Recipe: Flourless Almond Torte with Melted Chocolate and Berry Sauce

This European torte uses ground almonds (almond flour) in place of "normal" flour. It's a good option for anyone eating gluten-free. It's also delicious and easy. I was so enthralled that I decided the torte deserved its own photo album. I bet other nuts would work well also in this recipe, especially hazelnuts.

Ingredients
Cake
1 ½ cups almonds
¼ cup maple syrup
3 large eggs
1 tsp almond extract
¼ tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp sea salt
Toppings
2 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted, for topping
½ pint fresh raspberries
agave nectar, to taste
lemon juice, to taste
2 Tbs almonds, toasted and chopped

Procedure
1 Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line an 8 inch cake pan (a fluted tart pan or pie tin would work) with a parchment paper circle cut to fit the bottom.
2 In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, grind the almonds until they have a flour like consistency, about 1 - 2 minutes. If you go too long, it will get sticky and eventually turn to almond butter... not what you want. Run a spatula around the sides of the work bowl if it isn't mixing evenly.
3 Measure the maple syrup, eggs, extracts, and salt into a measuring cup, mixing well to break up the eggs. With the food processor running, pour the maple syrup mixture through the feed tube and process until smooth.
4 Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes. The torte is ready when the top is lightly golden brown and the center is just set, it may appear to even be a bit jiggly. Touch it to make sure it isn't too dry. Tent with foil if the top browns too quickly.
5 While the torte is baking, puree the raspberries with a touch of agave and a splash of lemon juice. Strain out seeds and set aside.
6 When torte is finished allow it to cool slightly before gently inverting the torte over a plate to remove from the pan. Carefully peel off the parchment paper. Turn it back over and place it on serving platter. Spread the melted dark chocolate over followed by the toasted almonds. Serve with the raspberry sauce.

Author: Adapted from "One Bite at a Time" by Rebecca Katz

Nothing like going for it...

This month I started the Natural Chef program at Bauman College in Berkeley, California. This was not an educational path I ever expected to take. Maybe submitting a recipe for "Yogurt Wheat Germ Balls" in the 2nd grade to our class cookbook should have been an early clue, or my weekly farmers market treks for produce oggling. But I've always been the responsible type... a class salutatorian brown-noser (with sky-high 80s midwestern bangs and plaid shirts to boot, sigh). I moved from Wisconsin's dairlyland to become a Stanford grad, then tech professional. College got me to the Bay Area and the tech bubble kept me here, but (dirty confession) it was really the number of restaurants that seduced me to the Bay Area (there are 4,285 restaurants listed under San Francisco on the restaurant review site Yelp), not a marketable diploma.

Fast forward more than 20 years after that fiber-rich but flavor-lacking 80s wheat germ craze to me today, a full grown avid foodie. My family teases me that before I could talk I hummed when I ate good food... and still do.

Over winter break my thoughtful Aunt Karen handed me the book "The Sharper Your Knife the Less You Cry," an account of Chef Kathleen Flinn's time at famed French cooking school Le Cordon Bleu. According to Entertainment Weekly's assessment, the book "should strike a chord with anyone who has dreamed... of following a passion for food."

Flinn's account of culinary school, while captivating, wasn't an experience I wanted to live. The rabbit butchering was enough to scare me away, and I associate French foods with cream sauces, and cream sauces with my lactose intolerence (cruel given my Wisconsin upbringing). The idea of going to the local California Culinary Academy had minimal appeal given its classical French foundation.

Then, one day, while on the hunt for recreational cooking classes, I read a local chef's bio who was a graduate of Bauman. "Huh, what's that place?" According to their website, a college for "holistic health and culinary arts." Interesting... a culinary program based on nutrition. No cream sauces. Seasonal, local, healthy food... the way I actually like to eat! The application deadline was in a month. I gathered references (thank you again Aunt Karen and Kathleen Miller), got permission to adjust my work schedule (I'm still working full time, the classes are evenings and weekend), and was thankful to grab one of the only 12 spots in class so close to the wire.

And here's the biggest shocker of all... I'm really doing it. I'm in culinary school. I didn't know what to expect or whether I'd like it. But now that I'm a month in I can honestly say this is the busiest and happiest I've been since high school. We're in the kitchen three out of four hours every class (the other hour is lecture), cooking recipes from that day's theme, and then we eat dinner together. My classmates are phenomenal, and each comes from a different background but common desire to eat good food that is also healthy. And not yogurt wheat germ healthy... but mind-blowingly delicious healthy. In fact, this is the best diet I've ever been on. Just good, healthy food. I can't wait to cook these dishes more for family and friends, but in the meantime starting by sharing more experiences via blog posts, photos and recipes here.

Next posting: classes we've had so far and the best recipes...