A Daring Dobos Torta

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!

Coming Sunday: Taking on Michael Ruhlman