Brown Butter, Brown Sugar, Brown Lightning

The first time I tasted my mother-in-law’s Dobos torte, I was smitten. It’s a Hungarian confection made from layers of individually-baked vanilla sponge between the richest chocolate buttercream I’d ever tasted. The cake layers give form to the chocolate. It’s intense and beautiful.

Despite the fact the cake was meant to “share,” I snuck razor-thin slices from the fridge until the cake was gone and I was left dragging my finger over the cake plate for one last taste.

It’s a special occasion cake, a labor of love— each layer is cooked in the oven separately. There are over a dozen eggs and a pound of chocolate involved. Mother-in-law makes it for milestone birthdays, Grandma’s 90th, my daughter’s 16th, and most recently, our daugther’s high school graduation.

Someday my kids will have to learn to make Dobos torte to keep the tradition alive.

But not me. I bake all the time, but a multiple-layered cake with French buttercream, decorated with toasted nuts on the side, is a sure way to ruin…