Almond Macaroon Torte

So Smitten Kitchen had this recipe several days ago (before Easter). I was intrigued, and though I felt it was very ambitious, I wanted to try it. I'm so sick of Clark making delicious things with ground up almonds (in my mind: ground almonds=grown up, hard-to-make dish) that I thought I'll finally one-up him.

This is my second attempt. The first was last Sunday. Tami was coming over to watch "Elizabethtown" with me (I'd never seen it) and I thought I'd impress the heck out of her.

Well it was, in a word, a disaster. The layers stuck to the wax paper and the chocolate icing was like concrete. We ate it anyway, picking out bits of paper from our teeth.

I read all 200 comments on Smitten's post and discovered some ladies used silicon rubber baking mats instead of paper. I bought some and tried again. I also used Mom's never fail icing recipe. Melt a small bag (12oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips and stir in 8oz. sour cream. I added a tsp of almond extract. It was awesome.

The layers STILL stuck to the rubber mats, but next time (if there IS a next time) I'll spray them with oil first.

I'm waiting for our Friday night small group to come over in 45 minutes, ooh and aah over our new house, and then devour this torte. I hope they like it. I'm sure they will.