Hungarian · Dessert
Dobos torta
- Advanced
- 1 h 30 m
- roughly 2 of 4 for cost
- Vegetarian
Leads with richness that coats and comforts, a sweet edge rounding the corners, settling low and earthy.
Ingredients
- 6 eggs, separated, at room temperature
- 180 g caster sugar, for the sponge
- 150 g plain flour, sifted
- 30 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 6 egg yolks, for the buttercream
- 180 g caster sugar, for the buttercream
- 60 ml water
- 300 g unsalted butter, soft
- 150 g dark chocolate at 60 to 70 percent, melted and cooled
- 150 g caster sugar, for the caramel
- 10 ml lemon juice
- 100 g walnuts, finely ground
- sunflower oil, for the knife and paper
- a pinch of fine salt
Equipment
Sheet pan
The skills inside
Whipping a meringueSugar stages & caramelIcing & frosting
Allergen screen
Found: gluten · dairy · egg · nuts
Screened for: gluten, dairy, egg, nuts, peanuts, fish, shellfish, molluscs, soy, sesame, celery, mustard, lupin, alcohol. Not screened: sulphites.
Screened by keyword from the ingredient list, not reviewed by a person; check every label for what the list cannot show.
Method
- Whip the whites to a firm meringue with half the sponge sugar, beat the yolks with the rest until pale and ribboning, then fold the two together with the sifted flour and melted butter without knocking the air out.
- Spread the batter as six thin 22 cm discs on lined trays and bake at 200C (390F) until the edges are dry and just tan, then peel each one off hot and cool it flat under a board.
- Cook the buttercream sugar and water to 118C (245F), pour it in a thread onto the beating yolks and keep beating until the bowl is no warmer than your hand before working in the soft butter, the chocolate and the salt.
- Set the flattest layer on oiled paper, cook the caramel sugar with the lemon juice to a clear mid amber, and pour it over, tilting to a thin even sheet.
- The moment the caramel stops running, mark it into twelve wedges with an oiled knife and cut clean through while it still yields.
- Stack and fill the other five layers with buttercream, mask the sides and press on the ground walnuts, then prop each caramel wedge on a ridge of buttercream.
How to tell it is going right
This dish has no standard of its own yet. It is judged on the techniques it exercises: checked at the pan, while there is still something to be done about it.
Icing & frosting 17 recipes
- The temperatures were chosen, not defaulted: the bake fully cool where the finish is meant to sit on top of it, or both deliberately warm where the method wants the two to fuse, and the proof either way is a finish that stayed where it was put.
- Smooth on the tongue: no grit of undissolved sugar and no lumps of anything that was never fully worked in.
- The consistency matches the job: it spreads or pours the way the method intends, then holds the edge, swirl, or drip it was given.
- The surface underneath is intact: covered rather than scrubbed, with no crumbs dragged through the finish and no torn patches showing.
- By serving it has settled into the finish the method wants (matte, glossy, or soft) and a cut comes away clean rather than pulling the top off with it.
Where it goes wrong A finish meant to sit on top went on while the bake was still warm. The layer that touched first melted, slid, and soaked in; what is left sets greasy and streaked, and no amount of chilling afterwards puts that finish back.
Whipping a meringue 40 recipes
- Bowl and whisk are clean and dry with no trace of fat or yolk. Grease prevents the foam outright, and there is no recovering a bowl that had it partway through.
- The sugar went in gradually once the whites were already foaming, rather than all at once at the start.
- No grit: a little rubbed between finger and thumb feels smooth, so the sugar has dissolved into the foam rather than sitting in it.
- Stiff peaks means the tip stands with a slight bow when the whisk lifts, and the bowl can be tipped without the mass moving in it.
- Glossy and smooth rather than chalky or dull, with no liquid gathering underneath it in the bowl.
Where it goes wrong It was whipped past stiff peaks. A minute beyond glory the protein network tightens and tears, the foam turns grainy and matte, water weeps out beneath it, and folding that into anything gives a mixture that collapses on the way to the oven.
At the Table
- The Pour
- Banyuls or Ruby Port
- Also Right
- PX Sherry
- From the Taps
- Imperial stout
- Zero-Proof
- Espresso
Chocolate wants fortified sweetness or roast-bitter contrast: the wine must out-sweet the plate, or oppose it entirely.
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