Individually, nothing was too tricky...the sponge recipe was the same as a swiss roll, and the buttercream was a far easier version of the stuff I made for the Chocolatines a few weeks ago. Fiddly stuff was making the layers (I could only do 2 in the oven at a time), and I need a bit more practice smoothing the sides of cakes (I have a little cake turntable which helps loads, but I still don't have a good knack for it).
Dobos Torte Recipe
- Pre-heat oven to 200'C
Sponge Ingredients
- 4 large eggs (or 5 small ones, which I used)
- 175g caster sugar
- 150g self-raising flour
1) Put the eggs and sugar in a stand mixer, with the whisk attachment, and mix thoroughly until you can leave a trail over the mixture with the whisk when you remove it (this will take a good 7-8 minutes normally)
2) While the stand mixer is going, draw out 6 x ~20cm circles on baking parchment, on sheets that will fit on your baking trays. I could only fit 2 on a baking tray, and I used a cereal bowl (19cm circumference) as a guide.
3) Sift and fold the flour into the beaten eggs
4) Spoon the mixture out onto the marked baking parchment. I did this in 3 parts (so I could bake 2 discs, and then repeat twice more). To make sure they are even sized, I put the bowl on scales, and then remove the same weight (I happen to know my stand mixer bowl is 600g, so in this case each sponge disc needed 90g of mixture). Using the back of a spoon, gently fill out the marked circles.
6) Remove the discs to a wire rack, and peel off the paper
7) Repeat 4-6 for all the discs.
8) Using a sharp knife, trim the discs to the same size (I used an 18cm saucepan as a template for this)
Chocolate Buttercream Ingredients
- 2 egg whites
- 100g icing sugar
- 225g softened butter
- 100g plain (40%) chocolate
1) Melt the chocolate in a small bowl over a bain-marie, and put aside to cool
2) Put the egg whites and sugar in a bowl over the bain-marie, and using a hand-mixer whisk until it expands up, and stiffens to hold it's shape.3) Put the softened butter in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, and beat until very soft.
4) Spoon the egg mixture into the butter while continuing to mix it
5) Once combined, slowly pour the cooled chocolate into the mixture, and continue to mix until fully incorporated
Caramel Ingredients
- 175g caster sugar
- 60ml water
2) Put the water and sugar into a very clean saucepan (don't use non-stick...I have a small milk-pan I use just for sugar heating, which I keep meticulously clean, to stop crystallising issues)
3) Heat gently until all the sugar is dissolved, then bring to the boil
4) Boil until the mixture turns a rich brown (keep an eye on it, once it starts to turn it can go quickly
5) Remove from the heat for a minute
7) Pour the rest onto the empty baking parchment
8) As the caramel is setting on the sponge, use a sharp, oiled knife to slice it into 16 wedges
9) Once the caramel is cooled on the baking parchment, smash it up with a rolling pin in a plastic bag
Assembly
2) Spoon some of the chocolate icing on top, nad spread over it with a palette knife
3) Repeat for the other 4 discs
4) Pipe 16 rosettes around the top of the cake, and a single large on in the middle
6) Arrange the 16 cake/caramel wedges on top, using the icing rosettes to hold them in place
7) Press the smashed caramel into the sides of the cake