Chocolate Torte Caprese

"...Oh Lord, You are our Father, we are the clay,  

and You are our potter." Isaiah 64:8

Food for the Palate:

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups blanched sliced almonds, toasted
1 stick unslated butter, plus more for your pan
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 Tbsp dried breadcrumbs
4 large eggs, at room temperature, separated
1 cup sugar
zest of 1 orange, granted
2 Tbsp amaro or rum
1/4 tsp salt
Confectioners' sugar, for garnish

Instructions: Preheat the oven to 350F

In a food processor, grind the almonds until fine but not powdery. Melt the stick of better in a double boiler with the chocolate, stirring to combine, then let cool slightly. 

Grease a 9-inch spring form pan with butter, and sprinkle with the breadcrumbs. Tap around to coat the bottom and sides of the pan with the breadcrumbs and tap out any excess.

In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, on medium-high speed, whisk the egg yolks and 3/4 cup of the sugar until thick and pale golden in color, about 2 minutes. Beat in the orange zest, the amaro or rum, and the salt. On low speed, beat in the cooled chocolate mixture just until smooth. Fold in the ground almonds.

In a mixer, in a clean bowl fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites and remaining 1/4 cup sugar to stiff peaks. Stir a third of the whites into the chocolate mixture, then gently fold in the rest. Spread into the prepared spring form pan, and bake until the top is firm and crackly, about 35-40 minutes.

Let the cake cool on a rack for 5 minutes, then run a knife around the edges to loosen it and unmold. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar. (lidiasitaly.com) Tasty to the Palate! 

Food for the Soul:

This is one of the easiest and most delicious recipes. I can't take credit for it though. It is from one of my favorite chefs, Lidia Bastianich. Lidia is an Italian chef and I just love her approach to cooking and her love for her family. I was watching one of her cooking shows the other day and I was so relieved to know that the chocolate torte I had made from one of her recipes was supposed to be cracked on top. I was positive that I had done something wrong. So instead of serving it to our guests, I ran to the store and bought a cake that was aesthetically pleasing to serve. Boy, how ridiculous I can be sometimes!

As I was thinking about my attempt to present myself as someone that wouldn't serve anything less than perfect to my guests, I was reminded of a book that I read many years ago by a wonderful, funny and authentic woman named Patsy Clairmont titled "God Uses Cracked Pots." The theme of the book is all about how God uses the cracks, scars and the imperfections of our lives to grow us, make us more like His Son, Jesus Christ and to bring glory to Himself.

I doubt that many of us would want to be defined as "cracked pots", but that is actually what we are. We are all broken in some way or another. Failure, shame, fear, past mistakes, abuse heaped upon us, they all add up to broken pieces of our lives. The majority of us spend a good portion of our time trying desperately to hide those broken pieces too.

I can't begin to tell you how many vases, bowls, glasses, baking dishes or potter of any kind I have discarded over the years because they were cracked and deemed broken and useless. And I also can't tell you how many times I have tried to cover up and glue broken pieces back together, only to have them leak, crack again and end up thrown away. I must confess that I also can't count how many times I have tried to cover up, mend, hide, stitch or glue broken pieces of myself back together on my own, only to discover that broken, cracked me, can't heal myself and make me whole again.

Evangelist Vance Havner said: "God uses broken things. He takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster jar that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever before." Unfortunately, most of us spend too much of our lifetime trying to put our broken pieces back together all on our own. We fail to realize that healing begins when we relinquish those broken pieces to our heavenly Father. Scripture clearly states that God is the creator of all of us cracked pots: "...Oh Lord, You are our Father, we are the clay, and You are our potter." Isaiah 64:8

Listen, we are all cracked, broken and chipped. And to some we may not be of any use at all, and they want to throw us away. But to God, we are redeemable, useful and loved beyond measure. He uses all of our imperfections to bring about His perfection through His Son, Jesus Christ. So how about we start allowing Hm to shine through the cracks of our lives instead of us thinking we need to cover them up? After all, He is the potter, and we are the clay.

I have been given several crosses over the 30 years that we have been in ministry, but my absolute favorite one that someone gave me was crafted out of broken chards of pottery. Pieces of broken clay piled on top of each other to form a beautiful-constructed cross. It reminds me whenever I look at it that when Jesus went to the cross, He took all of my broken pieces of yesterday, today and tomorrow with Him. And instead of throwing them away, He has crafted them into the person He desires for me to be. 

Satisfying to the Soul!