Bittersweet Cocoa-Almond Genoise

This sublime flourless cake is my all-time favorite chocolate cake, I return to it again and again. It is dense, supremely moist, tender, and has a little added texture from the ground almonds. It is a not-too-sweet cake, with a perfect balance of butter, toasted almonds and cocoa. Full-flavored yet mellow, it isn't as intense as the Chocolate Oblivion (also Cake Bible). It pairs well with dark ganache spiked with either rum or coffee, or with whipped cream.

For the best flavor, use a full-fat, dutched cocoa, or if you must use a lower-fat cocoa, substitute by weight, 75% low-fat cocoa and 25% chopped unsweetened chocolate (this corrects the cocoa butter content).

For the best texture, use ground almonds that are as fine as possible. If you are grinding them yourself, start with room temperature toasted sliced almonds and grind with some of the sugar from the recipe.

This recipe is a little more time-consuming than some, due to egg whites that are beaten separately and due to the need to toast and grind almonds if you opt not to buy toasted almond flour. But I like it so well I still make it more often than any other cake recipe.

The photo shows this cake after trimming and frosting with dark ganache with coffee.