Something few people realize about Dobos torte is that its debut didn’t just mark a milestone in the pastry arts, but a milestone in the product packaging arts as well. For Dobos was a canny fellow. He realized very early on, perhaps as earlier as the formulation stages of this cake, that there was money […]
READ ONA good Dobos Torte question came in via email a few minutes ago from reader Nora, asking why I can’t just skip all the repetitive baking and simply slice two normal cake layers horizontally into, say, three pieces each. This of course is how a great many multi-layer cakes are made. The answer is simply […]
READ ONYou can’t talk about Dobos torte without digressing for at least a short while to Doberge cake. Pronounced Doh-BARE-zh cake, it’s a specialty of New Orleans, and is thought by many to be an Americanized version of Dobos torte. In fact I recall once seeing Emeril Lagasse talk about it on TV. His claim was […]
READ ONOf all the recipes I’ve found for Dobos Torte (and there are a lot of them out there), this one from Maida Heatter is the one that strikes me as the best blend of original intent and modern taste. For more rationale on that, see this week’s posts. For now suffice to say I think […]
READ ONI’m trying to get my email troubles worked out next, but in the interim I’m still losing messages. I can think of several I’ve lost in recent weeks, including one about chocolate shavings and another about bagels in Louisville. If you’re one of those (or any others) please re-send or submit the question via the […]
READ ONDobos Torte is, very unsurprisingly, named after a fellow by the name of Jozsef Dobos, a pastry chef of no small repute in the Austrian Empire. Dobos unveiled his now-famous torte at the National General Exhibition of Budapest in 1885, and it shortly became an international sensation, said to have been enjoyed by Emperor Franz […]
READ ONThat’s a bit of a long story, but for the moment suffice to say it’s a chocolate layer cake with an awful lot of layers. Don’t worry those of you who hate difficult, horizontal slicing, there’s no cutting involved. Rather, the layers are made individually, sort of like a set of baked pancakes. Which means […]
READ ONThis’ll be a nice way to celebrate the Joe Pastry 2.0 inaugural, a true oldie and goodie from Budapest that’s been languishing on my request list for far too long. So make room on your counter, because you’re going to need all the space you can get.
READ ONA way to send me money! I thought about adding a little clinking noise of coins dropping in, but my developer said it would lead to death threats. Seriously, I realize putting up a donation button for your readers is a little like giving your wife a gym membership for her birthday. Thanks a lot! So all I have to say is: look, I love you. Don’t change. But if you did decide to donate you’d probably feel better, have more energy and be able to fit into that little black dress you like so much.
READ ON…you can still send me private emails as well if you’d like to submit questions in that form. On which note, reader Emily asks how long it’s been since I’ve upgraded the site. I’m a little embarrassed to tell you, Emily, because while I’ve changed the design to this or that degree the last couple […]
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