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My mother took some cooking classes when she lived in Washington, D.C. in the late 1960s, and one of the series focused on meals from various countries. This is one of the recipes from that era, and one I happen to like. So, when I was invited by a chef friend to a Greek Easter party I volunteered to bring the cake.
I'm not quite sure when went wrong, but the cake stuck in the pan. I carefully ran a knife around the edges and thumped. Nothing. Finally it came out in seven or eight pieces. I was mortified as I worked with the chef and other chefs attending the party. I pushed the pieces together as well as possible, but it was obvious that it was not quite as it should have been.
Got to the party and my chef friend showed me a Greek pastry that he had ruined earlier that day. It looked worse than mine. Then another chef arrived at the party. I told him what happened, and he said, "What's the problem? It simply represents all the Greek Islands!
The Greek aunties at the party were impressed enough that they were asking one another, "Is she Greek?" So don't worry if you end up with islands as well; it's how it tastes that ultimately matters.
Ingredients
Cake
6 eggs, separated
3/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon Rain's Choice pure vanilla extract
3 cups finely chopped walnuts
8 pieces zwieback, crushed fine
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
Rum Syrup
1 cup honey or sugar
2-1/4 cups water
1 cinnamon stick
1 lemon slice
1/2 cup light rum
1 teaspoon Rain's Choice pure vanilla extract
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, beat egg whites until stiff. In another bowl, beat yolks with sugar until
thick and pale in color. Beat in vanilla extract. In another bowl, mix together nuts,
zwieback, and lemon peel. Gradually fold beaten egg whites into yolk mixture and fold in
nut mixture. Pour butter into a greased 13x9x2-inch pan and bake for 1 hour, or until cake
tester comes out clean.
While cake is baking, make the syrup:
In a saucepan, combine sugar or honey, water, cinnamon, and lemon. Bring to a boil, and
simmer until sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in rum.
Immediately pour hot syrup over hot cake. Cover with aluminum foil. After cake has
cooled completely, cut into diamond-shaped pieces.
Note: Cake can be frozen, once it has been cut. Serve at room temperature.
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