1. Whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until frothy, then gradually add the granulated sugar and beat to stiff, glossy peaks; mix the ground almonds with the flour and fold gently into the meringue.
2. Draw a 24 cm circle on each of six sheets of baking paper, spread the meringue evenly over them and bake in batches in an oven preheated to 170 °C for 10-12 minutes until pale golden; peel off the paper while hot and let cool.
3. For the cream, bring half the milk to the boil with the scraped vanilla pod; stir the rest of the milk smooth with the egg yolks, sugar and starch, pour into the hot milk and cook, stirring constantly, into a thick custard; cover and let cool.
4. Beat the soft butter until fluffy and add the room-temperature custard a spoonful at a time until you have a smooth buttercream.
5. Spread the first layer with cream and stack the layers in this way; brush the top layer thinly with warmed apricot jam, coat the sides with cream and press flaked almonds onto them.
6. Warm the fondant with a splash of water over simmering water until body-warm and pourable, and quickly spread it over the top; quickly pipe parallel lines of melted chocolate over it, then drag a toothpick through them in alternating directions to create the classic web pattern; chill for at least 6 hours.
Tip: You can bake the layers a day ahead - stored airtight they stay crisp, and the finished torte slices most neatly after resting overnight.
Your plan stays in this browser for up to 24 hours. Register or sign in to review and save it to your calendar, keep your recipes and use your shopping list later.
These cookies are essential for the website to function properly. The website cannot work without them and they cannot be disabled.
With your consent, we collect usage and device data through Google Analytics to improve the site. The data may also include online identifiers. You can withdraw your consent here at any time.