Dobos Torte

How to prepare dobos torte

1. Cream: Mix the eggs with the cocoa and sugar until well combined.
2. Place a pot with water halfway up on the stove and bring to a boil. Place the pot with the cocoa cream above it and beat over steam with a whisk until it becomes thick, about 15 minutes. To know when it's ready, check the cream by taking some off the whisk with your fingers - if the cream stretches (doesn't run/see photo), then it's ready. Remove the pot from the steam and let cool for 10 minutes. Then place the pot bottom in cold water for another 5 minutes to speed up cooling.
3. During the 10 minutes while the cream cools, prepare the cake layers: separate the egg whites from yolks. Beat the egg whites with a mixer until stiff, about 5 minutes, until they hold on the mixer. Then add the sugar and beat for a few more minutes. Add the egg yolks and continue mixing until you no longer feel sugar granules in the mixture (for this you need to taste occasionally 😉).
4. Finally add the flour, this time folding it in gently with a spoon, so the foam doesn't deflate. Mix only until you no longer see flour in the batter, and even if small lumps form it's not a problem - the batter will be fluffier this way.
5. Back to the cooled cream: Beat the butter well until fluffy, then start incorporating the cocoa cream into it, one tablespoon at a time. This way there's no risk of the cream curdling! When you've incorporated all the cream, refrigerate it to firm up.
6. Preheat the oven to 200C (400F). Grease the bottom of a 22cm diameter springform pan with lard (not butter, not oil). Dust it well with flour. Put 2 heaping tablespoons of batter on the disc and spread evenly with a knife. Bake the layer for about 5-6 minutes.
   You should get between 10 and 12 layers from the batter - the number depends on egg size.
   Remove the layer from the pan with a knife. The layers must be removed from the pan immediately after taking them out of the oven, otherwise they crack.
   Don't wash the pan between layers! Just wipe with a paper towel and scrape off any stuck batter from the edges.
   Before each layer, grease the pan with lard and dust with flour!
   Don't stack the baked layers on top of each other as they'll stick. It's best to work with two plates (the platter where you'll build the cake and another plate). On the second plate, always place the layer fresh from the oven and let it cool until the next one is baked. When you take a new one from the oven, the cooled layer goes on the cake.
8. Assemble the cake: place a baked layer on a platter, spread with a heaping tablespoon of cream, then another layer and then cream... the last layer should be cream and leave one layer unused.
9. Decoration: Leave the last baked layer on the pan and place paper underneath so you don't get caramel on your work surface.
10. Melt the sugar in a small pot until it turns a dark golden color. At first don't stir the sugar, until you see it starting to smoke slightly. Only then start stirring - this way the caramel will have a more intense flavor. Don't leave the caramel on the heat unattended, it burns easily. When it's the color of whisky, it's ready.
11. Pour the caramel over the last layer. Heat a knife blade in the stove flame and with the hot blade cut the layer into 12 slices, as if cutting a pizza. After each cut, heat the knife blade, otherwise the caramel will crack.
12. Arrange the resulting slices on top of the cake. Decorate simply, with fresh flowers.

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