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.
The Dobos Torta is a famous Hungarian sponge cake named after it’s creator, a Hungarian baker named József C. Dobos, who invented it in 1885. The torta is made up of multiple layers of sponge cake, filled with a rich chocolate buttercream, and then topped with thin wedges of caramel.
Instead of making one big cake, I made two smaller cakes. I baked sheets of sponge cake (rather than circular pieces) and then cut them into rounds with a large circular cutter.
Then I whipped up the chocolate buttercream,
covered the two top rounds of sponge cake with the caramel,
and assembled the two tortas.
This was a very fun cake to try out. The sponge cake was delicious and moist, and the chocolate buttercream was divine. I wasn’t as fond of the caramel–it was a bit too lemony, but overall the cake was delicious! My favorite part was the buttercream. I’m going to be specifically filing that part of the torta recipe away for future use. It’s good enough to whip up and serve as a chocolate mousse as it firms up a bit in the refrigerator–smooth, creamy, and chocolatey.
Go to here if you’d like the recipe!
{ 33 comments… read them below or add one }
Yummo!
I'm going to have to have a chocolate and coffee to get over those pictures.
TK
i enjoy your series how you start and last one is mind blowing…..
Gorgeous pictures! Your tortes look great!
Nicely done! I wish I'd done something tiny and creative too!
Wonderful – one of these days I need to be daring enough to enter the DBC!!!
i agree, totally fun to try out. yours are adorable.
Looks beautiful! I went with the mini-tortas, too, but yours seem to have turned out much better than mine.
What a creative presentation. Your tortes look delicious.
All right, this is killing me. This is the third one of these I've seen in the past 15 minutes. Need… torte…
It looks fantastic! :)
They turned out so cute and perfect! Bravo!
This looks great! I like that you used the round cutter to make the cakes round! Great job! :D
that looks fantastic!! great shots!!
Photos are gorgeous! The cake looks amazing. Hoping to get in on the next challenge!
I love that they're individual potions. Though, that wouldn't stop me from having two. hehe…
Those little cakes are absolutely adorable – so cute! I love how you swirled the buttercream; mine was a little too stiff for that, and didn't turn out as nicely.
WOW, those look soooo good! I would definitely want that as my dessert!
WOW, those look soooo good! I would definitely want that as my dessert!
I LOVE that you did mini cakes, they look beautiful!
I never would have thought about using the buttercream as a mousse. Great idea! I think I'll save the buttercream recipe just for that purpose.
cute little ones! well done!
This looks absolutely amazing!!
Sara
http://ourprivatekitchen.blogspot.com/
Beautiful! I love the mini tortas! :)
This just makes me feel worse about my own attempt! This is fabulous… I've got to stop waiting until the last minute!
Ouch. I'm hurt. How could you make Hungarian food without me? :-(
soooo cute!!! love them!
Wow! That looks delicious & beautiful!
I love your cute little round tortes. Great idea!
Your cake looks sooo cute! each layers of your sponge looks soo soft. Beautiful creation =D
This is intense work but they are amazing. They look so good.
Great pictures! I love the layers, looks so yummy!
Mega cute!
Thank you for one method of sharing some of tutorial, a learning exercise for everybody that feeds their mind all over. What a nice tutorials more post.
The link isn’t working! Do you have a different link to the recipe that you can share?
@Chris — Thanks for letting me know! Always sad to see a blog go by the wayside. :( I’ve updated the link to a blog that is still sharing the recipe. Here you go! http://www.notquitenigella.com/2009/08/27/dobos-torta-daring-bakers-august-2009-challenge/