The Once Secret Recipe for Dobos Torte

Dobos Torte

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful Easter holiday with family and friends. I had the day off today for Good Friday to spend with my daughter, but, I worked for a few hours at the pizza place this evening. Carl, the owners father, and master chef spoils us each and every time we work. The owners are very kind and generous natured. Carl bakes us bread to take home fresh and warm from the ovens, plies us with luscious desserts....Will I fit into my jeans by summer...wink...wink.



While we were working today Carl created a beautiful and intricate Dobo Cake for us for Easter. This is a slice he sent home for my daughter. Truthfully until this evening I had never heard of this creation, but I can see why it is so well known.

Dobos Cake is a very famous cake named after and invented by Joszef Dobos a well known Hungarian confectioner in 1884. He prided himself on the quality and variety of his offerings at his fancy-food shop, which catered to the rich and famous including Queen Elizabeth 1. He offered more then sixty cheeses and twenty-two champagnes.

The amazingly thin cake layers of the Dobo Torte and caramel crown were impressive , but it was the cake's liberal use of chocolate buttercream (a recipe only recently imported from France) that literally put Dobos torta on everyone's lips. Other Budapest bakeries wanted the recipe so they could sell their own version, but Dobos kept the recipe a secret.

Dobos cake has five thin layers (no more no less) of lemon, saffron or vanilla layered sponge cake. It is slathered with chocolate buttercream between layers and topped with a hard thin caramel slice. The sides of the cake are usually coated with ground hazelnuts, chestnuts, almonds or walnuts or cookie crumbs. Dobo's aim was to make a cake that would last longer than other pastries because in that era there was next to no refrigeration. The hard top helps to keep the cake moist.

There are no shortcuts to a perfect Dobos Torte. The layers must be baked individually... never sliced from one thick cake. Luckily the batter bakes very quickly and the process can be sped up by using two or more baking sheets... and a kitchen timer to keep track of baking times. Get yourself in an assembly line frame of mind, and you'll be finished making this intricate cake in no time.

Coincidentally but fittingly, dob means "drum" and dobos means "drummer" in Hungarian, and the round cake with its flat top is very drum-like. The cake is also often called 'Dobos-torta' or 'Dobostorta'.

For a long time, as already mentioned, Dobos kept the exact recipe a secret, until 1906 when he retired and gave the original recipe to the Budapest Confectioners' and Gingerbread Makers' Chamber of Industry, providing that every member of the chamber can use it freely. After this many years I found the recipe on the internet.

Dobos Torte is known everywhere in the world and there are more than one hundred recipe variations. Of course, I am not as wordly as I once thought...so much more to learn!!!!! One place they may have once served the Dobos Torte in Budapest is at the renowned Gerbeaud.

él vágyódik és előremozdít

**Dobos Torte**

9 egg whites
8 egg yolks
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoons lemon zest
1 pinch salt
1- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1- 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 tablespoons shortening
1 cup white sugar
1 cup ground walnuts, chestnuts, almonds or cookie crumbs
1 recipe Chocolate Buttercream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Have ready two 10 inch cardboard circles. Generously grease a 9 inch springform pan with soft butter, and dust with flour.
Beat the egg whites until frothy, and gradually add 1 cup sugar. Beat just to soft peaks. In another bowl, beat the yolks with the milk, lemon peel, vanilla, and salt. Fold this into the egg whites. Sift the flour over the egg mixture, and fold in.

Spread 1- 1/3 cups batter into the prepared pan. Bake for about 5 to 9 minutes, or until small, brown spots begin to appear on cake. Remove the cake from the oven, and remove layer from pan with a spatula. Dust the cake lightly with flour, and place on a rack to cool. Grease pan again, and repeat this process until all of the batter is used, about 6 times more. Place the layers between wax paper, and cover with a towel. Chill layers for a few hours.

Make the Chocolate Buttercream.

Layer the chilled layers on one of the cardboard rounds with the buttercream. Start with one layer; cover with the buttercream, and then press down with another layer to make a good seal. Repeat this with the remaining layers, but reserve one layer. Wrap the cake in plastic, and chill for at least 6 hours along with the remaining buttercream. Grease the other cardboard round with the shortening, and place the last layer on it.

Place 1 cup sugar into a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Allow sugar to cook until the edges look melted and brown. Begin stirring with a wooden spoon. Cook until the sugar becomes an amber color, and is smooth. Carefully pour the caramel over the top of the last layer, and spread to the edges with an oiled knife. Quickly, using an oiled knife, indent the top of the caramel into 16 wedges. Allow to cool slightly, and then retouch the indents with the knife again. Place layer onto a counter top dusted with sugar, and allow the caramel to cool completely.

Place some more buttercream on top of the chilled torte, and top with the caramel round. Frost the sides with the remaining buttercream. Apply ground nuts of your choice to the sides. Chill the torte before serving.

**Chocolate Buttercream**

12 (1 ounce) squares bittersweet chocolate
2 cups unsalted butter
1 pinch salt
2 eggs
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt the bittersweet chocolate, and allow to cool slightly.

Place the butter or margarine, salt, and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Beat with a mixer until very light and airy, about 4 minutes. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time while beating on low speed. Mix well, and beat on medium speed for about 4 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat for 5 minutes more. Add the melted chocolate, and beat 4 minutes.

You are reading this post on More Than Burnt Toast at http://morethanburnttoast.blogspot.com. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author/owner of More Than Burnt Toast. All rights reserved by Valerie Harrison.