Daring Bakers’ Challenge: Dobos Torte August 27, 2009

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.

So close…

I ended up making this randomly last night.  I knew that I was going to make it but I kept putting it off each time.  I had all the ingredients on hand, surprisingly.  But I was missing the crucial nuts for the outside

I decided that when I was going to make the Dobos Torte that there was no way that I could make a full recipe because I can’t eat this by myself and even if I had help I would still be left with quite a bit of leftovers.

I also got a call from my doctor yesterday telling me that my cholesterol was a little high, however, I failed to ask how high so I will be calling back Thursday for that.  It wasn’t a surprise since it runs in my family, but it was a bit of a shocker since I am in pretty good shape, eat decent,  and I am 27.  I guess that means I will go to the gym more often (more yoga and biking) and start to eat better.  Which means no more baking full recipe.  The plan was to make 1/3 of the sponge recipe, 1/2 of the chocolate buttercream recipe, and 1/3 of the caramel recipe.  It ended up being just enough to make one 6″ torte.

While making the caramel I realized that I didn’t have any lemon juice so I ended up substituting key lime juice that I had in the fridge.  I also used chocolate chips instead of whole hazelnuts to hold up the caramel triangles, which worked out perfectly.  Ignore the chocolate buttercream piped in the center.  I was starting to make a rosette and then got completely distracted, opps.  It reminds me of the posts on Cake Wrecks where they have the poop cakes.  Someone was piping brown icing on something, like a cupcake, and ended up using a plain round tip and is just looks like poo, unfortunately.  See it in all its glory.  My favorite is the last picture

OH MY!!!!

I thought this was fantastic.  I have only had a small slice, but I am totally going to be making myself a cup of coffee and eating a slice of this later.  LOVE IT!!!!

Tuesdays With Dorie: Berry Surprise Cake January 20, 2009

This weeks Tuesdays With Dorie was chosen by Mary Ann of  Meet Me in the Kitchen, she chose Dorie’s Berry Surprise Cake located on pages 273-275 in Baking: From My Home to Yours.

For this cake I actually decided to kill two birds with one stone and use it as my cake for my Wilton Course 3 Class.  I ended up baking it in a 8 x 8 x 3 inch square pan.  The first cake didn’t rise enough so I baked a second cake and it rose enough for me to divide into two layers.  I brush each layer with the Chambord syrup and  I piped a buttercream border and then filled it in with the cream cheese filling and fresh raspberries.  I covered the cake in Italian Buttercream because I am boycotting the Wilton Buttercream because it is just not as good   I took the cake to class, covered it in fondant, decorated, took pictures, and then took the fondant off and decorated it all pretty in buttercream and raspberries.

I think the cake tasted great.  I am glad I didn’t add anymore sugar to the filling then the recipe called for because the buttercream made up for the sweetness.  The cake was awesome.  The only thing I would change is that I would have divided the top layer of cake into two layers to make it a four layer cake.  I think the top layer was just a little too thick.  It was actually the first cake that I baked that didn’t bake up high enough.