------------------------------------CAKE------------------------------------ 3/4 c Butter, softened

3 ts Baking soda

3 c Sugar

3 Eggs

1/2 ts Salt

3/4 c Buttermilk

1 1/3 c Boiling water

4 oz Unsweetned chocolate, melted

3 c Flour

3/4 c Roasted almonds, diced

2 ts Vanilla extract

-----------------------------CHOCOLATE GANACHE----------------------------- 18 oz Semisweet choclatechips(3cup

1 1/2 c Heavy cream

1 ts Vanilla

2 tb Butter,cut up

1.Preheat oven to 350 F. grease 2 nine inch round cake pans. Dust with

flour, tap out excess. 2.In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugar with electric mixer or medium speed until light and fluffy,1-2 minutes. add eggs and vanilla and beat until well blended. add chocolate and beat 1-2 minutes. 3.Mix together flour, baking soda and salt. Add to chocolate mixture in two additions alternately with buttermilk. Beat until well blended. With mixer on low speed, add boiling water and beat until smooth( batter will be thin) Pour batter into prepared pans. 4.Bake 35-40 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pans 10 minutes, then unmold onto racks and let cool completely. 5.Make Chocolate Ganache:In a 2 qart glass measure, combine chocolate chips and heavy cream. Heat in a microwave oven on HIGH 3 minutes, or until melted and smooth when stirred. Stir in butter and vanilla. 6.Cover and refrigerate 1 hour, or until ganache holds its shape and is thick enough to spread on cake. 7.Cover a cake layer with a little more than 1/3 of chocolate ganache. Set second layer on top. Frost top and sides of cake with remaining ganache. Press almonds into side of cake. Refrigerate cake 3-4 hours, or until ganache is firm, before serving.