Also known as Dobosh torte, Doboshtorte, Dobostorte, Dobos torte, seven layer cake. There seems to be a bit of a dispute about how many layers a good Dobosh torte should have-some sources say six, some say seven, some say nine, some say 21...regardless of how many layers you plan on making it, this is a delicious cake!

Randofo, you owe me a patch.

Step 1: Baking the Layers

I don't remember where I got the recipe from. :(

You will need:

9 egg whites

8 egg yolks

1 cup of white sugar

1/4 cup of milk

1 tablespoon of lemon zest

1 pinch of salt

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1/2 tablespoon shortening

1 cup of white sugar

Don't preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit (205 degrees Celsius)- you'll never get the batter ready in time.

<rant> I don't know why recipes always tell you to preheat the oven first thing. It's silly. Only The Flash could get it ready in time. </rant>

Grease your pan with butter and then lightly flour it.

Separate the eggs. If you don't know how to do this, it's really easy. Just hold the eggs over a bowl and crack them, being careful to only let the clear stuff (called the whites) run out. You kind of cradle the yolk in one half of the eggshell. Then put the yolk in another bowl.

Beat the egg whites until they're frothy. Gradually add the sugar. Beat this until soft white peaks form.

Put this mixture in another bowl. In your mixer bowl, beat the yolks with your milk ( I was out of fresh milk, so I used a half and half mixture of condensed milk and water), lemon peel (I knew I had a lemon for this-but could not find it. I promptly located it after I was done :( ), vanilla, and salt. Fold this into the egg whites. Sift the flour over the egg mixture( I just dumped it in a little at a time), and fold that in.

Put the batter in your pan. Use just enough to cover the pan; you're going for the thinnest possible layers. Bake for 5-9 minutes (which wasn't long enough for me) or until little brown spots form on your cakes. They didn't get hard or crisp after I took them out, like I assumed, so learn from my mistakes. It's still good, just a bit softer than it probably should be.

Repeat until the batter is all gone, re-greasing and flouring your pan after you take each one out. Put the hot cakes on some wax paper or tinfoil. Chill in the refrigerator (or the freezer if you're impatient) for a few hours.

Step 2: Making the Frosting

While you're waiting, make the frosting. You'll need:

12 ounces of bittersweet chocolate.

I used the nasty Dove 63% cacao for this. They each weigh 0.3 Oz, as measured with a postal scale, so you'll need 36 of them. I only made a half batch of this, since I only had half the butter I needed. I used 18 for my half-batch of frosting.

2 cups unsalted butter

1 pinch salt

2 eggs

4 cups of confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Unwrap the dove chocolates and place in microwavable bowl. Nuke for one minute. Add time as needed, but it melts faster than you might think, and you don't want it to burn or boil.

In your mixing bowl, beat the butter, salt, and vanilla until it's very light and airy. Add the powdered sugar a bit at a time. After it's all mixed really good, add the eggs one at a time. Again, make sure it's mixed well and then add the melted chocolate. Blend everything together.

Put this in the fridge until your cakes are done chilling.

Step 3: Assembly

After your cakes are done chilling, get them and the frosting out. I cut my cakes in half and trimmed the edges before I frosted, soas to make nice, pretty edges. Lay down a layer of cake, frost, and then put another layer on top. Push each layer down on top of the last to make a nice seal. I had to frost each layer very lightly since I only had half the frosting to work with, but you can be more free with it.

When all the layers are frosted,use the remaining frosting (you did save a little, right?) to frost the tops and sides generously. Chill for a few hours and serve.

Randofo you owe me a patch.