Ingredients
Cooking spray
7 oz. almond paste, broken into pieces
1 1/4 c. (2 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 c. granulated sugar, divided
4 large eggs, seperated
1 tsp. almond extract
2 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
Red food coloring
Green food coloring
1/3 c. apricot preserves, warmed
1/3 c. raspberry preserves, warmed
1 1/4 c. semisweet chocolate chips, divided
Preparation
Step 1Preheat oven to 350°. Grease three 9”-x-13”pans with cooking spray and line with parchment paper leaving a 2” hangover on each side. In a large bowl using a hand mixer, beat almond paste and ¾ cup sugar together until light almond paste is broken into smaller pieces and looks crumbly. Add butter and beat until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks and almond extract and beat until incorporated. Add flour and salt and beat until just combined. Step 2In another large bowl, beat egg whites until foamy, then slowly add in remaining ¼ cup sugar while beating and continue beating until stiff peaks. Add about ⅓ of the egg whites to the batter and gently fold in until combined, then add the rest of the egg whites and continue gently folding until fully combined.Step 3Divide batter evenly into 3 separate bowls. Dye one bowl of batter red and another bowl green, leaving the third one plain. Add batters to prepared pans and use an offset spatula to spread into an even layer. Step 4Bake until no longer shiny and feel just slightly soft when pressed with a finger, 12 minutes. The cakes should be starting to peel from the edges and barely any color will be gained. Let cool 10 minutes in pan, then use the parchment to help lift out and place on cooling racks. Let cool completely. Step 5To assemble the cakes, place a piece of parchment paper over the green layer, then invert layer onto a board. Peel off top piece of parchment paper. Spread warmed apricot preserves over green layer. Step 6Invert white layer onto another board and peel off parchment paper. Gently slide it on top of green layer. Spread warmed raspberry preserves over white layer. Finally, invert red layer onto another board, peel off parchment and gently slide on top of white layer. Place a piece of parchment paper on top of red layer, then place a baking pan on top of parchment. Step 7Weigh down the pan with cans and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to overnight. Step 8When ready to coat in chocolate, remove from refrigerator while you temper your chocolate. To temper your chocolate, place ¾ cup chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl. Microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring after each one, until chocolate is smooth and reaches between 113° and 118°. Microwave in 5 to 10 seconds bursts as needed to hit your desired temperature. Add remaining ½ cup of chocolate chips a little at a time, stirring until completely melted between additions. Keep stirring until your chocolate reaches 88° or 89°. You can add a little more chocolate as needed to help cool your chocolate down, making sure the new chips melt completely before adding any more. Step 9Add about half of your tempered chocolate on top of the red layer, and working quickly so it doesn’t set, use an offset spatula to spread into an even layer. Refrigerate until chocolate is completely set, 30 minutes. Step 10If your chocolate hardened while the first layer was chilling, microwave in 10 second bursts until smooth and chocolate reaches 89° again. Once chocolate is set, invert onto another board and spread remaining chocolate over the green layer. Refrigerate until chocolate is set or until ready to serve, 30 more minutes. Step 11Using a large knife, trim edges of cakes to get clean sides, then cut into 28 pieces.
Use a stand mixer If you have one that is. A stand mixer is more powerful than a hand mixer and it’s a lot easier to beat the almond paste (not marzipan!) and sugar together. A hand mixer will work, but will take a little longer. You want to try and break down the almond paste as much as you can here so that you don’t end up with chunks in your final product. Beat it until it’s broken down into pea-sized pieces. Quarter sheet pans are helpful We tested this recipe using both 9"-x-13" and quarter sheet pans and both will work here. Quarter sheet pans are slightly smaller than a 9"-x-13" letting you have slightly thicker cake layers and because of the shallow sides it’s a little easier to get your cake layers out of the pans. We know most home cooks are more likely to have 9"-x-13" pans though so we wrote the recipe using those. Don’t worry if you don’t have 3 pans. You can bake in batches as you need to. Don’t overcook your cake layers Because the cake layers are so thin they bake quickly and this is easy to do. You are looking for layers that are no longer shiny and still soft when you gently poke with your finger. If you bake them for too long your layers could get really hard as they set up so be sure to pull them when they are still soft. They might look slightly underdone, but they will continue to set as they cool. Better to pull them a minute too soon than a minute too late. Tempering your chocolate This might be the most complicated step in the whole process, but it’s worth it. Tempering your chocolate will allow you to hold the cookies in your hand without it immediately melting into your fingers. The chocolate will hold up to warmer temperatures for longer making them much more enjoyable to eat. You’ll need an instant read thermometer to check the temperature of your chocolate. Melt 3/4 cup of chocolate chips in the microwave, stirring after every 30 seconds. Once the chips are completely melted, starting checking the temperature. Aim for somewhere in between 113° and 118°. If you need to, you can microwave in 5 second bursts to help reach the temperature mark. It will take some patience. Once you hit 113° you’ll start “seeding” your chocolate. Do this by adding in the remaining half cup of chocolate of chips a little at a time. Stir until the chocolate completely melts before adding more and check your temperature after each addition. You need to get your chocolate down to 89°. Adding in more chocolate and stirring helps get it there quickly which is crucial for tempering chocolate. If you let it cool down naturally and at room temp it won’t set up correctly in the end. This is a method you can use on all of your chocolate coated desserts, like Oreo Truffles. If you don’t want to temper your chocolate you can simply all of the chocolate chips in the microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval until the chocolate is smooth. The chocolate layer on your cookies will melt more quickly in your hands, but will still be every bit as delicious.
Have you tried these yet? Let us know how it went in the comments below!
