This delicious dessert that has become the capstone of our Mikulás Eve dinner – eight light and fluffy layers of cake held together with melt-in-your-mouth chocolate and a candy “drum” top – Yum!
Cake Batter
12 eggs at room temperature (save out 2 yolks for chocolate filling)
10 Tbl sugar
10 Tbl flour
Chocolate Filling
1¼ c butter
2 egg yolks (from above)
1 c semi-sweet choc chips melted & cooled
1 tsp vanilla
2½ c powdered sugar
1-2 Tbl whipping cream
Candy Top
½ c sugar
¼ c water
Generously grease & lightly flour as many 8“ swivel cake pans as you have. If you don’t have, or can’t find these pans, you can grease & flour an 8” cake pan then cut an 8″ circle of waxed paper, grease & flour it, too, and place it in the pan.
Preheat oven to 400°F. Separate eggs, saving two of the yolks for chocolate filling. Beat whites until foamy. Add sugar 1 tablespoon at a time while continuing to beat. Beat until soft peaks form. Add yolks one at a time while beating. Stop beating & sift flour onto top of batter. Gently fold in just until blended. Spread batter about ¼ inch thick in pans (you want to make eight layers). Bake four layers at a time for 6-7 minutes, or just until they begin to turn golden around the edges.
While baking, place a long sheet of waxed paper on a smooth surface & sprinkle lightly with granulated sugar. When you take the pans out of the oven, allow them to cool for a minute or two & then transfer cake layers to sugared paper to finish cooling. Save your best layer for the cake top (one with slightly up-curved edges works great for keeping in the candy top).
Beat together all chocolate filling ingredients except whipping cream. Add cream just a little at a time and continue to beat until frosting is spreading consistency. When layers are completely cooled, put just a dab of frosting onto serving platter and center first cake layer on your dab. Spread frosting over layer, then place on next layer & repeat.
Continue to stack layers, but do not frost top layer. Frost around sides of cake. Make candy top: place sugar & water in small saucepan and bring to boil over medium-high heat. Watch mix carefully & turn off heat when it turns golden. Pour over top layer then tip & rotate cake to cover it evenly.
To serve, choose who gets the honor of giving the “drum” its first smack with a sharp chef’s knife, then slice & enjoy.
Yields: 8-12 servings
Time to make: 1½ hr
Source: Kathy Hoffman