Sybil's Pecan Torte

Sybil's Pecan Torte with Coffee Cream is a simple cake delightfully acceptable for Passover.   The minute I looked over the necessary ingredients, visions of spices danced in my head.  

I decided to follow the recipe exactly as written in Rose's Heavenly Cakes this first try but that quickly changed after pulverizing the toasted pecans into pecan butter.  Not holding out much hope for anything more than a Pecan Cookie Bars a la Sybil, I threw in muscavado sugar, cinnamon, cardamom and vanilla.

Whenever the name Sybil is mentioned within ear shot of my family, it is guaranteed to launch a Fawlty Towers monologue.  I am happy to report that Mr. Carnegie would not have to shut down my kitchen in spite of the evidence below.   

Trusting the instant read thermometer knew what it was doing, I  patiently waited and watched  the cake get darker and darker.  I remembered to lower the oven temperature taking into account the dark spring form pan, but it didn't help.  So I pulled out a serrated knife and sliced off the bottom. 

It just goes to show, once again, Rose's recipes have a huge margin for error.

This cake was loved by everyone who had a slice, even kids.  I let the little ones taste test whipped cream flavored with a smidgen of coffee before frosting the cake.  They preferred it vanilla flavored with Lindt's new sea salt dark chocolate shaved over the top.  I sprinkled the remaining instant Starbucks' coffee powder over the whipcream on the adult's slices.  It played beautifully with the coffee hints in the cake.  This is  a light exquisite dessert that I'm certain will be requested many times over.   Everyone wanted seconds and it's even more flavorful the next day.