It's not a pound cake, but you'll feel like you gained one after you have a slice

My grandmother on my dad's side made a cake we knew growing up as "Dobos Torte." It's an old Hungarian recipe that became popular in the late 1800s. It was one of the first cakes to use buttercream frosting, as most cakes back then relied on pastry cream. The cake is 14 layers tall (7 layers of vanilla sponge cake and 7 of chocolate frosting)

Growing up, we always had this cake to celebrate my dad's birthday. It's a time intensive cake to make, and your arteries really can't take more than a sliver every 365 days. Luckily this year, I had helpers, in the form of my niece and nephew.

First, you mix up flour, sugar, salt, vanilla and 12 egg yolks. At the end, you whip up 12 egg whites, and fold them into the batter. Divide the batter into 7 - 8" round pans and bake.



Next, you make chocolate buttercream frosting. Note the emphasis on butter. The ingredients here are chocolate chips, egg yolks, butter and powdered sugar. Yum.



Next you frost and assemble the cake.



When you're done, it looks something like this. I've never been able to get my layers perfectly even, but then again, neither did grandma - so I guess that makes it pretty darn authentic - :-)