White Chocolate Christmas Cake

NOTE: SEE VARIATIONS AT BOTTOM OF RECIPE

CAKE Line the bottoms of two 8″ round cake pans with parchment paper.
Grease and flour the paper and sides of pans. Set aside. Preheat oven
to 350 degrees. Melt the white chocolate in the microwave for 1-2
minutes, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate is smooth and
melted (half power works best). Set aside. In a large bowl, cream
butter and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Sift together flour,
baking powder and salt. Mix milk and almond extract. Add dry
ingredients and milk alternately to creamed mixture, beating until
smooth. Mix in melted chocolate. Wash beaters thoroughly. Place egg
whites in a small bowl and beat until fluffy. Slowly add remaining
sugar and beat until soft peaks form. Gently fold in egg whites into
batter. Turn into prepared pans, smoothing tops. Bake 25-30 minutes
or until cake tests done. Place on wire racks and cool 10 minutes,
then remove from pans and cool completely. Split each layer into 2
layers. Freeze layers (with parchment paper in between layers) until
ready to assemble cake.

FILLING Grate almonds using a Zyliss cheese grater or food processor.
Mix together preserves and almonds. Place frozen bottom layer of cake
on plate and spread with 1/3 of the preserves. Repeat with the next
two layers. Place the final layer on top. Refreeze until ready to put
on icing if desired. (Note: place the bottom 2 layers upside down on
the plate to help make a more level cake.)

ICING Chill 3 oz. of white chocolate and a pan or platter. With a
vegetable peeler, slice curls of chocolate off of the flat surface of
the chocolate onto the chilled platter. Cover pan and freeze until
needed. (Can be done several weeks ahead). Melt 2 oz. chocolate in
the microwave set aside. On top of a double boiler over hot water,
combine sugar and egg whites. Whisk constantly until the mixture is
hot and the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and beat with mixer
until thick and shiny. Add butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating
after each addition. Beat in melted chocolate. Spread icing on the
cake. Quickly and gently place frozen chocolate curls on top of cake.
Refrigerate cake. Take out of refrigerator 30-60 minutes before
serving.

NOTE: The cake is best if made 1-2 days ahead to allow time for the
filling to soak into the cake. The icing will “crack” of not allowed
to sit out and soften before cutting. Freezing isn’t really required
but it make the layers easier to work with and results in a moister
cake.

VARIATIONS:

1. Skip doing a cake from scratch. Just add the white chocolate and
almond flavoring to a quality white cake mix and cook according to
2. Use cherry pie filling in place of the preserves – drain off as
much “syrup” as possible before pureeing.

3. Instead of making chocolate curls, grate the chocolate directly
onto the cake using the Zyliss cheese grater or vegetable peeler.