Dobos torte ( ), also known as Dobosh, is a
Hungarian sponge cake
Sponge cake is a light cake made with egg whites, flour and sugar, sometimes leavened with baking powder. Some sponge cakes do not contain egg yolks, like angel food cake, but most do. Sponge cakes, leavened with beaten eggs, originated during ...
layered with
chocolate
Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavoring, flavor other foods.
Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocesse ...
buttercream
Buttercream, also referred to as butter icing (food), icing or butter frosting, is used for either filling (cooking), filling, coating or cake decorating, decorating cakes. The main ingredients are butter and some type of sugar.
Buttercream is ...
and topped with
caramel
Caramel ( or ) is a range of food ingredients made by heating sugars to high temperatures. It is used as a flavoring in puddings and desserts, as a filling in bonbons or candy bars, as a topping for ice cream and custard, and as a colorant ...
.
The layered pastry is named after its inventor, Hungarian
chef
A chef is a professional Cook (profession), cook and tradesperson who is proficient in all aspects of outline of food preparation, food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term (), the di ...
, a delicatessen owner in
Budapest
Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
. In the late 1800s, he decided to create a cake that would last longer than other pastries in an age when cooling techniques were limited. The round sides of the cake are coated with ground
hazelnut
The hazelnut is the fruit of the hazel tree and therefore includes any of the nuts deriving from species of the genus '' Corylus'', especially the nuts of the species ''Corylus avellana''. They are also known as cobnuts or filberts according to ...
s,
chestnut
The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
Description
...
s,
walnut
A walnut is the edible seed of any tree of the genus '' Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. They are accessory fruit because the outer covering of the fruit is technically an i ...
s, or
almond
The almond (''Prunus amygdalus'', Synonym (taxonomy)#Botany, syn. ''Prunus dulcis'') is a species of tree from the genus ''Prunus''. Along with the peach, it is classified in the subgenus ''Amygdalus'', distinguished from the other subgenera ...
s, and the hardened caramel top helps to prevent drying out, for a longer shelf life.
History

Dobos
torte
A torte (; from (), in turn from Latin language, Latin via ) is a rich, usually Layer cake, multilayered, cake that is filled with whipped cream, buttercreams, mousses, Fruit preserves#Jam, jams, or fruit.
Tortes are commonly baked in a spri ...
was introduced at the National General Exhibition of Budapest in 1885;
Emperor Franz Joseph I and
Empress Elisabeth were among the first to taste it. The cake became popular throughout Europe, both for its durability through shipping and for its unique appearance. With its flat, shiny, caramel glazed top, it was simple but elegant, as opposed to the more intricate cakes of the age.
Its use of fine chocolate
buttercream
Buttercream, also referred to as butter icing (food), icing or butter frosting, is used for either filling (cooking), filling, coating or cake decorating, decorating cakes. The main ingredients are butter and some type of sugar.
Buttercream is ...
was very little known at the time because cake fillings and frostings were usually made with cooked pastry cream or
whipped cream
Whipped cream, also known as Chantilly cream or (), is high-fat dairy cream that has been aerated by whisking until it becomes light, fluffy, and capable of holding its shape. This process incorporates air into the cream, creating a semi-soli ...
. Dobos had discovered buttercream while traveling in France,
but he invented the batter of the cake.
The cream incorporated cocoa butter for extra smoothness. During his lifetime, the cake was often imitated, but never reproduced. Dobos traveled to other countries in Europe to introduce his cake, and soon began exporting the product in specially designed wooden boxes. Near the end of his career, in 1906, Dobos donated his recipe to the Pastry and Honey-Makers' Guild.
See also
*
Doberge cake – a layered dessert originating in
New Orleans
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
,
Louisiana
Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...
, adapted from the Dobos torte
*
Dobash cake – a layered cake originating in Hawaii using a cocoa based pudding, also adapted from the Dobos torte
*
Opera cake – a French multi-layered dessert made of sponge cake and buttercream.
*
Prinzregententorte
Prinzregententorte () is a Bavarian torte consisting of at least six, usually seven, thin layers of sponge cake interlaid with chocolate buttercream. The exterior is covered in a dark chocolate glaze. Prinzregententorte is very popular in Bavari ...
– a
Bavaria
Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...
n torte consisting of, usually seven, thin layers of sponge cake interlaid with chocolate buttercream
*
Rigo Jancsi – a traditional
Hungarian cube-shaped, layered, chocolate sponge cake and chocolate cream pastry
*
Smith Island cake
Smith Island is a collection of three distinct island communities – Tylerton, Rhodes Point, and Ewell, Maryland – on the Chesapeake Bay, on the border of Maryland and Virginia territorial waters in the United States. The island is the last ...
– similar to the Prinzregententorte, with 8 to 15 thin layers filled with creme, frosting and/or crushed candy bars, and iced with a cooked chocolate icing
*
Spekkoek
Lapis legit, also known as spekkoek (; or ), is a type of Kue, Indonesian layer cake. It was developed during Dutch Empire, colonial times in the Dutch East Indies. The firm-textured cake is an Indo people, Indo (Dutch-Indonesian) version of t ...
– a type of
Indonesian layer cake which commonly has more than 18 layers and contains a mix of Indonesian spices
*
Stack cake – an Appalachian cake made of many layers that is filled and frosted with applesauce made from dried apples or cooked down fruit butters
References
External links
*
{{Cakes
Chocolate desserts
Nut desserts
1885 introductions
Layer cakes
Sponge cakes
Hungarian cakes