ISO Dobos Torte recipe

[TerriL]

I'm making this as a birthday cake at the request of friend. So far I'm trying to decide between recipes on the Smitten Kitchen and Food and Wine websites and the Rick Rodgers book 'Kaffeehaus'. They're all a little different, so any suggestions are greatly appreciated. If you have another recipe to point me to, that would be great as well.

[jerry i h]

Professional Baking by Wayne Gisslen.
I have done the included recipe for Dobos Torte, but I need to warn you that it requires more than a wee bit of baking & pastry talent and skill. The first time was in cooking school, and my results were mediocre at best.

[TerriL]

Thanks, I went with the Smitten Kitchen recipe, which is based on recipes by Maida Heatter and Joe Pastry. It came out great, and looked *amazing*. Yes, it was a bit of work, but the final results were similar to Dobos Torte I've had in Hungary and Austria. Most importantly, it mirrored my friend's recollections of eating that dessert as a child.

For anyone interested, it's worth a try. SK doesn't mention when to add the salt, but it goes in with the flour. Also, I pasteurized the egg yolks before using them in the frosting/filling, and added a teaspoon of vanilla to the cake. Make sure your cake layer and tools are prepared and in place before making the caramel, because it sets up fast and isn't very forgiving.

I made the cake in a rectangle, then placed 12 even rectangles of the caramelized cake layer on top, which is more traditional than SK's more decorative interpretation, but to each his own (and I've seen a lot of 'traditional' variations of this cake in Europe). I cut some of the cake scraps into small shapes, caramelized those, then coated them in tempered chocolate and used as decorations.

Link: http://smittenkitchen.com/2011/06/dob...

[Hank Hanover]

Here are a few more recipes. Good Luck.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Hungarian-Seven-Layer-Cake-Dobostorte-104023
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/viennese-dobos-torte
http://www.joepastry.com/2011/dobos-torte-recipe/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dobos_torte
http://www.pastrypal.com/2009/08/choc...

[TerriL]

Thanks, do you have experience with any of the recipes?

[Hank Hanover]

:-) No, not at all. It looks like a lot of work but very impressive. If I was gonna go for impressive, I think I would go for a croquembouche. Looks even more impressive with less work. Although I think maybe the torte would taste better.