Today, my youngest sister turns 18. She is ten years my junior, and I've had the pleasure (?) of watching her grow up from a munchkin who forced us to watch The Jungle Book three times a day for a month into a lanky teen with a gorgeous singing voice. But she, like the rest of our family, is incredibly, even painfully, indecisive. For instance, she couldn't decide between a chocolate cake or baklava for her birthday dessert. And thus, this mutant cake was born. I give her (and you) the Chocolate Baklava Crunch Cake, concocted in my parents' kitchen a few days after Christmas out of sheer boredom.

This cake wasn't an easy one, especially given that I only had two 8" pans and a toaster oven to work with—something I conveniently managed to forget as I (quite literally) drew up the plans for this thing.

I decided to make a dairy-free variation of Ina Garten's chocolate cake for the cake layers, and I drew from a handful of baklava recipes to invent the flaky inserts for this dessert. To glue it all together, I whipped up a simple honey-vanilla buttercream, but replaced the butter with Earth Balance vegan buttery sticks. I did the same for the chocolate glaze that tops this puppy off. Unfortunately for the rest of my family, my inability to consume dairy led me to such experimentation. For those of you with no such affliction, however, I recommend sticking with unsalted butter and buttermilk for ultra-delicious results.

Although baking this cake took me half a day, each of these layers could easily be made in advance. And with an actual oven and four baking pans, it would go much, much faster. So if you like a little bite to your layer cake, and layered pastry inside your layered pastry, maybe give it a whirl? Here's a quick breakdown of what it takes:

1) Make the chocolate cake layers.

2) While the cakes are baking, prep the pans of baklava.

3) Bake the baklava.

4) While the baklava cools, prepare the sugar syrup.

5) When you're ready to put it all together, whip up the frosting and start stacking.

Chocolate Baklava Crunch Cake

for the cake:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cups cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk (or 1 tbsp lemon juice + 1 cup non-dairy milk)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup hot coffee

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and butter and flour two 8" cake pans. Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer, then mix on low with the paddle attachment for a minute or so. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on the lowest setting, pour in the wet ingredients and mix until well combined. Stir in the hot coffee.

Pour the batter into your prepared pans and bake for 30-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the finished cakes in their pans for 10 minutes, then turn them out upside down onto wire racks and allow them to cool completely.

for the baklava:

20 sheets frozen phyllo dough, thawed for at least 1 hour
1 stick butter (or Earth Balance), melted
1 cup coarsely ground raw pistachios
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup panko crumbs
¾ cup water
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp lemon juice

Preheat (or keep your oven heated) to 350 degrees. Brush two 8” cake pans with melted butter. Remove one roll of phyllo dough from the box and unroll it. Lay it flat on a sheet of waxed paper, and cover it with cling wrap and a damp cloth to keep it from drying out as you work. Carefully pull off one sheet of phyllo dough and lay it in the bottom of one of the cake pans. Press down the corners that are hanging off, and brush it with melted butter. Repeat this four more times until you have five layers of pastry in the pan. Sprinkle it with ⅓ of the pistachio mixture to make an even layer, then add five more layers of pastry, brushing each with butter as you go. Repeat this process for the second cake pan, then bake both for 25 minutes, or until golden.

While the baklava cools, make the syrup. Bring the water, sugar, and honey to a boil over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10-15 minutes. Add the lemon juice and cook for five more minutes. Remove the syrup from the heat and pour it over both pans of pastry. Allow the baklava to cool completely before constructing your cake.

for the frosting:

1 ½ sticks butter, at room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp milk

Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy, then gradually add the powdered sugar. Beat in the milk and vanilla, and beat on high for 2-3 minutes, until the frosting is light and fluffy, and a shade lighter in color. Add more sugar, if needed.

for the chocolate glaze:

3 tbsp butter
¾ cup chocolate chips
1 tbsp light corn syrup
¼ tsp vanilla extract

Once your cake is constructed and chilled, make the glaze. Bring a small amount of water to a simmer in a small saucepan. Place a heatproof bowl on top, and add the butter. Once the butter is melted, stir in the chocolate chips and corn syrup. Continue stirring until the mixture is completed melted and smooth. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Pour over the top of your cake and with a spatula, smooth it to the edges, allowing some to drip down the sides.

to construct your cake:

1) Once the cake layers and baklava have cooled, place one cake layer top side up in the center of a cake stand.

2) Fill a pastry bag (no tip) with buttercream frosting and pipe a thick band about ¼ an inch inside the edge of the cake.

3) With an offset spatula, scoop more frosting into the center of the cake and smooth it to fill in the circle.

4) Remove one of the baklava layers from its pan and place it on top of the layer of frosting. Make sure the baklava is 100% cool when you do this, or you’ll melt the frosting (believe me, you don’t want to risk it).

5) Pipe another ring of frosting on top of the baklava and smooth on another layer. Place the second cake layer upside down on top of the frosting.

6) Pipe a third ring of frosting and use the spatula to smooth it across the top, letting the excess fall down on the sides. Add enough frosting to the sides to create a smooth, thin layer. Either cover it completely, or let some of the cake show through.

7) Chill your frosted cake for 2 hours or overnight before pouring on the glaze. Top with ground pistachios and pieces of the extra baklava layer (or keep it to snack on separately).