Dearest Cass: You have made me laugh! By the way,

your spanish is very good.

The Ponche Romano is in layers. The vanilla cream that they use is like the one in the trifles, with a custardy flan like color (tan color?). They use also a lemon cream like the one in the Key Lime pies (I think they use gelatin or cornstarch or both in it & it is yellow in color). In my times they used candied fruits of different kinds and it was incorporated into the lime cream mix and the lime cream with fruits was also in the last layer, on top of the cake. Now they use drained fruit cocktail, but of course, that is not the correct way & as a result the cake is too humid. The cake part is a common vanilla cake with a rum or brandy dense syrop. I usually have seen it in a big Lasagna like oven proof pan. Each slice is sold at $3.50 or more. In my time it was sold at $1.50 only.

The first layer is cake, then a layer of cream, then more cake, then lime cream, then more cake & repeat layers until you end with the lime cream (twice repetition of layers). The results are spectacular and a slice goes a long way. I think you just bake a cake, slice it in different layers & add the Syrop over every cake layer ( I am not sure of this but I am sure that you will know the right way to do it). The final results is a yellow cake full of flavor & very elegant. I think the cake is about 4 or 4 1/2 inches high.

Sometimes I compare it to a trifle, but that is not correct because the results are somewhat solid & you can cut it in slices. The difference I think is in the denseness of the syrops & of both custards. My dear friend, I now that you will be able to prepare a wonderful Ponche Romano after my not very precise description. You have the knowledge necessary to achieve it. In my case, even though I have seen it, I am not a very good baker.

Well no excuses for me!!!. I am glad you accepted the challenge.

Your friend,

Gladys/PR