Just what is a "torte" anyway?

12/14/09

Just what is a "torte" anyway?

Filed under: Blog— by joe @ 04:48:58 pm Permalink

That's an excellent question (thanks, Christine G.), since the various distinctions between cakes, layer cakes, tortes and gâteaux are rarely discussed in the popular food press, or dare I say, even in most pastry departments. Most people simply assume that they're just different words that different cultures use for the same things, which isn't the case. The distinctions between them are often fine, but they are real and worth noting. Not having an authoritative guide to this topic at my disposal, I'll do my best to provide descriptions.

Classically, cakes are single-layered affairs. Usually round and almost always flat, their primary ingredient is most often some sort of grain flour (wheat, oats, barley or the like). They can be sweetened (with sugar or honey), enriched (with eggs and/or butter) or leavened (with yeast or chemicals).

Layer cakes are the same thing as cakes, only stacked on top of one another, then filled and iced. Compared to cakes, which are a mostly Old World thing, layer cakes are a mostly New World thing. They're almost always leavened with chemical agents.

Gâteaux have more in common with pastries than they do cakes, since they're composed of layers. Their foundation is usually egg foam-and-flour sponge cake, sometimes supplemented with ground nuts. The layers of filling in a gâteau — creams, jams, fruits or mousses — are usually quite thick, sometimes thicker than the baked layers that support them.

Tortes are similar to gâteaux in that they typically rely on a sponge of some sort for support. The difference, in my experience anyway, is that they tend not to be as tall or as amply filled as gâteaux, and their batters tend to have a higher proportion of ground nuts (Sacher torte is a notable exception). They can be either single-layer or multi-layer.

There. Not exactly academic, but at least I've stuck my flag in the dirt. All those who care to add to this or comment, please do.

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