Black And White Cake

AMARETTO FILLING
1 lb Cream cheese; softened
6 tb Unsalted butter; softened
2 ts Vanilla extract
1 ts Almond extract
2 lb Confectioners sugar
3 Squares semisweet chocolate;
-melted, cooled
1 tb Amaretto
White and Dark chocolate
-leaves, for garnish

Preheat oven to 350F and arrange rack to the center position. Grease and
flour three, 8-inch round cake pans. Beat egg whites until stiff, but not
dry and set aside briefly. In a separate bowl, beat the butter with the
sugar until light and fluffy, then add the vanilla and almond extracts.
Blend smooth. Whisk the flour with the baking powder and salt and add
alternately to the batter with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry
mixture. Fold egg whites into the batter and divide mixture evenly between
the two prepared pans. Bake about 20 minutes or until a wooden pick
inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool layers in their
pans 10 minutes, then loosen and turn out onto a rack to complete cooling.

YIELD: Three 8-inch layers

Beat cream cheese with butter until smooth. Blend in vanilla and almond
extracts. Gradually beat in confectioners sugar until smooth. Remove 1 cup
of frosting and blend with the chocolate and Amaretto. Reserve the
remaining white frosting and set aside. Spread 1/2 of the chocolate
frosting evenly over bottom layer of cake. Arrange the second cake layer
over the first, then repeat, using the remaining chocolate frosting. Use
the served white frosting to cover the sides and top of the cake. Decorate
the top of the cake with an assortment of white and dark chocolate leaves.

YIELD: One 8-inch cake