Chocolate Amaretti Torte; A Grown Up Cake for a Grown Up Kid

Yesterday was Big E's 16th birthday. I was not totally prepared for it. (Well, emotionally, of course I was not prepared; it seems like just yesterday that he was a little, ten pound baby!) With the kids being home all week, and with the holiday, and working extra hours at my temporary online job, and with my general failure as a mom, yesterday morning arrived and I had no presents and no cake. I actually was going to do these tasks Sunday night while Big E was spending the night with Jennifer's kids. (And I wonder where he gets his procrastination tendencies from.)

Unfortunately, I spent that time in the ER with Gram instead, until 2 a.m. Grandma was fine, but birthday morning I felt like I was operating in zombie mode all day. Stress and lack of sleep made it difficult to think or function or make a cake. I knew I also had to do my Tuesdays With Dorie project, Chocolate Amaretti Torte (chosen by Holly, Phe*MOM*enom.) Luckily this cake is also called "Fifteen Minute Magic" and Eli told me he wanted a cheesecake or an ice cream cake. I knew what I could do. I sure as heck wasn't making a cheesecake (like I did for little E's birthday, just now remembering). Dorie says this torte is good served with coffee ice cream or vanilla ice cream. Big E likes coffee ice cream and vanilla ice cream. I decided to make this fifteen minute magic torte into a thirty minute magic ice cream cake.

It is called a fifteen minute magic torte because you just throw the ingredients into the food processor, put in a pan, and bake it. Super Simple.



I had Jennifer's torte on Easter and knew what it tasted like and it was very delicious.


Jennifer's torte

I baked the cake in an 8 inch springform, took it out, and cooled it. Then I put it back in the springform, topped it with Breyer's coffee and vanilla ice cream, then froze it a little and topped it with the chocolate glaze. I thought I would try to make a white chocolate "16" for the top. I couldn't really make my 6 look right.



In my sleep deprived, zombie mode I started feeling like a demonic candy maker.



It was not the most attractive cake, but it was really good and Big E liked it.



Everyone else, except for my husband liked it as well. Husband only ate a few bites and threw his away. I retrieved his piece from the garbage and finished it for him. (It was sitting right on top and was not touched or contaminated by the other garbage and I was really sleep deprived.) This reminded me of a really sophisticated brownie sundae.



Big E said he had a nice birthday. We wanted to play a game together and he picked poker. Here is a picture of him and grandma:



This is literally 30 seconds later, when he sat down to play cards:



Quickly transformed into his poker face, just how he seemed to grow up in an instant.

You can find the recipe for the super delicious and easy Chocolate Amaretti Torte on pages 276 and 277 of Baking, From My Home To Yours, and on today's post at Phe*MOM*enomom.