Bill Hogan / Chicago TribuneThin layers of yellow butter cake interspliced with fudge make up Smith Island cake.

Jennifer was baking dobos torte, so I stopped by. My job wasn’t to help or to coach. It was to egg on.

“Why not bake two?” I urged, pulling out surplus pans. “Why not bake three?” We did. It took all day, and our cakes came out beautiful — layers of egg-light cake and chocolate-heavy buttercream crowned with crackling caramel. An homage to Hungarian pastry genius Jozsef C. Dobos, who reputedly engineered the well-insulated cake for long shelf life.

We were admiring its many black-and-white layers when Marya dropped by with a slice of Smith Island cake. I gasped: Thin layers of yellow butter cake interspliced with fudge. An American dobos, reputedly invented to keep well on the water.

I combined the easygoing layers of Maryland’s state cake with the luscious buttercream of Hungary’s national cake. This butter-happy hybrid ought to boast excellent keeping quality. But I’ve never had enough left to find out.