This is astoundingly delicious.  You can feel your arteries clogging and you don’t care, as you reach for another piece.  The Goddess loves German Chocolate Cake, but when she says this, well, let’s just say that she’s moved on to the dark side.  Dark chocolate.  Yeah.  What were you thinking anyway?  I ran across a recipe for a German chocolate sort of thing and I thought that seemed like a decent idea.  But, of course, I totally messed with it and changed it around, adding things and taking things away.  This is the end result.  First, let’s talk about browned butter, that nutty, delicious elixir that absolutely makes everything taste better.  When I do this, I do an entire pound of butter.  Once done, it keeps in fridge for weeks (it won’t last that long) or freeze it.  A couple of things to note—use a shiny pan.  If you choose a dark pan, how are you going to know when the butter butter has become toasty brown?  The line between brown and burned is pretty thin.  So, shiny pan. And equally important, DO NOT walk away from the kitchen!!!  You don’t have to stand over the pan, but you need to keep a close eye on it and give it a good swirl, frequently.  Once done, you may cool the mixture to store it, or use it hot, as we do here.  Now, you’re going to pour some hot brown butter over chocolate chips, nuke ’em (or 50% power) for a minute or two and let them stand.  You want the chips to melt.  Whisk this until smooth; add the sugar and whisk again.  Let this cool a bit before  the adding the eggs, along with the finely ground espresso, the coffee and the vanilla; whisk together until blended.  Add to the slightly cooled chocolate mixture; stir to combine. In a smaller bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and kosher salt; add to the mixture. Stir in half of the pecans and pour the batter into a buttered and floured pan. Sprinkle the rest of the pecans over the top.  Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 35-45 minutes…the center should still be slightly soft.  The torte will be puffed up a bit, but will deflate as it cools.  Cool completely…you can make this the day before serving, cover it well and store at room temp. 

For the icing:  Place the yolks in a small-ish saucepan; I used the same pan that I browned the butter in.  Whisk the yolks until they are thickened and pale, a couple of minutes; add the sugars and beat well.  Whisk in the evaporated milk and heat the mixture over medium-low heat, stirring constantly.  Add the browned butter and cook until the mixture comes the boil.  Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and becomes golden brown, about 6 or 7 minutes. Remove from the heat; add the extract, coconut and pecans.  Cool to warm room temperature before icing the torte.  The icing will be very thick.  Pour the icing over the torte; let stand until the icing sets.  I give it at least an hour, but usually I finish it several hours before serving.  Excellent served as it, but it’s pretty amazing with really good vanilla ice cream or bourbon-flavored unsweetened whipped cream.  And of course, I served the torte and when it was gone, I realized I had taken no pictures of a nice little slice of heaven.