Schmoo torte is a Canadian dessert. Although it is relatively popular and well-known nationwide, it is most famous in

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West, or Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a list of regions of Canada, Canadian region that includes the four western provinces and t ...

, especially

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

. It is a

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 ...

with layered

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 ...

brown sugar Brown sugar is a sucrose sugar product with a distinctive brown color due to the presence of molasses. It is either an unrefined or partially refined soft sugar consisting of sugar crystals with some residual molasses content or produced by t ...

, and nuts, commonly made using angel food or

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 ...

History

The schmoo torte was first invented in 1948 by a Winnipeg mother, Dora Zaslavsky, for her son Murray's

Bar Mitzvah A ''bar mitzvah'' () or ''bat mitzvah'' () is a coming of age ritual in Judaism. According to Halakha, Jewish law, before children reach a certain age, the parents are responsible for their child's actions. Once Jewish children reach that age ...

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, Manitoba. Zaslavsky was a Russian-Jewish immigrant who arrived to Canada in 1914. She started introducing her recipes to Winnipeg via a catering business to support her family financially when her husband became ill. Zaslavsky's catering business eventually expanded across North America. Her schmoo torte became a favourite of singer

Harry Belafonte Harry Belafonte ( ; born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927 – April 25, 2023) was an American singer, actor, and civil rights activist who popularized calypso music with international audiences in the 1950s and 1960s. Belafonte ...

. Murray's daughter Shannon Aceman stated in an interview that her grandmother's schmoo torte "was basically a mix of about three or four of her other best-known recipes for cakes with the rum torte." Jewish food historian Kat Romanow told CTV News Winnipeg that schmoo is reminiscent of a central-European dessert called nusstorte. Romanow told CTV News: "In many cases, the dishes that Ashkenazi Jews brought with them to Canada came to be iconic dishes of their new homes." How the schmoo got its name is unknown, however, some claim it comes from the name of the comic book creatures from

Al Capp Alfred Gerald Caplin (September 28, 1909 – November 5, 1979), better known as Al Capp, was an American cartoonist and humorist best known for the satirical comic strip ''Li'l Abner'', which he created in 1934 and continued writing and (w ...

’s Li’l Abner.

References

External links

Restaurant recipe
Canadian desserts Cuisine of Manitoba {{dessert-stub

History

See also

References

External links