Daring Bakers Challenge: Dobos Torte

This month the challenge was to bake that famous Hungarian cake, the Dobos Torte. It calls for baking thin layers of cake, stacking them with buttercream, and topping them with hazelnuts and wedges of caramel. I made mine a miniature so I wouldn't scarf down too much cake, and opted for wispy strands of caramel.

I also nixed the hazelnuts because Joe can't have them, and halved all the ingredients but kept the cooking temp and times the same. I got seven layers out of my little cake tower -- they slide around a little bit with all the buttercream, so you may want to insert a wooden skewer through them while you stack and frost, then remove it and chill. Recipe and obligatory challenge rules follow the pics.


Whip your egg whites to a soft peak and then a stiff peak.



To make my cake a mini, I used a personal-sized springform pan without the bottom. I ladled a third of a cup of batter into the mold, and you can see that when you lift the mold the batter mostly holds its shape. They bake up looking kind of like pancakes.


The buttercream is cooked slightly in a double boiler, and then you add the chocolate to melt.



To make strands of caramel, lightly coat some waxed paper with cooking spray. Dip a spoon into the warm caramel and wave it in zig-zag motions over the paper. Let it firm for a few minutes, and then lift it off the paper. Use a recipe other than the one in this challenge, which is more toffee-like and didn't have the right consistency for caramel strands. (I used Martha Stewart's.)
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The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular DobosTorte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: ExquisiteDesserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.

So, what is the Dobos Torta (or Torte)?

The Dobos Torta is a five-layer sponge cake, filled with a rich chocolate buttercream and topped with thin wedges of caramel. (You may come across recipes which have anywhere between six and 12 layers of cake; there are numerous family variations!) It was invented in 1885 by József C. Dobos, a Hungarian baker, and it rapidly became famous throughout Europe for both its extraordinary taste and its keeping properties. The recipe was a secret until Dobos retired in 1906 and gave the recipe to the Budapest Confectioners' and Gingerbread Makers' Chamber of Industry, providing that every member of the chamber can use it freely.