Regular readers may recall my blog about our new official Maryland State dessert, Smith Island Cake. Thanks to my friend Dalma, one of the best cooks I know, I believe I have found the derivation of a multiple layer cake where the layers are cooked separately and not split.
Dalma is Australian, but Hungarian by heritage. She read my blog about Smith Island Cake and told me about Dobos Torte as it is so similar in construction. As a child she would ask for this cake every year for her birthday and she showed me the web site http://www.europeancuisines.com/ which has a recipe for the confection. The cake layers are made without butter and filled with a most delicious chocolate cream. The cake is topped with a layer of caramel which looked pretty intimidating to make but was not nearly as difficult as I’d anticipated.
According to one source, the word dobos means drummer in Hungarian and the cake is so named because it is supposed to look like a drum. However, the inventor’s name was Jozsef Dobos and I think it more likely that he named it after himself. I can’t think of a better memorial personally, than a really good recipe! The idea behind the caramel topping was that, in an era without refrigeration, the caramel would prevent moisture loss. For at least two reasons, I would keep this cake refrigerated. Most importantly the chocolate cream contains raw eggs. I do not believe this is a problem if you use eggs from pasture raised chickens. The incidence of salmonella poisoning from raw eggs is usually from intensively reared poultry and not from outdoor, pasture reared livestock but anyone with a compromised immune system, the very young or old should beware. Most cakes set rather hard when they are refrigerated because of the amount of butter in the cake batter. This torte however, has no butter in the cake layers so stays very soft. An additional reason for keeping the cake in the fridge is that it will keep it out of reach of children who always seem to want to touch a good looking cake.

Dobos Torte -serves 12

The cake batter
6 eggs, separated
2/3 cup vanilla sugar
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour

Chocolate filling
6 oz semisweet chocolate
3 tablespoons strong coffee
1 cup butter
1 cup sifted vanilla powdered sugar
3 eggs
(my inauthentic addition is ½ cup heavy cream)

Caramel glaze
¾ cup regular sugar

Note: Vanilla sugar is made by storing a vanilla pod in a jar of sugar. If you do not have any to hand, use regular sugar and add a couple of drops of vanilla essence.

Make the cake layers first. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Line 6 9 inch cake pans with parchment paper and butter them or spray with baking spray.
Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they form stiff peaks, set aside.
Beat together the egg yolks and the vanilla sugar until the mixture is thick and pale in color. Resift the flour onto the egg yolks about a ¼ cup at a time and fold in to the mixture.
Add a couple of tablespoons of the egg whites to lighten the mixture, it will be very thick and sticky, then fold in the rest of the egg whites as quickly and lightly as possible. The aim is not to lose too much of the air from the beaten egg whites but to incorporate everything into an even mixture.
Spread one sixth of the batter into each pan being sure to have the batter touch the sides of the pan and be as level as possible.
Bake the cakes for 10 to 12 minutes, the edges will harden and the cakes will start to smell great.
Cool them on racks and peel off the parchment swiftly as it starts to stick.
To make the filling, melt the chocolate either in the microwave on very low heat or in a bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water.
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the melted chocolate, the coffee and finally the eggs, beating well after each addition. At this point I decided that, as half the consumers of the cake were to be children, the filling had too grown-up a chocolate taste so I added in ½ cup of heavy cream that I had whipped to soft peaks. No one complained.
Choose the best looking cake layer to be the top of the cake and set it aside on a large piece of wax or parchment paper.
Assemble the other cake layers on a cake stand with a layer of the filling in between using about one sixth of the filling for each layer. Top the fifth cake with filling reserving the rest for the sides of the cake.
Glaze the top layer of cake by making caramel out of the ¾ cup of sugar. In a heavy pan warm ¼ cup of water and the sugar over a low heat until it is almost melted. Turn the heat up to high and let the sugar mix bubble and turn color until it is a medium brown. Be patient and shake the pan rather than stir it. As soon as you have reached the desired color pour the caramel over the cake being sure that it is covered entirely. Take care, it is super hot and it’s no fun to eat cake with your hand bandaged.
Working quickly between the time that the caramel is cool enough to handle and before it is too hard to cut, cut the cake layer into 12 segments with a buttered knife. Lay the segments onto the cake and finally cover the edges of the cake with the rest of the chocolate filling. If you use a warm palette knife you can get a professional look.
Cool in the fridge for a couple of hours before serving to an admiring audience.