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.
Was running a couple days late on posting this month’s challenge. Life itself has been a challenge this month … career change on the horizon, turning another year older, and the list goes on!
Was a challenge to work with buttercream when the weather has been so warm…but got it done, nonetheless. No problems in baking the six layers itself, but I made the mistake of keeping them out for several hours, covered — but out, and it dried out the layers. I saved the scraps of cake that was left when I trimmed each layer to size. The scraps will make a nice accompaniment to some light whipped cream and strawberries.
The buttercream turned out delicious, but the consistency was a little too soft (could it be because I cut the butter to 1 1/2 sticks instead of using 2 full sticks?). Also, since I really like hazelnuts I used it all over the cake as garnish.
I would definitely make this dessert again with lessons learned:
- Careful about storing the cake layers if not immediately frosting to avoid them drying out.
- Try a different chocolate. I used semisweet and it was a tad too sweet.
- Use less hazelnuts to garnish. Sometimes I get a bit overzealous using nuts and I think this threw off the balance.
Thanks Lorainne and Angela for a great challenge!
To try the challenge yourself – check out Not Quite Nigella for the recipe and details.
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Wow that torta looks perfect and I love how the buttercream looks so yummy so soft and yummy. Well done on this challenge. And I love nuts great work. Cheers from Audax in Australia