Chez Panisse Almond Torte

1963- 1979 Cake #3

Lindsey Shere was the oldest of 5 girls. She did a lot of the family cooking and became an accomplished self-taught cook. Desserts were her specialty. Her friend, Alice Waters, opened a restaurant in Berkeley, in 1971, called, Chez Panisse. Alice asked Lindsey to be her pastry chef. She would bake in a cottage behind the restaurant and walk her treats across the yard to where the people were eating.

This almond torte was one of her signature cakes. Her father's family was from Northern Italy, and this cake was an old Italian recipe that she tweaked a bit.

My Experience:

This cake only has 4 steps. Luckily, I have a food processor, which is needed in this recipe. Everything gets thrown into the processor and once it is well mixed, it all gets poured into one pan. In less than an hour the cake is done! As you can see in the picture, the bottom of the cake stuck a bit to the pan. I do not think I let it cool long enough because I was too excited to try it.

I love almond and so does my mom. This was delicious, I ear-marked the page and I have made it multiple times already.

Neighbor's Comments:

"Delicious. The kids beat me to this one. Between the 4 of us, we devoured it."

"Super yummy. I already ate 80% of it. Trying to save the last bites for my coffee tomorrow."