Nusnacker Torte

This is a German holiday cake and it is my favorite. It’s a little time consuming, but worth the effort. The name, which I cannot spell properly on this English computer, means Nutcracker Cake.

The cake:
6 eggs separated
½ C sugar
2 T vegetable oil
1 T rum
½ C sugar
¼ C all-purpose flour
1 ½ t. baking powder
1 t. cinnamon
½ t. cloves
1 C finely crushed graham cracker crumbs
1 square unsweetened bakers chocolate, grated
1 C nuts, ground or chopped very fine

Preheat oven to 350°. Line two round cake pans with foil or waxed paper. In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until very foamy. Beat in ½ C sugar, 1 T at a time. Continue beating until stiff and glossy. In a small mixing bowl, blend yolks, oil, and rum on low speed. Add ½ C sugar, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and cloves. Beat 1 minute at med. speed. Fold egg yolk mixture into whites. Fold in cracker crumbs, chocolate, and nuts.
Pour into greased and lined pans and bake 30-35 minutes.
Split each cake into two layers. Ice with rum whipped cream between layers and over the top. Top can be garnished with shaved chocolate and candied cherries. Chill at least 7 hours before serving. (the cake itself is very dry and needs that chilling time with the cream to turn into the moist and yummy thing it becomes)

Rum Whipped Cream:
2 C chilled whipping cream
½ C powdered sugar
2 t. rum
(beat all together until stiff)

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"A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart who looks at her watch." ~James Beard.

The Cooking Nook LJ Community~easy and time saving recipe for thr busy cook.
http://www.livejournal.com/community/cooking_nook/