My favorite dessert.
Cake:
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup poppyseeds
1 & 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 & 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 & 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
5 egg whites
Custard Filling:
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 & 1/2 cups milk
5 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 & 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Frosting:
1 & 1/2 cups whipping cream
3/4 cup sugar
1) for cake: In a small bowl, combine the milk and the poppy seed
2) let stand for 1 hour
3) While that sits, grease and flour 2 9 x1 1/2 inch round cake pans
4) set aside
5) In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt
6) set aside
7) in a large mixing bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds.
8) add the 1 & 1/2 cups sugar, and the vanilla
9) beat till well combined
10) Add dry ingredients and poppyseed misture alternately to butter mixture, beating on low speed after each addition until just combined.
11) in a medium bowl, with a clean beater, beat the egg whites till stiff peaks form.
12) gently fold beaten egg whites into batter
13) pour batter into prepared pans
14) bake in a 375 (f) degree oven for about 20-25 minutes or till a wooden toothpick inserted near the center of the layers comes out clean.
15) cool layers in pans on wire racks for about 10 minutes
16) remove the layers from pans
17) let cool completely on wire racks
18) while cooling the cakes, prepare the custard filling and chill in the refrigerator: in a heavy medium saucepan, stir together the sugar and cornstarch
19) stir in the milk
20) cook and stir over medium heat till thickened and bubbly
21) cook and stir for 2 minutes more.
22) remove from heat
23) add egg mixture to milk mixture in pan
24) bring to a gentle boil
25) cook and stir 2 minutes more
26) remove from the heat
27) stir in the vanilla
28) transfer to a bowl
29) cover the surface with plastic wrape and chill till completely cool, but don't stir.
30) to assemble the torte, split each cake layer in half, horizontally
31) place one bottom layer on a serving plate
32) spread with 1/3 of the filling (about 1/2 cup)
33) repeat for 2 more layers
34) Place last cake layer on top
35) beat whipping cream and the sugar together till the mixture is spreadable
36) Spread over the sides and top of the cake
37) Cover and chill up to 2 hours before serving.
Now, when I say this is awesome, that doesn't even begin to describe it. It also has like... 450 calories a serving, no joke. :)
But I assure you... IT IS WORTH EVERY CALORIE. Every second spent in preparation.