Рецепт Esterhazy Torte for Daring Bakers January Challenge
One of the things I love about being in Daring Bakers is when we are given recipes for desserts that I've never heard of before. I haven't seen anything even close to this Esterhazy Torte (also known as the Hungarian Dream) but I'm so glad that I have now because it was delicious. The inside layers of the cake are dense but it's filled with a delightful creamy butter and ground nut mixture.
This
recipe traditionally uses toasted hazelnuts but the hazelnuts are often
substituted with almonds (in parts of Austria) or walnuts (mainly in Hungary).The cake has 5 dacquoise layers, using hazelnuts, walnuts or almonds. The Esterhazy web, or more-widely known as the spider web decoration is always on the top of this cake.
For the month of January Jelena from A Kingdom for a Cake
invited us to start this year with a dreamy celebration cake. She
challenged us to make the Esterhazy cake a.k.a the Hungarian dream. What
better way to start the year than with a sweet dream? She says that in the 19th century, a confectioner from Budapest baked and named the
Esterhazy Torte after the wealthy Prince Paul III Anton Esterhazy de
Galantha, a member of the Esterhazy dynasty and diplomat of the Austrian
Empire.
If you would like to know more about the Daring Bakers you can visit their website. This recipe is long and does take some time but it's not hard to do. It's recommended that the cake is prepared over two days.
Esterhazy Torte
Servings: 10-12, Original
recipe in metric
Ingredients
- HAZELNUT
- SPONGE LAYERS
- 12
- large egg whites
- 1
- cup plus 1 tablespoon (9 oz) (250 gm) caster (superfine) sugar
- 2
- tablespoons (2/3 oz) (20 gm) vanilla sugar
- 2½
- cups (9 oz) (250 gm) ground hazelnuts
- 2/3
- cup (2¾ oz) (80 gm) plain (all purpose) flour
- HAZELNUT
- CREAM
- 12
- large egg yolks
- 1
- cup plus 1 tablespoon (9 oz) (250 gm) caster (superfine) sugar
- 2
- tablespoons (2/3 oz) (20 gm) vanilla sugar
- 1
- -1/3 cups (10½ oz) (300 gm) butter at room temperature
- 1½
- cups (5-1/3 oz)(150 gm) toasted ground hazelnuts
- APRICOT JAM GLAZE
- around 3 tablespoons (45 ml) (1-2/3 oz) (45 gm) apricot jam
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) water
- WHITE ICING
- 2½ to 3¼ cups (10-2/3 to 14 oz) (300-400 gm) icing (powdered) (confectioners')
- sugar
- 2 teaspoons (10 ml) sunflower oil
- 3-4 teaspoons (15-20 ml) lemon juice
- around 4 tablespoons (60 ml) hot water
- CHOCOLATE DECORATION
- ¼ cup (1¾ oz) (50 gm) dark chocolate
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) oil
- ¾ cup (3½ oz) (100 gm) roughly chopped hazelnuts
Directions:
HAZELNUTS
Place
the hazelnuts on an oven tray in a cold oven, increase the temperature to
moderate 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4, and bake until a nice aroma starts to come out
of the oven and the nuts have become darker.
Continue
until their skins almost turn black or dark brown and the hazelnut 'meat'
becomes a caramel colour. You will need to watch the oven carefully since the
nuts can easily burn. From time to time, just open the oven and carefully try
one to see if the centre is nice and crispy, but be careful not to burn
yourself. It should take about 15-25 minutes.
This
baking process brings out the aroma of the hazelnuts needed for the cake. (If
you are using almonds instead of hazelnuts, they need to stay white. Hazelnuts
are not good in this cake if their aroma is not present.)
Let
them cool.
Set
aside ¾ cup (3½ oz) (100 gm) toasted nuts and roughly chop them. These will go
around the cake at the end.
The
rest need to be ground. A grinding machine is best since a food processor might
turn the hazelnuts into a creamy mush. If you are using a processor do it in
short pulses so they do not have the consistency of peanut butter but of fine
powder.
Divide
the ground hazelnuts into 2 batches of 2½ cups (9 oz) (250 gm) and 1½ cups
(5-1/3 oz) (150 gm) for the sponge layers and the filling respectively.
HAZELNUT
LAYERS (Dacquoise layers)
With
an electric mixer beat the egg whites while gradually adding the sugar and
vanilla sugar for about 5 minutes until stiff peaks form.
Turn
the mixer to the lowest speed and add in the hazelnuts mixed with the flour and
beat until just combined.
Cut baking paper into five squares
large enough to draw a circle of 10 inch (25cm) in diameter on the squares.
Turn
the paper over and place one piece onto an up-side down oven tray and
delicately spoon inside the circle one-fifth of the beaten egg white mixture.
Place
the tray into an preheated moderate 325°F/160°C/gas mark 3 (no fan) oven and
bake for 14 minutes. It will look soft but that is how we want them. Your
finger should not stick to the layer when you touch it.
Take
the layer out together with the paper and place on an even surface
Cool
the oven tray and repeat with the next 4 layers. It is important that the
up-side down oven tray is cool when you start to bake the layers.
If
you have a 10 inch (25cm) diameter spring form pan with a removable bottom just
cut out five pieces of baking paper to fit the bottom and spoon the mixture in
the pan.
Make
sure to cool the bottom of the pan after removing each layer and before placing
the egg white mixture for the next layer into it.
Place
all the layers next to each other.
HAZELNUT FILLING
The
filling is cooked in a double boiler. If you do not have a double boiler just
take two pots so that the smaller one fits perfectly in the larger one and
there is no gap between them.
Fill
the larger pot with about 1-inch (2 cm) water place on the stove and bring the
water to a slow boil, the water should not touch the smaller pot bottom.
Beat
the egg yolks and the sugar with an electric mixer in the smaller pot for 30
seconds. Place the smaller pot into the larger one and cook for 14-15 minutes.
Stir every 2-3 minutes for a short while with a wooden spoon always scraping
the sides and the bottom. Stir constantly, near the end.
Let
the filling cool.
Beat
the cooked yolks for 30 seconds with an electric mixer.
Beat
the room temperature butter for 2 minutes until light and fluffy then beat into
the cooked yolks.
Add in the ground hazelnuts and beat again until combined.
Set
aside 2 tablespoons of the filling to spread around the torte at the end.
Divide
the rest of the filling into 4 cups.
Line
a large tray with some baking paper.
Remove
the baking paper from one of the dacquoise and place it onto the tray, spread
one quantity of filing evenly over the dacquoise, then place another layer on
the top.
Repeat,
making sure that the last layer is placed bottom-side-up (do not place filling
on this surface) which will make it easier to obtain a smooth looking finish.
Place
some baking paper over the torte. Press a bit with your hands to even it out,
put another tray over the torte and now place something heavy on the top to
allow the torte to level up. A pan half-filled with water will be fine.
Place
the whole torte with the pot in the fridge for one hour.
APRICOT
JAM GLAZE
Heat
the apricot jam and water on the stove.
Remove
the top baking paper from the torte and spread the jam on top of it. We want a
very thin layer, just barely covering the torte.
Place
the torte back in the fridge for 30 minutes for the jam to cool.
When
the 30 minutes is up, spread the 2 tablespoons of reserved hazelnut filling
around the cake.
WHITE ICING
By
hand mix the powdered (icing) (confectioners') sugar, oil, lemon juice while
adding teaspoon by teaspoon of hot water until the mixture is creamy, but not
runny. Mix vigorously for a couple of minutes. The sugar should be lemony.
With
a hot wet large knife quickly spread the icing over the apricot layer.
You
will need around 2½ to 3¼ cups of powdered sugar but it is better to have more
than less, since when you start spreading you cannot go back. You will have
some left over icing. If it is a bit uneven just turn on the hair dryer and
heat the icing so it will smooth out a bit.
DECORATION
Before
starting with the icing have the chocolate ready since it needs to go onto the
soft icing in order to get the web.
Melt
the chocolate with a teaspoon of oil, place in a piping bag, or a plastic
bag with a cut in the corner that will act as the tip.
Draw
four (4) concentric circles onto the cake, then with a knife (not the sharp
side) or a wooden skewer run six (6) lines at 30 degree angle to the cake to
get the decoration (see pictures for more details). Each line should be in a
different direction. One running away from you and the next one running to you.
Press
the remaining crushed hazelnuts around the cake to complete the decoration.
Let
rest in the fridge for at least 24 hours before tasting. This cake that gets
better as times goes by. We usually enjoy ours for 7 days.