ALMOND BERRY TORTE

Steps:

• Torte: Heat oven to 350 F. Generously butter a 10 inch round torte baking pan (use regular 9 inch cake pan if you don't have a torte pan) and line bottom with parchment paper (the cake is a touch sticky; this facilitate removing it from the pan). Butter the paper and dust with flour. In a large mixing bowl cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add grated almond paste and mix for about two more minutes, stopping to scrape bottom and sides of bowl. The mixture should be light and airy. Add eggs, one at a time, and vanilla and scrape bowl to blend batter, which should be fluffy. Sift flour into bowl and using a spatula fold flour carefully into batter. Do not overmix. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in middle of oven for 25-35 minutes or until cake is a nice golden brown. Prick it in the middle with a baking pin or a toothpick; if it comes out clean, the cake is ready. Topping: If using fresh raspberries, simply rinse and dry them and arrange them on the cake. If you wish, you can add shine and sweetness to the berries by heating raspberry jelly in a small pan or microwave and brush berries with the preserves. If using frozen berries, thaw them, then drain, preserving the liquid. Pour the liquid in a medium saucepan adding the sugar. Bring to a boil. Mix cornstarch with a little cold water (there should be no lumps), remove pan from heat and immediately whisk in cornstarch blend. Return the pan to the heat, stirring. The mixture should thicken immediately. Remove from heat and mix in berries. When berry mixture is cool, spread it on top of torte. The torte is delicious with unsweetened whipped cream. Vanilla ice cream is very good if you are serving the cake fresh out of the oven.