Almond Cake with Chocolate Cream

Draw 4 circles with a diameter of 20 cm on parchment. Whisk 5 egg yolks with 50 grams of sugar until pale. Then add almond and wheat flour and mix gently. Add 3 eggs beaten with a fork and the juice of half a lemon, mixing carefully from bottom to top to avoid deflating the batter.

Spread an equal amount of dough on the prepared parchment. Form 4 identical round cakes. Bake in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

Melt 280 grams of chocolate in a water bath or microwave. Whip the softened butter with a mixer, gradually increasing the speed.

Place 5 egg whites and 200 grams of sugar in a saucepan, whisking them over low heat until reaching 50 degrees. Then transfer to a clean, dry mixing bowl and whip to stiff peaks.

Combine the butter with melted chocolate, then transfer this mixture to the egg whites and gently mix.

Spread a quarter of the chocolate cream on the bottom layer, also spread cream on the second and third layers, and cover with the fourth layer. Cover the sides of the cake with the remaining cream. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Mix apricot jam with 1 tablespoon of hot water, then strain through a sieve. Coat the top of the cake with apricot glaze.

In a saucepan, mix powdered sugar, glucose, and 65 ml of water, place on low heat and stir until a uniform cloudy-white mass forms. Do not let the sugar glaze boil.

Melt 50 grams of chocolate and mix it with vegetable oil. Transfer to a piping bag. Cover the cake with sugar glaze, allowing it to drip down the sides. Quickly decorate with stripes of the chocolate mixture before the glaze sets and run a skewer or toothpick through in several places. Decorate the sides of the cake with almond petals, gently pressing them into the cream.

Cool the finished cake; it's better to cut it when it's cold.