Ingredients
Crust
- 1 cup almonds
- 1 cup vanilla wafers
- 1/3 cup sweet butter, melted
Filling
- 1 1/2 tbsps unflavoured gelatin (1 1/2 envelopes)
- 1/4 cup water
- 3 eggs, separated
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 1 cup warm milk
- 1 lb chilled cream cheese
- 1/4 tsp almond extract
- 1/3 cup amaretto liqueur
- 2 cups whipping cream
Garnish
- Whipping cream (reserved from filling above)
- 3 tbsps amaretto liqueur
- 2 tbsps icing sugar, sifted
- 1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted
Directions
- Place almonds in food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Add vanilla wafers and process until fine. Blend in butter until crumbs are moistened and remove.
- Press mixture into bottom and partly up sides of 10" springform pan and refrigerate.
- Place 1/4 cup water in a medium sized, heavy saucepan. Sprinkle with gelatin and let stand for 5 minutes.
- Rinse and dry work bowl and steel knife. Add egg yolks and 1 cup sugar. Process until light in colour. Add milk through feed tube and blend.
- Dissolve gelatin over low heat and stir in milk mixture. Cook over low heat until custard begins to thicken. Cool for about 5 minutes.
- Cut cream cheese into cubes and add to work bowl. Add almond extract and liqueur and blend. slowly add custard, blend and scrape down sides of bowl.
- Arrange a mixing bowl nested in a larger bowl lined with ice cubes. Pour mixture into nested bowl. Stir occasionally to prevent setting around the outside edges. Cool unti mixture is thick and syrupy.
- Beat eggwhites with 1/4 cup sugar until stiff. Whip cream until light and fluffy. To lighten the custard, stir 1/3 of the beaten egg whites into it first, then fold in remaining egg whites and 2/3 of the whipping cream. Turn mixture into prepared crust and refrigerate.
- To the remaining cream, add icing sugar and liqueur. Whip until stiff. Pipe or spoon cream attractively over cake. Sprinkle the top with sliced toasted almonds and refrigerate the cake for 2-3 hours before serving.
This cake can be prepared a day ahead of serving time and can also be frozen.
