Dobos Torte

Dobos Torte, Dobos Torta or even Dobos Cake is a Hungarian delight introduced to me by my dear friends while in Budapest earlier this month.

As with all things, I have to try to recreate things in my own kitchen. For a first attempt, I don't think I did all that badly. Naturally the commercial version in the top photo is much prettier than mine but I like to think that my version is much more generous.

Please read the whole recipe through before starting. It isn't a particularly difficult recipe, but it does take a long time. The other thing about this recipe is that it calls for LOTS of sugar and butter. Don't try to "cut back" on any sugar or substitute low fat spread for butter. This is not a cake for dieters. If you're watching your weight or if your making it for somebody who is a calorie counter, make something else. Trying to convert Dobos torte to something healthier is going to waste your time and deny you the true pleasure of this wonderful desert.I found a very good recipe for Dobos torte at Allrecipes.com This seems to be a delightful recipe site geared for cooks at all levels of competence. As this particular recipe deals with melted sugar, you have to have your wits about you. In fact, I don't recommend leaving the kitchen once you've begun until you've finished making this cake. The last layer can be made much later after the rest of the cake has been built. It gives you a chance to get some of the mess cleaned up. I stuck an audio book in the DVD player in the front room and cranked up the volume so it could be heard in the kitchen and had a really nice afternoon's baking.

INGREDIENTS

• 9 egg whites
• 8 egg yolks
• 200 g white sugar
• 60 ml milk
• 6 g lemon zest
• 1 g salt
• 8 ml vanilla extract
• 190 g sifted all-purpose flour
• 60 g shortening
• 200 g white sugar
• 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.

1. 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.
2. 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 5 times more. Place the layers between wax paper, and cover with a towel. Chill layers for a few hours. Make the Chocolate Buttercream.
3. 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.
4. 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 become 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.
5. Place some more buttercream on top of the chilled torte, and top with the caramel round. Frost the sides with the remaining buttercream. Chill the torte before serving.
   

Chocolate Buttercream

INGREDIENTS

• 336 g bittersweet chocolate
• 455 g unsalted butter
• 1 g salt
• 2 eggs
• 480 g confectioners' sugar
• 5 ml vanilla extract

1. Melt the bittersweet chocolate, and allow to cool slightly.
2. Place the butter or margarine, salt, and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Beat with a mixer until very light and airy, about 4 minutes.
   
3. 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.
   
4. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat for 5 minutes more.
   
5. Add the melted chocolate, and beat 4 minutes.

My Note: If you add in the ingredients in a different order, it doesn't matter much.
You just have to ensure that it is all blended and fluffy at the end.

The recipe is hard on your electric hand mixer and the kitchen will look as though a bomb hit it (a powdered sugar bomb) but the effort is worth it!

My Notes: I am sure it would be easier if I had lots of baking tins and could bake more than one layer at a time. As the layers you are baking are thin, please keep a sharp eye on them. They bake quickly.

The chocolate buttercream does not handle well when refrigerated. I got all the layers built and the sides iced before I even thought about refrigerating.

If the molten sugar goes over the edge of the top layer, don't panic. You will be able to snap off the overspill and nobody will be any wiser.

Root Beer

As I have used an extract rather than cooking up my own proper recipe, so this is more like instructions for making root beer at home rather than a proper recipe.

One can try boiling down sassafras root and making your own flavoring for root beer but sassafras isn't the only thing that goes into root beer. Wintergreen and possibly dandelion root go in there too. You really have to be a pharmacist to the right mix. In any case, I left the mixing to the experts and used some root beer extract.

Sadly, Hires Root Beer extract form is no longer available. I remember Hires root beer extract being in the cupboard when I was a child. Every once and a while, I'd unscrew the cap a little tiny bit so I could get a sniff. Thanks to my dad's generosity, I used Gnome brand root beer extract. He brought some over during one of his visits. It is as close to good old fashioned root beer taste as I can ever hope to achieve.

Making root beer requires some essential equipment most of which can be picked up at a shop that specializes in home brewing or on-line.

Big 5 gallon bucket
a funnel
enough plastic bottles with screw caps OR
glass bottles and a bottle capper to bottle it all when you're finished

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8 cups of white sugar (more or less to taste)
brewers or champagne yeast
root beer extract
4.5 gallons of water

When making root beer everything must be scrupulously clean. I didn't sterilize anything but I did wash everything that came into contact with the root beer in very hot soapy water, rinsing with hot hot water. Some instructions for making root beer say to sterilize the bottles. That's probably a good idea. I re-used some plastic bottles that wouldn't take the heat of sterilization so I just got them as clean as I could and I added a cap full of bleach to the wash water.

Pour one sachet of the yeast into a measuring jug and add in warm (not hot) water. Stir the yeast and water to dissolve the yeast completely and let it stand for 15 - 20 minutes or so.

In your big bucket, dump all the sugar in and add some warm water. I ensured that all the sugar is dissolved before I had the root beer extract. Add in the root beer extract and stir. Add in the yeast and top up the water level until it reaches 4.5 gallons (just don't go over the 5 gallon mark).

Now start bottling the stuff. When filling bottles (glass or plastic) make sure you leave a bit of head space at the top. Don't fill the bottles to the brim.

Wipe off the bottles and set them somewhere out of the way to cure.

In about 3 days, check the carbonation levels by opening up a bottle. Do this in the sink in case you get a gusher. When the carbonation levels are about right, refrigerate the bottles to stop the yeast.

You now have a lot of root beer to drink. I'm planning to make a batch in the summer for a root beer float picnic party.


There are lots of other root beer recipes on line. I've just given you mine.
Root beer float!