Baklava Cake

Like baklava but hate working with phylo pastry? I can't even spell it so you know I just described myself! This is a modified recipe of a Greek walnut cake that, with syrupy goodness, is baklava in cake form. (If you are averse to syrup you can totally use cream cheese icing...)

Cake:
Beat 7 eggs for something crazy like 5 minutes.
Add 1 tbsp almond extract and 1 tbsp real vanilla extract.
Add a mixture of half oil half milk that comes to 1 1/2 cups liquid.
Beat again. Give it a good thrashing.

Combine in a separate bowl 3 1/2 cups flour, 2 cups white sugar, 1 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp baking powder, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp allspice, 1 tsp ground ginger. Mix evenly.

Add to wet mixture 1 cup of crushed walnuts - crush with rolling pin (releases oil, totally yummy) and measure after crushed, not before.

Beat the wet bowl like mad.
Add the dry stuff a cup at a time and beat it.
Then when pretending you're Michael Jackson no longer works and it's getting too thick, add a splash or sploosh of milk to adjust consistency. And beat it some more.

Pour into a big cake pan lined with parchment paper. What size is big, you ask? Bigger than a square cake pan but not as big as a lasagne pan. I've never measured my cake pan. I inherited it from my grandmother, and her cakes were always awesome.

Bake in a 350F oven for about an hour (at Saskatoon altitude - more in Edmonton and less in Estevan). Cake is done when knife in centre comes out clean.

Syrup:
Combine in a pot approximately 2 cups brown sugar (this is an excellent use for your rock hard brown sugar - it doesn't have to be an exact amount, just close) with 2 1/2 cups of water and 1 short cinnamon stick, and about a tablespoon of lemon juice. Boil until thicker. Refrigerate to cool. Pour over cooled cake. Om nom nom!