Train Cake

‘No special occasion only promised to make it cake’

When we finished the father’s day cake, my little son said: ‘Now mummy, you can make the next one’ :-) No matter that there wasn’t any occasion coming up in our family in the near future, order was made, I was told to come up with the next cake because we’d just run out of cakes which was not acceptable as I noticed. I asked him what sort of cake he was thinking about and he came up with the idea of a train cake because he was really missing the one he got for his birthday (in April). I don’t know how you can miss a cake but this is what he told me so I thought I should make him happy and get things done. A few days later I told him there was a surprise waiting for him at home but he can only have it after dinner. He said: ‘Mummy, I know it’s the train cake because I asked you to make one for me! And you were so nice to make it!’
I used the good old proven recipe of ‘Jokai cake’ for the sponge and filling, topped with a little raspberry jam and fondant for the icing. Smarties and some chocolate fingers served as for decoration. Added a great amount of love on top and the result was yummy.

'Dobos Torta'

'Drummer Cake'

There is a story behind this as well of course :)
We celebrated my father's birthday in Sydney Australia in August this year. How unusual! I asked my little son what cake I should make for Granddad and Uncle Greg (who also happened to have his birthday in August). He said it should be a drum cake! Whaaat?! Then I remembered. Of course, dad's favourite cake was Dobos Torta! I didn't have a clue how my son figured this out, it might have been a coincidence but it was a good one. The name 'Drummer Cake' derives from the fabulous translation - and storytelling - of my bro, who is always very precise about the details :)
Ok, decision was made. Then came the shock! How am I gonna make it?! It is said to be one of the most difficult cakes to make! Luckily I have a kind friend back at home who is master of cakes so I turned to her for help. She provided me with the most detailed instructions and different versions of the recipe, even with video tutorials on how to make this cake. I was preparing for the big project for weeks! I 'studied the training material' for days and planned everything step by step. I'd never been afraid of making cakes before :)
The original ‘Dobos Torta’ recipe dates back to 1884. The interesting thing about Dobos Cake is that its inventor - Joseph Dobos - kept the recipe in secret since it was said to be the most wanted cake in Europe at the time.
I chose a recipe considered to be very close to the original version. You wouldn't be able to find some of the original ingredients in today’s shops and groceries and the units had to be converted into the modern ones but the recipe I chose included all the recommendations.
I followed everything exactly as it was written down and it seemed to work!
It is very time consuming, hard work and requires a lot of patience but it is worth every effort. You have to make 6 (7 just in case) sheets of cake, baked one by one. The filling is an extremely chocolaty cream, very interesting how it turns into a lovely light texture made of eggs, sugar, butter and loads of dark chocolate. You have to build the cake up layer by layer, then comes the most difficult part that is the top layer. The last one of the cake sheets has to be covered in caramelized sugar. You need to melt the sugar till it gets a light golden colour then have to work very quickly with it while being extremely careful since it can cause serious burn injuries. Pour the hot melted sugar on top of the cake sheet then spread all over it. You really have to be quick because it hardens in seconds. Put butter on both edges of a long knife (you have to prepare this before melting the sugar) and press then cut the sugar covered sheet into as many slices as you wish. It’s hot, sticky, hardens very quickly then breaks, all sorts of things may happen that might spoil the whole thing but if you follow the instructions carefully you’ll get through it. Then place the slices on top of the cake and decorate. All done.
The result is amazing both visually and taste wise. Try it!

 

For Hubby - Sacher Torte

'For Hubby'

'Happy 9th anniversary!' - Sacher Torte

It is our 9th wedding anniversary today. 9/11. I know... but what to do if the band is available only That Saturday otherwise they are fully booked for the whole year ahead... We decided to go on with it for if you think about it you would most probably find something 'memorable' - good or bad - for any day in the calendar. It turned out to be a great day and night. The party went on till 6 am the next morning :)
You wouldn't imagine the amount of cakes left in the cellar of the establishment! We realised it the next morning. It is a tradition in Hungary that people bring home made cakes to the wedding. Don't know why since the couple would organise for loads and loads of food and cake anyhow, but people still tend do stick to the good old ways.
That was exactly 9 years ago, though.
Today I thought I would make a cake for the occassion to suprise my Hubby. My choice fell on 'Sacher Torte'.
The story of the famous 'Sacher Torte' began in 1832 in the court of Franz Sacher Metternich in Austria, when a young confectioner's apprentice had to jump in to create something special for dessert. The recipe was later further developed then a lengthy litigation followed over the patent rights of the cake and also over the ingredients of the original recipe. The lawsuit was won by Sacher at the end, however, you won't be able to find Sacher cakes in today's conditoreis in Vienna that are made based on the same recipe. But who cares about the ingredients when the cake tastes a really rich chocolaty flavour, melting instantly in your mouth and when topped with a bit of whipped cream it gives you an unforgettable gastronomic experience? Well I don't.

I made a heart shaped Sacher cake today for a special husband, this is what it turned out to be:

And also some Sacher mini bites for some special people :)

Let's get started!

First time ever blogging, let's see how it goes...

I've always loved cakes, especially the really nice, soft, creamy ones that looked beautiful but above all tasted fantastic.

In the age of design cakes I thought I would be adventurous enough and go back to the traditional world of cakemaking. I somehow ended up reading recipes dated back as far as the 1800!

So let me take you on a trip to the world of traditional European specialties especially from the Austro-Hungarian heritage.

My latest invention is based on a recipe recorded in 1862 in a newspaper, posted by a famous Hungarian writer. The original cake was also named after him since there are no other written records of the recipe.

I first made the cake - the classic version of it - for father's day, luckily cakes are always a great success in my family, so it was this time.

Today I thought I would make a cake for myself, there's a reason for it but I don't really find it important to mention :)

So the cake was simply made: 'For me'

It is a very simple but rather good recipe.

The sponge is marvellously perfect, just whisk 6 eggwites until you get a really nice hard foam than add 100 gramms of sugar (caster sugar or raw sugar, whatever you prefer). Add the yolks one by one and whisk them well. Then add 120 gramms of flour with a tiny bit of baking powder and make it into a lovely light sponge base.

Pour into cake pan (I used a 23 cm round one) and bake it on 180 Celsius for about 35-40 minutes. Preheat oven first though.

When ready, wait until it cools down, you can take it out of the cake pan so that it cools faster.

For the cream I used about 800 ml thickened cream. Whisk until it gets very thick then add 100 gramms of icing sugar. That's it for the base. You can add coacoa powder, fruit juice, food colouring, pureed fruit or really anything you like. This time I roughly split the amount into two and mixed one half with coacoa powder. I cut the sponge into three layers and filled in between the layers with this cream. I added food colour - I wouldn't have done such a thing a few years ago being very concius about what I feed my family with but now I trusted the food colour - to the other half and covered the cake with it. Already looked lovely. Then I decorated the cake with strawberries and gave it a bit of a finish to make it look even nicer.

According to the original recipe you would add coacoa powder to the filling and freshly sqeezed orange juice to the other half of the cream that goes on top. And if this is not enough, you melt some sugar until golden brown, mix it with a little butter and this is what goes on top of the orangy cream, lovely, but have to be brave to do it! The sugar is extremely hot when melted and hardens really really quickly once taken off the heat, so you have to be quick as well. Interesting that this topping does get soft after a few hours while very similar toppings would get really hard and crunchy.

Back to the cake for me, it looks beautiful in the fridge. We will test and taste it tomorrow.

This is what it looks like:

And this is what the one looked like that I made following the original recipe. You can see the top is a bit - I would say - "marbelled" while it should have been homogeneous but the main thing is that the cake was really gorgeous and everybody liked it.