Dobos Torte

 

Below is an article about the dessert known as the Dobos Torte:




DOBOS TORTE

Several years ago, I had written a small article about the famous New Orleans dessert known as Doberge Cake. In my article, I had pointed out that the cake was a deviation of the Hungarian dessert, Dobos Torte. Below is my article on the latter.

The Dobos Torte is a Hungarian sponge cake layered with chocolate buttercream and topped with caramel. The layered cake or torte was named after its inventor, Hungarian chef József C. Dobos, who was a delicatessen owner in Budapest, Hungary. Tortes are commonly baked in a springform pan. A torte is a rich, usually multilayered, cake filled with whipped cream, buttercreams, mousses, jams, or fruit. The sponge cake serves as a common base, but a torte's cake layers may instead be made with little to no flour, using ingredients such as ground nuts or breadcrumbs.

Sometime during the late 1800s, Dobos had decided to create a cake that would last longer than other pastries in an age when cooling techniques were limited. Dobos coated the round sides of the torte with ground hazelnuts, chestnuts, walnuts, or almonds, and the hardened caramel top helps to prevent drying out, for a longer shelf life. His use of fine chocolate buttercream was very little known at the time, because cake fillings and frostings were usually made with cooked pastry cream or whipped cream. Dobos had discovered buttercream, while traveling in France. But he invented the cake's batter. Dobos also added cocoa butter into the buttercream for extra smoothness.

Dobos first introduced his torte at the National General Exhibition of Budapest in 1885. Both Emperor Franz Joseph I and Empress Elisabeth were among the first to taste the dessert. The latter soon became popular throughout Europe, for both its durability through shipping and for its unique appearance. With its flat, shiny, caramel glazed top, the Dobos Torte proved to be a simple but elegant dessert, as opposed to the more intricate cakes of the age. During Dobos' lifetime, the torte was often imitated, but never reproduced. Dobos traveled to other countries in Europe to introduce his cake, and soon began exporting the product in specially designed wooden boxes. Near the end of his career in 1906, Dobos donated his recipe to the Pastry and Honey-Makers' Guild.

Below is a recipe for the Dobos Torte from the Spruceeats.com website:


Dobos Torte

Ingredients:

Cake
*1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature
*1 cup sugar
*4 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
*1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
*1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling
*8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
*2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
*2 cups (1 pound) unsalted butter, room temperature
*5 large egg whites, room temperature
*1 cup sugar

Caramel Glaze
*2/3 cup sugar
*1/3 cup water
*Nuts of your choice, ground, to sprinkle on top and sides of cake


Preparation

Preparing the Cake
*Gather the ingredients.
*Preheat oven to 350 F.
*In a large bowl, cream the 8 ounces of butter and 1 cup of sugar until light and fluffy.
*Beat in the 4 eggs, one at a time. Beat in the flour and vanilla until smooth.
*Weigh the batter, remembering to subtract for the weight of the bowl. Divide that number by 7—this is the number of ounces you will need for each pan in order to create even layers.
*Lightly coat the bottom of 7 (9-inch) round pans with cooking spray. Alternatively, you can bake as many layers at a time as you have 9-inch cake pans and reuse them to bake the rest of the batter.
*Bake each layer for 7 minutes, or until edges are very lightly brown. Don't overbake.
*After removing from the oven, loosen the cake layer and immediately invert onto a cooling rack.
*Continue until all the batter is used and all of the layers are cooling.

Preparing the Filling
*Gather the ingredients.
*Melt the semisweet and unsweetened chocolates in a microwaveable bowl, stirring often. Set aside to cool.
*In a large bowl, beat the 1 pound of butter on low for 2 minutes, then on medium for 3 minutes, and finally on high for 5 minutes.
*Place the 5 egg whites and 1 cup sugar in a double boiler over medium heat. Whisk gently and heat to 120 F.
*Transfer to a mixing bowl and whip on high until stiff peaks form.
*Fold the melted and cooled chocolate into the whipped butter.
*Fold the egg whites into the mixture until all traces of white are gone.
*Refrigerate until ready to use.

Preparing the Caramel Glaze
Gather the ingredients.
Place 1 cake layer on a cooling rack set over a pan to catch the drips.
Add the 2/3 cup sugar and 1/3 cup water to a small heavy saucepan.
Without stirring, cook until the sugar dissolves and it comes to a boil and begins to darken in color.
Swirling the pan, continue to boil until the caramel becomes a golden brown.
Immediately pour the caramel over the cake layer, creating an even coating.
With a buttered knife, mark the glaze before it completely hardens into 16 equal wedges without cutting all the way through.


Place 1 cake layer on a serving plate or in a 9-inch springform pan to use as a guide, and spread on 1/8-inch of filling.
Repeat with remaining layers and portions of filling, and finish with the glazed layer on top.
Use the rest of the filling to cover the sides of the cake. Sprinkle with ground nuts of choice, if desired. Refrigerate until serving.
To serve, slice along the lines marked in the caramel glaze.

How to Store
A Dobos Torte will keep for a few days, covered, in the fridge. The caramel may become chewy stored in the moist refrigerator over time. A Dobos Torte freezes best if cut into individual pieces and tightly wrapped. Freeze for up to a month and defrost in the fridge before serving.