Ellen Silverman
Ellen Silverman

Late in the evening, I often find myself wandering into the kitchen like some sort of hungry bear or raccoon or a snuffling truffle pig, looking for a sweet to eat: not fruit, but something more powerfully dessert-like in effect. That’s when I devise odd, curiously delicious and satisfying concoctions that are the products of serious constraints: a pantry and fridge with a hodge-podge of offerings due to my aversion to buying a bona fide dessert, coupled with my refusal to bake or spend much time cooking, or get dressed and go out to buy ice cream.

The occasional sweets I do keep in the house, like amaretti cookies, are invariably too austere and chaste to be truly satisfying – my attempt at NOT keeping anything really fattening around. Amaretti are perfectly honorable Italian cookies made from egg whites, sugar and bitter almonds, but my wild hunger one night craved extremes of cream puff and gateau. I think what possessed me to stack amaretti with crème fraiche into a miniature leaning tower, was a faint, sudden memory of the classic ice box cake of my childhood: thin “bought” Famous chocolate wafers layered with whipped cream, left to soften for a couple of hours into a cake.

I ate one crème fraiche-smeared amaretti to tide me over while I waited for the other six to meld into an alternately chewy -crunchy- creamy confection that quelled my hunger perfectly: my personal seven-layer cake for one.

Recipe: Seven Layer Ameretti Cake for One

This amaretti cake is really just a variation on a theme of ice-box cakes. You can improvise endlessly with other not-too-dense cookies and crème fraiche or whipped cream. (These little cakes would actually be just great for a dinner party; just scale up the ingredients for the number of guests)

Makes one very narrow, very rich cake that serves one

About 2 1/2 tablespoons crème fraiche
7 amaretti cookies
Cocoa powder (optional)

Put a ¼ teaspoon dab of crème fraiche on a little plate and place and amaretti cookie on top. Spread about a teaspoon of crème fraiche on the domed top of the cookie and place on the dab of crème.  Spread another teaspoon of crème fraiche on the domed top of a second cookie and balance on top of the first. Repeat with the remaining cookies and crème fraiche, eating one or two if you like. Place in the fridge and let meld for as long as you can stand, preferably at least an hour.  If you want to get fancy, strain cocoa powder over the top.

If you’ve found illumination, joy, or inspiration in this post, please consider supporting Improvised Life. It only takes a minute to make a secure donation that helps pay our many costs. A little goes a long way towards helping Improvised Life continue to live ad-free in the world.

Support Improvised Life ♥

6 replies on “late night forager: seven layer cake for one

  1. Sally,
    This recipe made me hungry just reading it.
    I’ve traveled to Italy in my mind after I read this and now I can’t wait to construct my own leaning tower.
    Thank you for your blog.
    It insires in so many different ways.
    Yummmmmmm.
    Fern

  2. Note from Sally: a reader emailed me to say there were only six layers in the picture. ..Well as you’ll read in the post, I had to eat one layer while I was waiting for the cake to get to ripen. Had to, you see…

  3. Oh, my goodness. That Nabisco layer cake thing was always one of my favorites and I talk about it enough to my kids that they have begged me to make it. I think you’re the first person in a long time to mention it other than myself!

  4. You should post this one Tastespotting. Such a beautiful picture and brilliant title. It’s a winner.

  5. Love this idea! Will you share your Amaretti recipe? These cookies are a favorite in my household.

  6. There is no Amaretti recipe. I buy bags of Amaretti di Saronno (sp) which have no garbage in them. Then I just splice ’em together freeform with creme fraiche or whipped cream. Delish!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *