Thursday, August 27, 2009

Daring Bakers Challenge - Dobos Torte


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.


A Dobos Torte is a six-layer cake with a caramelized layer of cake for the topping. It is quite rich with chocolate buttercream between the thin layers of sponge cake. As you can see, it is beautiful. I had visions of beautiful finishing touches for my cake, but kept it simple on my smaller, six-inch version. The cake was quite time-consuming. I would say from prep to cleanup was a good six hours. I baked the cake layers one day, and finished the next.

The original recipe is heavy on eggs and butter, so for my vegan version I used Bryanna Clark Grogan’s sponge cake recipe, and VCTOTW chocolate buttercream. I normally loath and despise buttercream, but I actually liked my recipe using Smart Balance instead of EB, and my favorite Scharffen Berger cocoa. I also made it mocha flavored by using strong coffee instead of milk. The sponge cake was fun to make since I got to make vegan egg whites. It really worked!


This was the first time I made cake layers without a cake pan. I drew 7-inch circles on parchment paper and spread the batter onto baking sheets.


This is how my kitchen looked when I was making the cake layers.




As I said, I finished up the next day and the cake turned out just lovely.



I took it to my mom’s (I try not to keep such decadent desserts at my house!) and nervously plated a slice.



Rich and delicious. I’m always amazed when I complete a vegan version of these fabulous challenges.

You can read the full recipe here.

If you have several hours to spare, make yourself a vegan or nonvegan Dobos Torte and I’m sure you will enjoy it.

15 comments:

Lauren said...

Wonderful job with your vegan version!! Your torte looks stunning =D.

Gina said...

Wow, that looks amazing!!! Sounds like you did one fantastic job, way to go!

Hannah said...

Oh, stunning cake! It looks exactly like the traditional, original creation... Fantastic work making it vegan! :)

Tami said...

That's gorgeous and I'll be it tastes even better!

Anonymous said...

Beautifu job! It sounds like it was a lot of work, but it looks just amazing, Diann.

A_and_N said...

What a fantastic effort. I love how you've done it so effortlessly!

Amey said...

oh my gosh!!! what a beautiful creation! It sounds like quite a labor of love, and yet you really do make it look so easy. Incredible!

Andrea said...

Well I'm impressed, with both your patience and skill. The cake looks beautiful and I imagine the taste was delicious. This is one cake I'll have to admire from a distance. It really looks amazing, Diann!

Liz Ranger (Bubble Tea for Dinner) said...

so beautiful! your caramelized topping cake pieces look so glossy and yummy, and that *slice*, egad, rich or not I want it ALL. :P

jessy said...

your torte looks absolutely perfect, Diann! wow! you are just too awesome - i love it! (and now i'm really hungry! ahahahahahhaaa!)

Jes said...

So beautiful! The layers look great & the entire tort looks seriously addictingly delicious!

Ricki said...

It looks like the perfect special occasion dessert--and some of my very favorite flavors combined. Great cake! :)

miss v said...

wow! that looks super complicated - congrats to you for taking on the challenge. i would love a bite!

Kris said...

Your torte turned out awesome! Yum!

Erin said...

This looks amazing! Congrats on another successful challenge. Very clever to think of spreading out the batter for those thin layers.