A dobos torte for the Daring Bakers.....

August's Daring Bakers' Challenge has been chosen by Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella and me, Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar. They chose the famous Dobos Torta, a Hungarian specialty.

This is the first time I have ever heard that name. So much for my ignorance.According to them, The Dobos Torta is a five-layer sponge cake, filled with a rich chocolate buttercream and topped with thin wedges of caramel. (You may come across recipes which have anywhere between six and 12 layers of cake; there are numerous family variations!) It was invented in 1885 by József C. Dobos, a Hungarian baker, and it rapidly became famous throughout Europe for both its extraordinary taste and its keeping properties. The recipe was a secret until Dobos retired in 1906 and gave the recipe to the Budapest Confectioners' and Gingerbread Makers' Chamber of Industry, providing that every member of the chamber can use it freely.

The recipe sounded challenging when I read it on the Daring Baker forum and it sure was challenging. All you need is a little planning and luck (for the buttercream)!
I made the chocolate buttercream the first,so that it would cool by the time I start arranging the cake layers. I used dark chocolate and this buttercream took shape really well. Guess this recipe is what is going to be my keeper recipe.

My cake had 6 layers. To make the layers thin, I used a ladle three times for each layer to fit my 9" spring form pan. In the pursuit to get real thin layers, I ended up with real real thin layers. They gave me tough time while getting them off the parchment paper. The resultant minor tears were pasted using the lovely buttercream.

The caramel was easy to put together as well. I should have added more lemon juice.they hardened quite fast. But the caramelized cake bits were quite hard and while trying to make perfect wedges, they lost shape. Hence the irregular shards. They were a little thick as well.

I am making it again until I perfect the wedges and for a much prettier looking cake. But the torte and the buttercream were yumm!

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.