40 ROUND COFFEE TABLE

Chocolate-Almond Torte with Ganache Topping
recipe courtesy Cuisine at Home magazine

For the torte:
1/3 c. water
1/2 c. sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, cubed
1 bag bittersweet chocolate chips (12 oz.)
1 tsp. instant espresso powder
1/4 tsp. table salt
1/3 c. almond liqueur or cold brewed coffee
2 tsp. almond extract
6 eggs

For the ganache:
1/2 c. heavy cream
3/4 c. bittersweet chocolate chips (4 oz)
Toasted sliced almonds
Fresh strawberries

Preheat oven to 325F. Coat a 9x2-inch round cake pan with non stick spray. Line with parchment paper cut to fit into the bottom of the pan; coat with nonstick spray.

Bring water and sugar for the torte to a boil in a saucepan to dissolve sugar; remove from heat. Add butter, 1 bag of chocolate chips, espresso powder, and salt. Let sit 2 minutes, then stir until smooth. Whisk in liqueur and almond extract.

Whisk eggs until whites and yolks are combined, then whisk into chocolate mixture. Pour batter into prepared cake pan, and place cake pan inside a roasting pan. Bake torte until puffed and soft to the touch, 40-45 minutes. Remove the roasting pan from the oven, then remove the cake pan to a cooling rack. Cool 1 hour.

Run a paring knife around the inside of the cake pan; invert onto a platter. Peel off parchment; cool completely or chill until ready to serve. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Before serving, heat cream for the ganache in a microwave-safe measuring cup in a microwave on high until boiling, 1-2 minutes. Add 3/4 cup chocolate chips and let sit 2 minutes, then stir until smooth. Cool ganache 2-3 minutes, then spread over the top and down the sides of the torte. Sprinkle top with almonds. Dip a knife blade into hot water and wipe dry for each slice. Serve cake with strawberries. Chill any leftover cake.

Per 1/12th: 360 cal, 23g total fat (13g sat), 124mg chol, 99mg sod, 35g carb, 0g fiber, 5g protein.

It's been a vigorous week of cupping and today is the final round. These final 10 coffees have made it through two rounds of cupping with this jury and should represent some of the best coffees available in Costa Rica this season.

I'm planning on taking this one a little slower. I really want to focus on the flavors of each cup, trying if I can to correlate these cups to those that we tasted yesterday. Though we had 40 cups to work through, the groups seemed a little more focused on up or down votes on the coffees. I had my favorites for sure, but it was surprising to me the number of coffees that made it into that secondary round that were barely specialty (in my estimation.)

I was pretty burned out by the end of the day yesterday. Trying to stay focused over 40 cups is brutal. And we had to be fairly accurate in our scoring as everything above 84 is allowed into the auction. I think there's concern that if too many make it in, the top scorers could suffer. With so many options, there would be less focus and thus less vigor in the auction. I didn't feel too bad about scoring many in the second round down if I thought they weren't up to snuff. The rest of the group seemed to agree with that methodology if not my particular judgments.

Though it's the final round, I have a feeling that it's a little more casual among the group. We're not looking to exclude any of these 10, only to describe them as we see them.

BTW, my first cup would end up being the best cup on the table for me. Orange caramel candy on the nose with a bright yet creamy orange-like acidity in the tasting. I wrote "layers and layers" on my scoring sheet. Sweet, complete and delicious.