Italian 3 Layer Cake

• 8 oz almond paste
• 3 sticks butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1.5 tsp almond extract
• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 10 drops green food coloring
• 8 drops red food coloring
• 12 oz apricot preserves
• 4 oz semisweet chocolate

1. grease 3 13x9x2 pans, line with parchment paper
2. beat paste, butter, sugar, yolks, almond extract for 5 minutes
3. add flour and salt
4. beat whites till stiff and fold in
5. divide batter in thirds. 1 third gets red, 1/3 gets green. spread in pan
6. bake each layer for 15 minutes at 350 till edges are golden. cake should be 1/4” thick. remove from pans and cool
7. Place green layer on cookie sheet. Heat apricot preserves.
8. spread 1/2 of preserves on green layer
9. slide yellow layer on top, cover with remainder of preservess
10. slide red layer on top, cover with plastic wrap and weight with heavy weights over night.
11. melt chocolate. spread on cake, let dry 30 minutes, trim sides and slice into 1 inch squares,

store in freezer.