Pittsburgh is home to two bucket list bites for foodies. One is the Primanti Bros sandwich … and the other is the Prantl’s burnt almond torte. I got to taste them both during the recent Nebula awards weekend.

I already told you about my trip to Primanti’s. Only four other SFWA members joined me there, but—because I was in the mood to share—a whole lot more got a taste of what The Huffington Post called “The Greatest Cake America Has Ever Made.”

Which, regardless of how mouthwatering it looks, isn’t this cake.

But let me explain.

On Saturday afternoon, I hiked over to Prantl’s with Rosemary Claire Smith, Michael Capobianco, Jim Fiscus, and John Moore to learn whether the much-raved-about cake was as good as people said. Luckily, we didn’t have to buy a full-sized sheet cake to find out, as the bakery sold bite-sized and bar-sized versions of the burnt almond torte as well. While I’m not sure I’d agree that it’s “The Greatest Cake America Has Ever Made,” it truly was a great cake, and well worth the hike over.

I bought one of the full-sized versions to bring home to my wife and share with neighbors, and as I was about to leave I spotted the tempting cake above, which was not sold by the slice or available in anything other than an entire cake. And I wanted to taste it without having to eat the whole thing. Luckily, since there were several hundred hungry friends waiting back at a hotel, I was able to snap it up.

It’s called a Beehive Cake, and I alerted my fellow SFWAns via Twitter that I’d soon be back and ready to share.

As there was a group already gathered in lobby—eating pizza, I think—I set up the cake among them and began to carve.

But who should get the first slice? If this were a wedding, it would go to the bride and groom, right? But while I was cutting, I noticed Connie Willis had wandered over, and so I invented a new rule—SFWA Grand Masters get fed first.

Then, as I was prepared to serve the next slice to a hungry Arley Sorg (that’s him leaning forward in the striped shirt above), who should pop by but Joe Haldeman—another Grand Master. And so …

But don’t worry—no more Grand Masters arrived, so those who’ve yet to achieve such a lofty status eventually did get fed.

Now about that Prantl’s famous burnt almond torte I’d meant for my wife …

Well, I truly did intend to bring it home to her, I really did, and had even locked it in my Jeep, but that night at 2:00 a.m., when faced with dozens of hungry friends in the hotel lobby, I did what any good friend would do—remembered the cake and retrieved it from my car, offering it to the assembled crowd.

I cut it into as many cubes as I could, feeding somewhere between 30 and 40 people, including one who shall remain nameless who described it as “orgasmic.”

Yes, it was that good.

It was only then, with the masses fed and happy, that I felt free to head over to Primanti’s.

My big takeaway from that night? Next year, when SFWA brings the Nebula Awards weekend back to Pittsburgh … I’m going to need to buy a bigger cake!