Last week during a meeting at work, a co-worker passed me a note asking if I could bake a seven-layer cake with chocolate frosting. I was totally unfamiliar with seven-layer cake, so I had no idea what he was talking about. Afterward, we chatted and he explained that he wanted a cake that was seven layers of vanilla cake, with chocolate frosting. I figured that just putting together cake and frosting shouldn't be difficult -- even if there were a few extra layers -- so I set out to find a recipe and give it my best effort.
When I Googled "seven-layer cake," the first result was a recipe for "Hungarian Seven-Layer Cake" from Gil Marks' World of Jewish Desserts on epicurious.com. The recipe was highly rated, so I decided to go with it. The cake is a vanilla sponge that contains eggs, sugar, vanilla, salt, and flour. The recipe instructs to you either make a round cake by baking seven individual thin layers in round cake pans, or to make an oblong cake by baking two large cakes in jelly roll pans and cutting the cakes into thirds to make six rectangular layers. I chose to go the oblong cake route, since it required less effort and fuss than making a round cake. I divided my batter between two parchment-lined jelly roll pans (filling each with a little over 3 cups of cake batter), and baked each layer for 9 minutes. After the cakes cooled, I trimmed the edges off and cut them into thirds, ending up with 6 identical cake layers that were 5 inches wide, 10 and 1/2 inches long, and 5/16 inch high. I tasted the ends that I trimmed off, and the cake was very good -- moist and not overly sweet.
The buttercream frosting for this recipe is a public health nightmare; it is basically saturated fat mixed with more saturated fat. You bring a mixture of water and sugar to 250 degrees on the stove, and then incorporate it into six egg yolks. You beat the yolks and sugar syrup until the mixture cools, and then add shortening, a pound of softened butter, melted chocolate, vanilla, and salt (rum is optional; I left it out). You have to chill the buttercream for a few hours before it becomes thick enough to use as frosting.
I wanted to try to put an even amount of frosting between each layer of cake, so I measured out 1/3 cup to put between each layer. I ended up with quite a bit of frosting at the end to cover the top and sides of the cake, so in the future, I would probably either increase the amount of frosting between each layer to 1/2 cup, or use some of the frosting to pipe decorative rosettes around the edges. The finished cake was 3 inches tall.
The cake looks quite impressive when sliced, and the frosting in particular is sinfully good -- a smooth and mild chocolate flavor, with a silky texture that melts in your mouth. My only criticism was that the sponge cake was a little dry; I baked it before I made the frosting, and I left the cake out for a few hours while I made the frosting and waited for it to chill and firm up to the proper consistency. I think I should have made the cake a little closer to the time of final assembly, or perhaps brushed the layers with sugar syrup before frosting. Nonetheless, it was a very pretty and delicious cake.
Even though I only made it 86% of the way to making a seven-layer cake, I'm still going to chalk this one up as a success.
Recipe: "Hungarian Seven-Layer Cake," from The World of Jewish Desserts by Gil Marks, recipe available on epicurious.com.
When I Googled "seven-layer cake," the first result was a recipe for "Hungarian Seven-Layer Cake" from Gil Marks' World of Jewish Desserts on epicurious.com. The recipe was highly rated, so I decided to go with it. The cake is a vanilla sponge that contains eggs, sugar, vanilla, salt, and flour. The recipe instructs to you either make a round cake by baking seven individual thin layers in round cake pans, or to make an oblong cake by baking two large cakes in jelly roll pans and cutting the cakes into thirds to make six rectangular layers. I chose to go the oblong cake route, since it required less effort and fuss than making a round cake. I divided my batter between two parchment-lined jelly roll pans (filling each with a little over 3 cups of cake batter), and baked each layer for 9 minutes. After the cakes cooled, I trimmed the edges off and cut them into thirds, ending up with 6 identical cake layers that were 5 inches wide, 10 and 1/2 inches long, and 5/16 inch high. I tasted the ends that I trimmed off, and the cake was very good -- moist and not overly sweet.
The buttercream frosting for this recipe is a public health nightmare; it is basically saturated fat mixed with more saturated fat. You bring a mixture of water and sugar to 250 degrees on the stove, and then incorporate it into six egg yolks. You beat the yolks and sugar syrup until the mixture cools, and then add shortening, a pound of softened butter, melted chocolate, vanilla, and salt (rum is optional; I left it out). You have to chill the buttercream for a few hours before it becomes thick enough to use as frosting.
Even though I only made it 86% of the way to making a seven-layer cake, I'm still going to chalk this one up as a success.
Recipe: "Hungarian Seven-Layer Cake," from The World of Jewish Desserts by Gil Marks, recipe available on epicurious.com.
Comments
And I can't believe I missed the cupcake post, and then asked you a question about cakes to cupcakes you had just explained. You must have thought I was a real pain...thanks for being so patient.