Coffee and Nut Doboz Torte

The Great British Bake Off Technical Challenge is really just an old fashioned recipe with no pictures, isn't it?  At least, that's what I thought, when I tried this Doboz Torte from my old Hulme and Downs Penguin Cordon Bleu Cookery book.  Actually, there was a faint memory of this particular cake coming up as a challenge on one of the previous series, so it was an added incentive to try to bring to life the method and words on the page.  The cake consists of five thin layers of sponge, with butter cream (and cream!) filling;  the top layer has a caramel carapace

Did it work?  Yes, it did, BUT.... the funny thing is that every time I've tried to make butter cream by the complicated but fabulous method, there isn't enough.  Is that just my sweet tooth?  (probably) Note to the wise:  up the quantity by at least 1/3.  I used whipped cream instead, and it was good,   This is decorated in unashamed 1970s fashion - lots of fat swirly bits.  As I had misread the recipe and chopped up all the nuts, I made pulled caramel blobs for the top - as you can see, nul points for glamour!   It was very good, but the caramel top doesn't last for more than a day.

By the way, I blitzed the remaining caramel to a powder with some more nuts and made a praline ice cream....

Coffee and Nut Doboz Torte

Coffee and Nut Doboz Torte

4 eggs

6oz/170g caster sugar

5oz/140g plain flour

Butter cream:      (increase this by 1/3 or use half a pint of cream later)

3oz/85g sugar

2.5fl oz/75ml water

3 egg yolks

8oz/225g butter

2oz/50g browned hazelnuts

Coffee flavouring – I prefer liquid essence, otherwise use 1 tsp coffee/1 dsp boiling water

½ pint/285ml double cream

Caramel:

5oz/140g sugar

4 fl oz/115ml water (doesn’t have to be exact!)

Decoration:

2-3 tbsp browned ground hazelnuts and some whole ones

First, prepare five sheets of baking parchment by drawing an 8” circle on each, brushing lightly with oil and dusting with flour.   Preheat the oven to 190 deg C.

The whisk the eggs, adding the sugar gradually, whisking over a pan of hot water until thick (alternative – pour boiling water into the whisking bowl and allow it to warm up).   Remove from the heat and continue whisking until the bowl is cold.  Sift the flour with the salt and, using a metal spoon, fold lightly into the mixture.  Divide into 5 and spread lovingly and evenly into the circles.   Bake each round for about 5-8 minutes.  Trim them with a sharp knife and then cool on a wire rack – peel off the sheets as soon as you can do it without damaging the cake.

Whilst this is going on, make the butter cream.   Blitz the hazelnuts to powder, adding liquid coffee essence.   Put the egg yolks into a bowl and get a whisk ready.  Cream the butter in a second bowl (beat until it is very soft, almost like whipped cream).   Dissolve the sugar in the water and boil it “to the thread”, ie until you can put a small amount on your thumb (it’s hot!), and when you put your finger to the thumb and take it away, it makes a thread.  Then pour it onto the egg yolks, whisking until thick.  Then keep whisking at a slower speed, adding small dollops of the creamed butter so that it all goes together nicely.    

Put aside ¼ of this mixture for decoration (something I forgot to do), then add the hazelnuts and coffee essence to the remainder and beat it in. 

Now take the best looking and smoothest round of cake, put it onto a well oiled tin, ready for the caramel.   Melt the sugar in the water on a low heat, then boil rapidly until it is a rich brown colour.  Pour it over the cake (it will go further than that) and, when the caramel is just about to set, mark it into slices with a sharp, oiled, knife and trim the edges.  Don’t throw away the rest of the caramel!  (I also used some of the not-set bits that fell off the cake and made pulled decorations).

Assemble the cake in layers.  Keep enough of the butter cream to coat the sides, so you may have to use whipped cream in between the butter cream layers if there isn’t enough.  Put the caramel layer on the top and spread the last butter cream around the sides.   Press the chopped/ground hazelnuts around the sides.  Take the reserved butter cream and beat some coffee flavouring into it.  Pipe rosettes around the joins and top with whole nuts or the caramel decorations. 

Serve with coffee and wait for the sugar high!