: Bon Apetit November 1984 Posted to MCRecipe Digest V1 #618 by
Terilynn Sanford terily@tenet.edu on May 23, 1997