Dobos Torte is one of the most exquisite treats eggs and flour can make. Divine tasting buttery chocolate layers with caramelized sugar top. It's a godess!
Course Dessert
Cuisine Hungarian
Prep Time 2 hourshours
Cook Time 15 minutesminutes
Total Time 2 hourshours15 minutesminutes
Equipment
8½" / 22cm Round cake tins
Ingredients
Pastry
6mediumEggsseparated
⅓cupSugar or sweetener of choice
⅞cupFlour
4tablespoonsButterunsalted
1tablespoonBaking powderoptional
Filling
8.8ozChocolate
1tablespoonCocoa powderoptional
18tablespoonButterunsalted
4mediumEggs
½cupSugar or sweetener of choice
Topping
½cupSugar
4tablespoonWater
12Walnutshalved for decoration
4ozShredded walnuts or any other nuts of choice to decorate the outside of the cake
Instructions
Pastry
Separate eggs and put them into two medium size mixing bowls then Put half of the sugar with the egg whites and the other half with the yolks.
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks are formed.
Separately mix yolks with sugar and beat it until we get a light yellow color.
Beat in melted butter, flour and optional baking powder.
Slowly fold in the egg whites adding just a couple of spoonful at a time.
Cut 8.6" / 22cm diamter circles out of baking paper to fit at the bottom of the tray then divide the batter into 6 and create as even Ø7.5" / Ø19cm layers as possible. Put layers into the preheat 356°F / 180°C oven and bake them for 10-15 minutes.
Take them out as soon as we see the edges are light brown. Don’t overbake them as too hard pastry would break. Save the best layer and put it aside for the top caramel layer. We may put a plate on top of it to stop it from deforming.
Filling
Melt chocolate.
Dice butter and beat it for at least 10 minutes until we’ll get creamy and light consistency of it. Fluffier is better.
In the meantime put eggs and sugar into a double boiler
Beat the eggs in medium heat until it is warm and soft peaks form.
Take it off the heat and keep beating until it cools down.
Mix melted chocolate with the fluffy butter
Fold in the beaten eggs carefully then put the cream in the fridge until it's ready to be use.
Topping
This is the trickiest part of the whole cake. We need to prepare all the things needed beforehand in reaching distance as we have to work as fast as possible. Prepare and check everything we will need: A sharp knife, butter and the top layer of the cake.
Pour sugar and water into a saucepan and without stirring, cook until sugar dissolves then comes to a boil and the color starts darkening. It is important not to stir it otherwise it is going to crystallize. Instead of stirring swirl the pan and continue to boil until caramel becomes a golden brown.
As soon as golden brown, act fast,
Pour caramel over the best looking cake layer.
Mark the caramel as fast as possible with a buttered knife or even better a spreading tool. Keep buttering the knife between the cuts. The easiest is to cut the glaze into 16 wedges. As we don’t have to estimate where to cut. Half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth…
We have to finish before the glaze hardens. Be really careful with the hot caramel. Don’t touch or try to taste it. It would burn the skin badly. When the caramel is hot we can mark it first by pressing the knife onto it gently. Later when it's hardened we can cut it properly. It is a delicate job as the glaze could break easily.
Assembly
Place the first layer on the cake serving plate as this will make it easier to move it later. Divide cream into 6 evenly then spread filling on the first four layers and stack them.
Put the fifth layer on top. Now we only have 2 portions of the chocolate cream then spread half of it on top of the layer then cut the cake into a proper circle shape if necessary.
Cover the outside of the cake with the other half.
Throw the shredded nuts outside the cake as decoration. It will stick into the cream as it is still soft.
Place 16 half walnuts on top of the cake around the edge. This is where the caramel glaze slices are going to lean on. Cut the glaze properly and place it on top of the cake. Put a walnut in the middle as a final step. Keep it in a cool place but take it to room temperature half an hour before serving.