Alexandra--Queen of "Tortes"
9/27/09: "Express" Dobosch Torte
Meal Details: For the main course I heated up some sweet and sour meatballs and tacos that we had in the freezer. For dessert, I made the Dobosch Torte.
Defining moments: This is my third recipe in the Food Network Challenge, hosted by the writer of the I Blame My Mother blog. See here for more info. This is my first attempt at making a torte. But what is the definition of a torte? It is a round cake with multiple layers (with lots of frosting between), lots of eggs, and frosting on the top and sides. And where does the word Dobosch come from? It is the last name of the man who created a famous Hungarian torte in 1884. The original Dobosch torte (aka Dobos torte) had many more layers and used much more intense techniques; that is why the recipe I used has the word "express" in the title. You can call the express Dobosch, the beginner's Dobosch.
Recipe sources: The torte recipe came from the Food Network chef Alexandra Guarnaschelli, and can be found here.
What I learned: Because of this torte I can honestly say that I learned my lesson. I was very much upset over a frosting episode that came up during the afternoon hours on Sunday. The frosting for the torte was not coming together for me; it just continued to be a soupy mess. I thought it was all going to go to waste and when I feel that I will have to throw money out the window, well, that's hard to cope with. But Annemarie told me to keep the leftover in the refrigerator (for ice cream and whatnot), and after I looked at the refrigerated bowl of frosting in an hour's time I found it to be the perfect consistency. :) I was very happy over that! I do regret, however, having this set back ruffle my feathers like it did. I will really try to remember that even if a recipe mistake will result in a garbage toss, I shouldn't lose my patience or peace of mind.
Another thing I learned is that a semi wet cake pan that is sprayed with vegetable spray will result in hard-to-remove-cake. I unfortunately found it out the hard way. But my Papa came to the rescue with a heavy rolling pin and a strong arm. With a few taps--or should I say hammer whacks--from the rolling pin the cakes slipped right out. A bit rattled, but they still came out! I will remember the drying step next time!
One of the most interesting parts of this torte are the eggs that I used. They weren't your typical eggs, they came from the Easter Egg chicken. No, I'm not kidding. They are also known as Araucanas. These special chickens are rightly named because they lay blue eggs. Read all about them here. A friend of ours stopped at my family's farm and gave us a dozen of her eggs that were laid by her five Easter Egg chickens, six of which made their way into my cake batter.
Any modifications? Yes. The recipe told me to make two cakes, cut them in half horizontally, and stack them on top of each other to form four layers. I didn't feel like fiddling around with cutting my cakes so I divided the cake batter into four separate cake pans. This modification also cut the baking time in half. The cakes only took 20 minutes to bake.
I also didn't use cream but half-and-half for the frosting, it's a cheaper alternative and it gave good results.
Lastly, I decided to skip the caramel top mainly because I thought there was enough sugar on this cake already!
How it tasted? It was DIVINE! I love chocolate so I was very satisfied with the frosting choice. The cake was moist and I liked the interesting lemon flavor that was added. It tasted even more delicious the second day when it was thoroughly chilled.
How about a 2nd time? I would love to make it again!
Meal Details: For the main course I heated up some sweet and sour meatballs and tacos that we had in the freezer. For dessert, I made the Dobosch Torte.
Defining moments: This is my third recipe in the Food Network Challenge, hosted by the writer of the I Blame My Mother blog. See here for more info. This is my first attempt at making a torte. But what is the definition of a torte? It is a round cake with multiple layers (with lots of frosting between), lots of eggs, and frosting on the top and sides. And where does the word Dobosch come from? It is the last name of the man who created a famous Hungarian torte in 1884. The original Dobosch torte (aka Dobos torte) had many more layers and used much more intense techniques; that is why the recipe I used has the word "express" in the title. You can call the express Dobosch, the beginner's Dobosch.
Recipe sources: The torte recipe came from the Food Network chef Alexandra Guarnaschelli, and can be found here.
What I learned: Because of this torte I can honestly say that I learned my lesson. I was very much upset over a frosting episode that came up during the afternoon hours on Sunday. The frosting for the torte was not coming together for me; it just continued to be a soupy mess. I thought it was all going to go to waste and when I feel that I will have to throw money out the window, well, that's hard to cope with. But Annemarie told me to keep the leftover in the refrigerator (for ice cream and whatnot), and after I looked at the refrigerated bowl of frosting in an hour's time I found it to be the perfect consistency. :) I was very happy over that! I do regret, however, having this set back ruffle my feathers like it did. I will really try to remember that even if a recipe mistake will result in a garbage toss, I shouldn't lose my patience or peace of mind.
Another thing I learned is that a semi wet cake pan that is sprayed with vegetable spray will result in hard-to-remove-cake. I unfortunately found it out the hard way. But my Papa came to the rescue with a heavy rolling pin and a strong arm. With a few taps--or should I say hammer whacks--from the rolling pin the cakes slipped right out. A bit rattled, but they still came out! I will remember the drying step next time!
One of the most interesting parts of this torte are the eggs that I used. They weren't your typical eggs, they came from the Easter Egg chicken. No, I'm not kidding. They are also known as Araucanas. These special chickens are rightly named because they lay blue eggs. Read all about them here. A friend of ours stopped at my family's farm and gave us a dozen of her eggs that were laid by her five Easter Egg chickens, six of which made their way into my cake batter.
Any modifications? Yes. The recipe told me to make two cakes, cut them in half horizontally, and stack them on top of each other to form four layers. I didn't feel like fiddling around with cutting my cakes so I divided the cake batter into four separate cake pans. This modification also cut the baking time in half. The cakes only took 20 minutes to bake.
I also didn't use cream but half-and-half for the frosting, it's a cheaper alternative and it gave good results.
Lastly, I decided to skip the caramel top mainly because I thought there was enough sugar on this cake already!
How it tasted? It was DIVINE! I love chocolate so I was very satisfied with the frosting choice. The cake was moist and I liked the interesting lemon flavor that was added. It tasted even more delicious the second day when it was thoroughly chilled.
How about a 2nd time? I would love to make it again!
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