Chocolate Mousse Cake

Boil water in the bottom of a double boiler. Put your shelled almonds into the boiling water and let soak for a couple of minutes. Remove them with a slotted spoon, cool down in some ice water and pinch them. The skins will slide right off. Allow to dry completely. Place top of double boiler onto the water and melt the chocolate chips. Holding the almond by the pointed end, dip the round end into the melted chocolate. Coat 1/2 of the almond in chocolate and set the dipped almonds on a greased, frozen plate. Make sure you set the almonds down at about a 45 degree angle so that when you angle them into the whipping cream, the flat bottom does not show. Put dipped almonds into the refrigerator or freezer. Separate the 3 eggs. Put the whites into a large mixing bowl and keep cool but don't refrigerate. In a medium saucepan, pour the milk, egg yolks, sugar, vanilla and gelatin. Wire whisk it well before heating. Bring to a boil over very LOW heat. Don't let anything stick to the bottom of the pan. This should also be done in a double boiler, but it will take you a month to get it hot enough. After it boils, remove from heat and whisk in the melted chocolate and the Amaretto. The best way to cool it is to whisk it constantly with the saucepan in a bath of ice water. Line springform pan with the lady fingers. Do the sides first, lining them up vertically, leaving no spaces in between and making sure that the floured (rounded) side is touching the metal and the cut side will be touching the mousse. Next line the bottom. There, you can use up the broken ones and cut the remaining lady fingers to fit. The entire bottom should not have any holes larger than 1/4 inch. In the large mixing bowl, beat the egg whites. Pour the stiff whites into a smaller bowl or just turn them out on a plate. Now you can beat the whipped cream without washing the bowl or the beaters. When the whipped cream is stiff, reserve about 1 cup or a little more for the decoration. Now add the cold custard mixture to the whipped cream and last but not least, fold in the egg whites. Pour the completed mixture into your lined pan. With the remaining whipped cream, pipe some 3/4" to 1" diameter stars side-by-side all along the perimeter. Into each mound of whipped cream, carefully set one of the dipped almonds, smushing it down just enough to hide the flat spot, at about a 45 degree angle. To serve, set the mousse on a pretty plate, carefully remove the sides of the Springform or similar pan and leave the bottom on. Slice and serve as cake.