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.
To quote our hosts… The Dobos Torta is a five-layer sponge cake, filled with a rich chocolate buttercream and topped with thin wedges of caramel. (You may come across recipes which have anywhere between six and 12 layers of cake; there are numerous family variations!)
A Dobostorta? Great. That’s something I’ve always wanted to try (but never really looked at it so closely). Took a look at the forum, Audax was already done. 32 layers…phew! 32 layers? I didn’t even think that many were legal!! LOL!! So, I thought 6 would be a breeze. Ooops I did it again. Forgot the golden rule underlying DB challenges. Never underestimate a challenge.
I have to admit I had been warned. I did a net search the previous day. Landed up at Cafe Chocolada, where Medena called it ‘simple yet complicated’. Can’t I see the writing on the wall?? Next search sent me to Dobostorta in the ‘challenging recipes’ section. What’s wrong with me? Didn’t it ring a bell… W A S N ‘ T going to be easy.
11.30am By the time the layers were getting done, I was in a frenzy. Peel layer 1 off, but catch 2 before it over browns. strip layer 1 to reuse parchment for layer 3!! Yes that is me. I HAVE to play safe on precious parchment. It’s imported & is more valuable to me than most other things… 
12 noon Ready to scream, but am controlling. After all Daring Bakers have to have fun. Can’t wait to catch Lorraine on twitter…grrrrrrrrr
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It’s almost Friday the 13th, well virtually anyway. 13th here, but must be turning Friday on some place on the globe….must be 13th here & Friday elsewhere, must be. Not my fault; it’s in the stars!
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Hub’s fault. He decides to check the car battery, which had died, the minute layer 2 is being popped in. Now is the time he hollers for help, and I’m ready to burst! Very cool & calm on the outside though…
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Power outage…well almost. We’ve had pretty many outages every single day, but for some insane reason, today was a breeze. Excuse shoved out of window.
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Fault of parchment. Spent more time saving parchment & reusing other side, rather than concentrating on layers!
Filling and caramel layer tomorrow. Hope the layers survive & don’t stick to each other. Big worry, but can wait! Not going to think about it today! Stressed myself out…and then of course, I set off to do the dishes. LOADS of dirty dishes!
14th August…
9am Gingerly took the layers out. A few stuck to the parchment, but by and large managed a good job by salvaging them. Cut each to 8″ circles, & chose one for the top layer.
Caramel can’t be that difficult, I figured. ‘Stupid overconfident me’… saved just one layer for the caramel. Had seven, so should have saved an extra one. Sigh.
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The filling was the best part of course. Decided to give the buttercream a miss. Far too hot & humid weather here these days A butter overload is just not the thing. Thought hard a few days ago, & returned to my recent love,homemade QUARK, a German curd cheese. Quark is as fat free as the milk you use, is thick, is like a delicious cream cheese sans the cream, and was the way I was going. It’s easily made at home too!
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So I melted some dark chocolate, added some cream to it to loosen it, and then whipped it into the whipped quark with some vanilla sugar. Added a tbsp of dark cocoa which helped thicken the filling further. This was actually the best part of my challenge. I loved the thought of cutting out the ‘buttercream’ calories!
9.30am The caramel is another story altogether. I’m having a hard time guessing whether this is amber coloured or not, and finally think I’m going colour blind. I think I’ve stopped a little short of the true amber because my caramel is slightly sticky and not set a 100% as I pour it out. Man Friday stares over my shoulder and tut tuts…’Mmmm, no, you’ve taken it off too soon!’ Teeth gnashing. The weather being humid isn’t helping. I have a bit of a time sorting the tops out, as everything sticks to everything. Very YUK! Eventually chill them before using them. Still don’t achieve the look I want, but YAY, challenge completed! 
The cake was much loved at home, even though my teeth stuck to the caramel. I think this might make a nice winter cake, buttercream and all. Indulgent for cooler weather! Please stop by our hosts, Lorraine @ Not QuiteNigella, and Angela @ A Spoonful of Sugar for the recipe. 
♥ Thank you for stopping by ♥
Do stop by at the other Daring Bakers HERE and check out their delicious tortas! Thank you Lis & Ivonne for keeping this daring group together!
