Dobos torte

Ingredients

• Eggs6
• Sugar150 g
• Flour150 g
• Butter250 g
• Dark chocolate200 g
• Icing sugar150 g
• Eggs for the cream2
• Sugar for the caramel200 g
• Lemon1
• Hazelnuts100 g
• Vanilla1 tsp
• Salt1 pinch

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Whisk the eggs and sugar over a water bath until warm, then beat them eight minutes to a thick foam.

   15 min

2. 2

   Fold in the sifted flour with a spatula in three additions, trying not to knock the air out.

   8 min

3. 3

   Draw six circles on parchment and spread a thin layer of batter on each.

   15 min

4. 4

   Bake the layers at 200 °C for six minutes each, to golden edges, and lift them off the parchment at once.

   40 min

5. 5

   Whisk the eggs with the icing sugar over a water bath until thick, cool it and work in the softened butter and melted chocolate.

   25 min

6. 6

   Melt the caramel sugar with lemon juice to amber and pour it over the flattest layer.

   10 min

7. 7

   Cut the caramel layer into twelve wedges with a hot oiled knife, assemble the cake and set the wedges on top.

   25 min

About the dish

The layers are baked one at a time, the batter spread on parchment in a circle. Each takes six minutes, and slicing one thick sponge into five is already a different cake.

The caramel lid is cut hot, with an oiled knife, the moment it thickens slightly. Cooled, it shatters into shards and no even wedges come out of it.

József Dobos devised the cake in 1885 precisely for keeping: the caramel seals the buttercream, and the cake lasted weeks without refrigeration — impossible before he invented it.

Worth knowing

• — Lift the layers off the parchment while hot. Cooled, they stick fast and break as you try to free them.
• — Cut the caramel within the first half minute. It sets instantly, and there is no second chance at even lines.
• — The wedges are set at an angle, propped on a rosette of buttercream. Laid flat they stick to the cake and lose the look.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

560 kcal

Protein

8 g

Fat

34 g

Carbs

58 g

More from Hungary

• Goulash — Beef stewed with onion and paprika. There is as much onion by weight as meat, and it dissolves into the sauce.
• Lángos — A yeasted flatbread deep-fried, rubbed with garlic and buried under soured cream and cheese.
• Halászlé — A fiery red fisherman's soup on paprika, made from river fish in a cauldron.