Rainbow cookie
Encyclopedia
Almond
The almond , is a species of tree native to the Middle East and South Asia. Almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree...
-based sponge cake
Sponge cake
Sponge cake is a cake based on flour , sugar, and eggs, sometimes leavened with baking powder which has a firm, yet well aerated structure, similar to a sea sponge. A sponge cake may be produced by either the batter method, or the foam method. Typicially the batter method in the U.S. is known as a...
, apricot and/or raspberry jam, and a chocolate coating.
Preparation
Three pans of thin sponge cake layers are prepared by mixing butter, sugar, almond paste, almond extract, flour, and egg yolks. Eggs whites are whipped separately and folded into the batter which is then dyed with food colorings and baked. The cake layers are then brushed with jam and stacked, usually overnight, to adhere. The cake is then coated with melted chocolate on from one to six sides, allowed to cool, and cut into individual pieces. Its goodItalian Flag variation
A particular variety of this confection is common, which features the colors of the Flag of ItalyFlag of Italy
The flag of Italy is a tricolour featuring three equally sized vertical pales of green, white, and red, with the green at the hoist side...
as the colors for the almond paste sections, and features one layer of apricot jam and one layer of raspberry jam. This version also has a chocolate coating on the top and bottom (as well as possibly the sides), resulting in a total of seven layers (chocolate/almond/jam/almond/jam/almond/chocolate).
This variety of the confection likely originated in Italian communities in the United States during the 1900s, in homage to the community's heritage. Although often called simply rainbow cookies in much of the continental United States, some local names for this specific variety are:
- Napoleon Cookies
- Seven Layer Cookies
- Venetian Cookies
- Seven Layer Cake
- Italian flag Cookies
- Tricolor Cookies