Thursday, August 27, 2009

An Untraditional D(o)B(os) Torte

Mini Dobos Tortes
Before I say anything else, I have to give a shout out to two ladies. One is my good friend and partner in crime, as you'll see, Meeta K. of What's For Lunch Honey? and the other is the woman who regularly saves the day, the sweetest Frenchie (both literally and figuratively) on the Eastern seaboard, Helene of Tartelette. This challenge would not have seen completion without either one of these two ladies.

So why does my Dobos Torte not look like most of the other Daring Bakers' this month? Well, never one to conform, and sometimes for the worse, I used white chocolate.
We haven't been feeling very chocolatey at all here since it's been quite hot and sometimes very humid (for London that is, we're wimps we know), so I thought I'd try this Dobos Torte with a fruity spin. I halved the recipe to make two mini-cakes and used white chocolate, mascarpone and lemon for the frosting and fresh blueberries between the layers of sponge. If you've visited me before you know I have a fetish for this combination, and it seemed like if I was going to try something different than the stated recipe for yet another layer cake, I might as well be able to compare it to a previous DB challenge: Dorie Greenspan's perfect party cake.
Mini Dobos Tortes together
I didn't take pictures of the process and, really, you should thank me for that because it wasn't pretty. Oh the sponge went ok enough, as I said to Meeta on twitter I didn't have time to bake each layer for one big cake, particularly with Baby Saffron, but I did have time to use a cookie cutter! She and I baked the sponges separately and then met up over chat to do the rest of the cake. We'd done this once before for the Daring Bakers' 2007 Yule Log, and just like last time, the conversation was a hoot and really helped to ease the process. Between her and her chocolate quark mousse for Soeren's birthday cake (7 years old!) and me with my lemon mascarpone mousse because we both didn't really want to use butter for the buttercream, exclamations of all colors flew and at one point she proposed, and I agreed, that we needed a stiff drink, so dry martinis with extra olives were poured and enjoyed, virtually that is.
My lemon mascarpone mousse didn't set properly which is when I resorted to a twitter plea for help from Tartelette and, as always, she came to the rescue. She is, as I have been quite fond of saying since I first saw her blog in early 2007, a Baking Fairy. If you haven't seen her blog which just got a beautiful new makeover, get thee over there now!
As for Meeta, she is a dear friend, a rockin' blogger with a beautiful blog, and an awesome person all around and I am better for her friendship. We have to do this more often!

The cake turned out to be meh taste-wise (and yes that is about as elaborate and articulate as I am going to be about that) so I think it's probably the kind of cake for which you want to actually use dark chocolate and stick to the recipe. And Dorie, well, she's keeping my heart for now.
Oh one more thing: About the caramel layer, I'm not sure I get the purpose of it other than as decorative, but I actually didn't make it with lemon juice as prescribed in the recipe as it seemed a bit odd to me to mix caramel and lemon, and it turned out just fine by adding a little bit of butter to enable it to pour out onto the sponge layer before it set.
Mini Dobos Tortes Cut Up
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. You can find the recipe on our hostesses' blogs.

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47 comments:

Cannelle Et Vanille said...

Even though you weren't completely happy about the taste, you experimented and learned which is what it's all about. Oh yes, and having fun while doing it too! Looks great though!

maybelles mom said...

i love a rule baker. i used white choclate for 1/2 my frosting too. lovely even if not what you hoped for.

Anh said...

The cake looks nice! I think you have decorated well even though the flavours are not as expected..

Linda said...

That is absolutely stunning! I love your take on the traditional dobos torte. Too bad the cake tasted meh for you. Like you said, i think the cake would taste much better if you used the darck chocolate. I was super doooper happy with the way mine tasted, although it was a little too rich.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry the taste wasn't the best for you, but it looks just beautiful.

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

That looks absolutely superb! Sorry that you didn't like the cake layers but I suppose that's a bit of the risk of an interpretation. It looks stunning though! :)

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

I love your creations! A great twist on the original recipe! Very well done!

Cheers,

Rosa

Helene said...

Well done Hilda! They look as adorable and soft as Baby Saffron!

Jamie said...

Wow, Hilda, I think your mini-cakes are stunning! You are so creative! I do prefer regular chocolate over white chocolate, but I love this combo with the blieberries! Fabulous dessert!

Meeta K. Wolff said...

Those martinis helped but one day, my sweet, we have to have more than the virtual martins! I think it looks lovely. Yes - we have to do this again but NOT on a layer cake! LOL

Deeba PAB said...

Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous Hilda! You had fun here & with virtual support, what could be better? Love them. They are dreamy & whimsical...and beautiful in cross section. I've just bought dessert rings & squares yesterday, so you can imagine how many questions are flowing out of my brain! Hope you are geared up for some! Baby Saffron is going to have a good laugh when she grows up & reads your posts! xo

Ria Mathew said...

Ooo! They look so good! Loved the cross section! And Baby Saffron is gonna love all that you are doing for her now!!So go on... CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! :)

shaz said...

That looks absolutely stunning! How did you get it soooo smooth. And the layers just look so perfect. I'm a first time visitor to your blog and I'm in awe.

Angela @ A Spoonful of Sugar said...

Your mini cakes look stunning, Hilda! I can't believe how perfect every layer is in the cross-section. I think that if you use white chocolate then you'd need to soak the cake layers with a complementary flavoured syrup for that extra injection of flavour to bring it to the same 'level' as one made with dark chocolate. If you see what I mean?

The original purpose of the caramel layer was to keep moisture in the cake. I believe the caramel was simply poured over the top of the cake which allowed it to be transported all over Europe. The spoke/fan arrangement is more modern and much prettier, I think!

Amrita said...

White chocolate icing and bluberries sound yummy! And by the looks of it, I'm sure it was more than just "meh"!

Esi said...

This is just stunning. I love your attempt to lighten the flavors and make it more summery. Good for you for leaving the lemon out of the caramel. I wish I had done that :)

Laura said...

Well, the mini cakes look fantastic!

April Boyer Modern Handmade said...

Well it looks absolutely wonderful! I love the bright white contrasting with the blueberries.

sunita said...

Hilda, your li'l cakes look so pretty, even better in cross section. I had a few hiccups too with this challenge.

Teacake Martini said...

Oh my these delish beauties are awefully yummy to look at. Wow! how delightful!

Snooky doodle said...

wow how nice. Presentation is awesome and it must be delicious.

visit my new blog at http://snookysrecipedoodles.blogspot.com/

Elle said...

Spectacular way to stack it high and narrow and graphic with the blueberries. Love your photos.

anna said...

Yay blueberries! Yours are among my very favorites - they look so refreshing after all that chocolate on everyone else's blogs!

Jill @ Jillicious Discoveries said...

Beautiful mini tortas! Love the white chocolate and blueberries! :)

Audax said...

beautiful beautiful beautiful tortas. And that money shot of the insides is so lush and delicious looking. Just love how you did this creations. Bravo sorry to hear it was only meh tasting but it does look superb. Cheers from Audax in Australia

Lauren said...

Lovely job!! I love the flavours you chose =D. The tortes are stunning, along with the gorgeous photos!

Jackie at PhamFatale.com said...

Lovely miniature sweets. Very creative, I'm in a awe!

Heather said...

Absolutely beautiful work! I just love the mini adaptation.

kellypea said...

How could such completely GORGEOUS and elegant creations turn out to be "meh" taste-wise? Seriously? Nahhhhhh....truly stunning.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a great combination of flavours, good on you for trying something different! Glad to hear the weather is still holding out in London, we were there in July for the heat wave!

Y said...

All the flavours sound amazing, Hilda! Too bad you weren't bowled away by the end result, especially after all that effort.

Anonymous said...

The cake sections look absolutely lovely.

ice tea: sugar high said...

Love the idea of white chocolate with blueberry. Fits really well with the blog name =). Great job on the challenge, the tortes look amazing

Lisa said...

Even though you weren't happy with the torte flavor wise..they are incredibly stunning in appearance, as are your photos!

Joumana said...

Wow!!! how lovely and how creative!

Colloquial Cook said...

Errrrr... I'm sur le cul, scuse my French. In particular, had I been the one to slice this precious little dome in two, 1) I would not have decapitated no neatly the little blueberries halves, 2) all the layers of cake and cream would have squished and coalesced into one big creamy mess. What are you, a friggin samourai or what?
Bravo, en tous cas :-)

Elizabeth said...

Well, rats. No photos of the process? Not pretty? I'd love to see just one little crack in the perfection.

Sorry to hear that such a beautiful looking cake was dull in flavour.

-Elizabeth

Sharon said...

So gorgeous I don't know if I could stand to put a fork in it! No, I'm lying . . . I'd definitely eat it.

Leah Wentzel said...

beautiful, it looks like it would taste heavenly

Pat said...

This looks so interesting and yummy!

Stacy said...

That really is unbelievably gorgeous!

Mrs. D said...

Wow - I have never seen anything like this!

Dbe said...

This food is looking sinful!

Kat said...

I'm glad you said it wasn't very tasty or I might have tried the same thing.

Jeanne said...

Gorgeous - what a pity the teste was bland. Love the extensive use of blueberries...

queencake and titangirl said...

a comment for haiti

Sari @ Cook Your Dream said...

I could only have those blueberries! ;)

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