Leek Soup – Dina Avila, Photographer

As promised, I decided to bake the epic kazillion layer crazy cake for my birthday today. Otherwise known as Baumkuchentorte  - Cookie Tree Cake…or something along those lines.

The birthday festivities are about to begin, so I leave you with pictures…a recipe will be added later. I will tell you this, however: Eight eggs and one pound of butter make one seriously delicious cake….

Cheers!

Update 11/14: Phew what a busy weekend! I apologize for waiting so long to post the recipe!

This cake is simply amazing. Although time-consuming, you’ll be hanging next to the broiler for a half hour, it’s not a difficult cake to make. And man, is it worth it.

Baumkuchentorte

We have Amanda Hesser to thank for this one. I spied it in her NY Times Essential Cookbook and it sounded so insane that I just had to try it. Apparently, the traditional versions of this cake are upwards of a foot tall. You’ll need a springform pan for this recipe. I only changed a couple of things. Amanda’s recipe calls for rum, which I didn’t have on hand. I used Marsala instead and it worked fine. Also, the pomegranates seeds were my idea.

What you’ll need~

1 pound unsalted butter, softened

1 2/3 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups cornstarch

Pinch of salt

3/4 cup plus two tablespoons all-purpose flour

8 eggs, separated

2 tablespoons marsala

Powdered sugar for dusting

Handful of pomegranate seeds, optional

~

Set the oven rack to six inches below the broiler and heat the oven to broil.

Line the base of your spring for pan with a round of parchment paper.

Butter the parchment paper.

Using your hand mixer, beat butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy.

Slowly add the cornstarch, flour, salt and egg yolks.

Add the Marsala.

Beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks, then fold them into the batter.

Drop about a two tablespoon dollop of batter in the springform and use the back of a spoon to spread it around in to a wafer thin layer.

Broil for about a minute, until it turns a light golden. Do not over cook. Slightly undercooked and moist is your goal.

Spread another wafer thin layer on top of the first and broil for another minute.

Continue doing this until all the batter has been used. About 25-35 layers.

Keep in mind the cook time will slowly decrease as the cake gets taller and closer to the broiler element. I found the final several layers took about 50 seconds to cook.

Remove cake from oven and let cool.

Once cooled, remove the springform and dust your epic cake with powdered sugar and a sprinkling of pomegranate seeds.