Layer Upon Layer

Flourless chocolate-almond cake

Carson Downing for Midwest Living

Seven counts as lucky—in games, in myths, in superstitions. In some wedding ceremonies, the bride circles the groom seven times, a tradition I’m glad my husband and I skipped. We had enough disasters—fainting grandma to listing cake. Still, the number plays a starring role in our marriage: My husband is all about seven-layer cake.

This commitment dates back to his New York childhood, when, on Saturday afternoons, his grandfather would tug at the twine on a white bakery box. Inside sat a brown cinder block that, when sliced, revealed alternating layers of spongy cake and chocolate cream. Heaven, apparently, to those under seven.

I’ve tried to recreate this fantasy from genoise, sponge cake, and pound cake. From ganache, glaze, and buttercream. All delightful. None right. Probably short on cinder.

Building a seven-layer cake calls for either seven pans or patience, neither of which I usually have on hand. So last year, at Passover, I decided to simplify. I spread flourless almond batter across a sheet pan, then baked, cooled, and glazed the single, slim layer. To finish, I just needed to cut it down and pile it up. 

Cut it down, that is, into sevenths. I sketched a plan. Tried math. And asked the internet, which turned up a nine-step origami method of producing seven equal rectangles. I closed the kitchen door and sliced the rectangle in half one way and in fourths the other.

The stack of stripes stunned, all buttery cake spliced with fudgy icing. It was not, my husband pointed out, his beloved seven-layer cake. Nor, truth be told, seven layers.