TWD: Amaretti Torte - Better Late Than Never!

OK, I know, this post is a day late. I have a pretty good excuse, I do. OK, here it goes. I was planning on making this torte on Monday, but when I went to the store on my way home from work, they didn’t have any Amaretti cookies. So, I decided to wait until Tuesday so I could get the right cookies, since I live in North Beach, San Francisco (Italian neighborhood in case you don’t know it) and it would be a shame for me to use a substitute. I got the cookies Tuesday morning and went to work planning to squeeze in time to make this 15 minute torte later in the evening.

Well, that wasn’t in the cards baby. I woke up Tuesday morning with a mild back ache (I have a pesky lower back problem so that wasn’t all that much of a shock) and the pain just built more and more all day long. I finally had to leave work early to take medication and ice my back. By late evening, I could barely move and was in too much pain to do anything. I really really wanted to get up and make the torte (because it would make me feel better emotionally), but since I could not stand up straight, I thought that would be a bad idea.

My back was better this morning, but still in pretty bad shape, so I spent most of my day working and resting from my couch. Things are much better this evening (thank goodness) so I gingerly made this EASY quick torte (thankfully this week’s recipe was an easy one – thanks Holly). See – totally valid right?

Enough about me – that was really a lot, sorry – how about this torte. Well, I love almond flavored stuff, and LOVE Disaronno Amaretto. AND – I just recently learned that I do like chocolate after all! What? you say (if you have made it this far) how can anyone not like chocolate? Well, I didn’t for the longest time (and have met others like me, I swear). But last week I tried the most amazing chocolate bar I have ever had (cause I actually ate a LOT, and I won’t tell you what I did with other chocolate tasting experiments). What bar could pull me out of this controversial chocolate boycott? The Dark Orange Bar made by Andrew Shotts of Garrison Confections. My good friend happens to be well connected to Mr. Shotts, and introduced me to this fabulous bar. Not only did I get to try this bar, but I also got an autographed cookbook and may get a private baking lesson (OMG!!!!!!!!!!!).

So, all of that to say that since I recently discovered dark chocolate goodness, I decided to make this week’s TWD cake – Dark Chocolate Amaretti Torte lactose free so I could eat it. To do so, I substituted the butter for margarine, and cream for soy creamer. And, IT WORKED! Oh baby it did. The cake was soooo yummy, and you could really taste the amaretti. And the glaze turned out really well, nice and smooth, and nice and velvety and rich. Since soy creamer is already sweet and more watered down than regular cream, I added only one tablespoon of sugar (instead of 2) and only one tablespoon of water (and replaced the second one with a tablespoon of soy creamer). It worked, my trusty taster husband is back and he said: AWESOME! I am so glad I made this, and will be making this again for sheezy.

Thanks Holly of PheMOMenon for choosing this delicious recipe. You can find the recipe on her amazing blog here.