(that makes a mess of your kitchen and requires expensive ingredients!)

Spongecake: Heat oven to 375º. Line jelly roll pan with aluminum foil or baking parchment and grease generously. Beat eggs in 1 1/2 quart bowl on high speed until very thick and lemon colored, about 5 minutes. Pour eggs into 2 1/2 quart bowl. Gradually beat in sugar. Beat in water and vanilla on low speed. Gradually add flour, baking powder and salt, beating until batter is smooth. Pour into pan. Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Immediately loosen cake from edges of pan; invert onto towel generously sprinkled with powdered sugar. Carefully remove foil. Let cake cool, and then cut into two pieces, each the same size as the 8×10 pan.

Filling mixture: Beat egg yolks and sugar until thick and lemon-colored, about one minute. Cook in top portion of double boiler about 8 minutes, stirring constantly (this is a safety measure to protect from salmonella). Remove from heat, beat in Marscapone cheese. In a separate bowl, beat whipping cream until stiff. Fold into cheeses mixture along with vanilla.

Coffee mixture: Mix these three together. (These amounts can be cut in half according to taste.)

Assembly: Lay the first cake onto the bottom of the pan and brush with half of the coffee mixture. Put half of the filling mixture on top. Then repeat with another layer of cake brushed with coffee mixture and the remaining filling. (Ghirardelli’s is good). Can also garnish with chocolate shavings. Chill at least overnight – tastes best the next day. After a couple of days, the filling with start to seep so don’t make it too far ahead.