Ingredients
1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. and butter an 8-inch springform pan.
2. In a heavy saucepan over low heat melt 4 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) chocolate with 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 tablespoon each brewed espresso (or any very strong coffee) and brandy.
3. Add 6 tablespoons butter, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1/2 cup ground almonds (I never bother to blanch the almonds but stick them in the blender skin and all) and heat the mixture until the butter is melted. Remove the pan from the heat.
4. Beat 3 large egg yolks until they are lemon colored and stir them into the chocolate mixture.
5. Whip 3 large egg whites until they are just stiff and fold them into the chocolate mixture.
6. Turn the batter into the pan and bake the cake in the middle of the oven
for 45 minutes. The cake will have some cracks on top and a tester will not come out clean. Let the cake cool completely on a rack and remove the side of the pan.
Instructions
The cake will rise and then fall. It can be brushed with raspberry jelly or covered with whipped cream in a pastry bag fitted with a fancy tip and draw designs with it or form the whipped cream into leaves or swags. Lazier people get away with a blob of whipped cream or cr
