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 Dobos Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.
You will find the detailed recipe at their blogs.
Boy, you do have to love eggs, when you have this torte!!
Between the dough and the buttercream you will find 10 whole eggs. And little else: this dessert, despite the rich appearance has a lot to do with fluffy stuff and incorporating air.
The fun thing about this cake is that the layers are not cut from a one cake, but are baked separately, oven-pancake style, and then trimmed to the same size and shape to be assembled with the buttercream.
This scared me a lot, every layer has to be baked just a few minutes, so you basically have to stay around the oven for about an hour. Not exactly thrilling when the weather is hot and humid and the thermometer scores 43C/110F! I took advantage of one afternoon when it "chilled" down to 39C/102F and did my duty of Daring Baker.
The weakest link for me in this recipe was the caramel part. I suck at caramelizing, I always seem to miss the right moment (or never get there, that is).
This time it was not so bad. Not perfect, I could have waited a little longer because the sugar was a little too liquid and soaked in the cake instead of building a layer of its own on top, but it's good enough for me!
By the way, I have to thank Angela for the suggestion of cutting the top layer before pouring caramel: as things went, I would have never been able to have those nice triangles!
I hadn't any whole hazelnuts at hand, so I used bits of chocolate as (not quite) hidden support.
The only problem is, my kids are a bit disoriented; they keep asking whose birthday is it, and won't accept a "Nobody's" for an answer.
They have cut about 20 construction paper sheet into confetti, and are waiting for daddy to come home to start the party.
You will find a lot of other Dobos torte and lot of rivisitations at the Daring Kitchen website.
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Love your photos, and your finished product looks nutty and wonderful. The caramel was my biggest difficulty as well. Sad we didn't throw a party to enjoy the torte :) Kids are good for that sort of thing!
ReplyDeleteYour caramel looks perfect and so does the torta :)
ReplyDeleteI couldn't find any whole hazelnuts around here, but the chopped ones were delicious with the buttercream weren't they? Your kids sound adorable :)
ReplyDeleteGreat job! I forget about nuts... love the look of your torte :)
ReplyDeletewow! that looks SO lovely.
ReplyDelete10 eggs .. holy cow!
Anna, once again, you did a FANTASTIC job on the challenge! Great step-by-step pictures. Your caramel triangles look wonderful--but I know what a pain they are to make. :)
ReplyDeleteOooh, lovely! Looks delicious. :)
ReplyDeleteA pretty torte! You did a great job!
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Rosa
That looks wonderful and I hear you on the caramel, I know so many had issues with it. And lol about your kids, it's a bit of a celebration cake isn't it! :)
ReplyDeleteYou were brave to complete this challenge in such heat and the results are great! I hope your kids enjoyed the celebration!
ReplyDeleteLOL your kids are soo funny!! You should've just said it was someone's birthday just to make eating the cake all the more fun=D Btw I think your caramel layer turned out very well. hehe I failed the caramel part, so couldn't use it on my torte
ReplyDeleteCiao ! La torta è veramente bellissima ! You are right it's definitely a winter bake (at least for the baker's sake !)Baci
ReplyDeleteHa ha.. that is so cute. I am sure it is somebody's birthday somewhere in the world so why not celebrate. :) Your layers look absolutely perfect and your cake turned out beautifully. Job well done!
ReplyDeleteSame recipe different resutlts. Daring Bakers are everywhere.
ReplyDeleteLooks delicious !!
Haha, your kids are funny! Your dobos looks beautiful!
ReplyDeleteYour Dobos Torta is beautiful!
ReplyDeleteYour caramel looks perfect - I failed mine!
This is beautiful. I love your lovely even sponge layers. My caramel was also a bit of a disaster. I only ended up with 10 wedges and a mess everywhere.
ReplyDeletefor a cake that yummy looking, i'll eat 10 eggs no problem! :)
ReplyDeleteThey have cut about 20 construction paper sheet into confetti, and are waiting for daddy to come home to start the party LOL LOL LOL Don't you love kids a birthday cake and NO birthday person for it. Wonderful effort and it looks so nice especially the even sponge layers you are one fine baker. Cheers from Audax in Australia.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful job!! Your torte is stunning. Love the birthday cake without a birthday =D.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure we ever had real cakes when it wasn't a birthday or holiday, so I can understand the confusion! It's a beautiful cake.
ReplyDeleteI laughed when I read the part about your kids' confusing. So cute!
ReplyDeleteYou did an amazing job! And I agree, the Dobos is so much lighter than one would expect!
The part of your kids waiting to celebrate someone's birthday is too funny! I guess you should make cakes more often!
ReplyDeleteI love the chocolate decorations on the sides, and the cake looks beautiful!
It has been really warm hers too, very strange.
LOL@ the weather chilling down to 102! Wow, humidity too? I can stand heat, just not humidity - major hair and baking killer!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, your torte is beautiful, and who can complain about more chocolate around the cake in lieu of nuts? They actually look like crushed nuts! Excellent job, and the story about your kids waiting for a party because you baked a fancy cake, is adorable! You have to give them one!! :)
Hey...it's SOMEONE'S birthday, just not sure whose! :-) Your cake is just beautiful and I would love to have even just a piece of the caramel laden layer. Yum!
ReplyDeleteNutty-goodness! Great job, I bet they tasted as good as it looks.
ReplyDeleteLooks great, can't wait to make mine!
ReplyDeleteciao Anna!!! che foto, e che meraviglia!!! la cappella Sistina delle torte, diciamocelo!
ReplyDeletethat sounds/looks amazing!
ReplyDelete