I’m going to demonstrate to you how to create fresh tomato sauce. In these films, you’ll hear me repeat this a lot: what we make is much better than what you can purchase at the store. With this, not only is it better, but you also can’t find it anywhere else! I think you’ll be astonished at how simple and easy it is if you’ve never done it; in fact, obtaining vine-ripened tomatoes will be the most difficult part.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 3 hrs |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 1 9-inch 6-layer cake |
Ingredients
- 9 egg whites
- 8 egg yolks
- 1 cup white sugar
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups sifted all-purpose flour
- ½ tablespoon shortening
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 recipe Chocolate Buttercream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Have ready two 10-inch cardboard circles. Generously grease a 9-inch springform pan with soft butter, and dust with flour.
- Beat the egg whites until frothy, and gradually add 1 cup sugar. Beat just to soft peaks. In another bowl, beat the yolks with the milk, lemon peel, vanilla, and salt. Fold this into the egg whites. Sift the flour over the egg mixture, and fold in.
- Spread 1 1/3 cups batter into the prepared pan. Bake for about 5 to 9 minutes, or until small, brown spots begin to appear on cake. Remove the cake from the oven, and remove layer from pan with a spatula. Dust the cake lightly with flour, and place on a rack to cool. Grease pan again, and repeat this process until all of the batter is used, about 6 times more. Place the layers between wax paper, and cover with a towel. Chill layers for a few hours. Make the Chocolate Buttercream.
- Layer the chilled layers on one of the cardboard rounds with the buttercream. Start with one layer; cover with the buttercream, and then press down with another layer to make a good seal. Repeat this with the remaining layers, but reserve one layer. Wrap the cake in plastic, and chill for at least 6 hours along with the remaining buttercream. Grease the other cardboard round with the shortening, and place the last layer on it.
- Place 1 cup sugar into a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Allow sugar to cook until the edges look melted and brown. Begin stirring with a wooden spoon. Cook until the sugar become an amber color, and is smooth. Carefully pour the caramel over the top of the last layer, and spread to the edges with an oiled knife. Quickly, using an oiled knife, indent the top of the caramel into 16 wedges. Allow to cool slightly, and then retouch the indents with the knife again. Place layer onto a counter top dusted with sugar, and allow the caramel to cool completely.
- Place some more buttercream on top of the chilled torte, and top with the caramel round. Frost the sides with the remaining buttercream. Chill the torte before serving.
- Get the recipe for Chocolate Buttercream.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 242 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 46 g |
| Cholesterol | 137 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 6 g |
| Saturated Fat | 1 g |
| Sodium | 49 mg |
| Sugars | 34 g |
| Fat | 4 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
My 12 year old granddaughter and I made this torte for my birthday. Impressive and delicious and very rich! We managed to eat half of the cake and sent the rest over to the neighbor’s four always hungry boys. The chocolate buttercream filling and icing was amazing! We made a double batch of the buttercream to complete our torte and used the extra for my grandson’s birthday cake months later. It keeps very well in the refrigerator!
With an 8-inch springform pan I only got 5 layers (using between 1 and 1 1/3 C for each layer), but it was still fantastic. The caramel on the top layer is a great finish.
So good. Turned out really well. Made some tweaks to it but glad I found this recipe to get the basics of it down
No changes made. But found the buttercream recipe too sweet and i omitted the eggs for the cream. The layers for mine was quite springy. Not towards soft. Perhaps cos i didnt rise the egg whites enough. But overall came out good and everyone enjoyed.
This was great! I followed the directions as stated, used the chocolate buttercream frosting that was posted with good reviews on this site. I screwed up the first batch, only becuz I did not follow the instructions plainly. Read it all before you get started, then read it again. It’s not complicated, just step sensitive. The cake is dense with good texture. It is very pretty to look at and makes a good presentation.
I made 3 batches of this recipe to make it large enough for a party; altered simply to make it gluten free and added 11/2 tsp baking powder. I used whipped chocolate ganache and caramel between the layers. It was a huge hit at the party.
This is good. I had my grandmothers recipe for Dobos and used it for years before I switched to this easier, more streamlined version. I still use my original chocolate buttercream recipe which I have posted here. This also freezes very well if you cut them into slices and separate them with wax paper. Very rich, very delish!
I just made this recipe for our church function tomorrow. Yes, it is time consuming, but only because I had only one 9-inch spring form. I baked the layers for 10 minutes each. they came out very nice and delicious. I was going to make a square cake but my square pan was way too big, so the cake became a 5-layer cake. I did not make the top layer with the sugar, I just didn’t feel like bothering with it. I will dust it with cocoa powder and it will be a Stephanie Cake (Stefania torta in Hungarian). They are the same except one is with sugar layer on top, the other with cocoa powder. I did not use the buttercream that comes with the recipe only because of the raw eggs it called for. I used a different recipe that called for cooking the eggs with sugar. However, the cake looks great, can’t wait to cut it tomorrow to see the results. It also tastes delicious as I had to do some “formatting” and tasted it with the chocolate cream. YUMMY!!!
Good taste, looks fantastic!
This recipes is good. If anyone wants to see an easy way to do the caramel and cut it, watch The Aubergine Chef’s Dobos Totre video. I do not recommend his recipe though, made with butter and the whites aren’t separated, but the caramel part is great!
I recently made this for my husband and his family who are Hungarian and they were shocked. My mother-in-law didn’t think I would be able to make this but she was shocked when I did. This will be a go to cake for our special holidays!!
I made this for my father-in-law who used to make a dobos torte. I followed this cake recipe to a “T” and it came out perfect. I used 9″ pans that are just flat disks my in-law had made years ago. I put parchment paper on it before I poured batter. WOrked like a charm, when I took out of oven I flipped it onto a cookie sheet lined with more parchment paper and then you peel of paper and let cool…Cake tasted great and father-in-law LOVED it and said it was perfect! I did use a different chocolate buttercream frosting though…Oh, and I found if you use 1 1/4 dry measure cups of batter, you will get 6 cakes exactly. This recipe is SO easy too!
Actually the word “dobos” means drummer. (I’m full Hungarian so I know :D) By the way this cake is one of the most famous and well-known cakes from Hungary and worth making it!
One of the most authentic recipes. But their are two problems: Dobos means drummer in Hungarian, not “like a drum” and please give us back Jozsef Dobos to us Hungarians, because we are very proud of him. And since he was born in Hungary and died in Hungary, and he had his pastry shop in Hungary, and he created Dobos Torte in Hungary, I assume this makes him Hungarian. Thank you very much,
The cake is too heavy. Instead of dusting with flour, assemble the cake with the frosting, as you bake it. The layers should be thin enough to cool almost immediately.
I made this for my Mom’s 80th Birthday. She is a first generation Canadian, her parents are from Hungary. This went over with rave reviews!! I loved the experience of creating it.
I made this recipe as a weekend project, and I am very glad I allotted so much time for it! However, I knew something this fancy would take a long time, and it was definitely worth it! Rich, creamy buttercream, and light, eggy cake! Don’t even get me started on the caramel…
I finally had the chance to make this for my mum’s birthday with great success. My family loved the “waffer-like” layers of cake. The chocolate buttercream frosting might seem too rich but trust me, it goes really well with the mild flavor of the cake. I’d recomend chilling the whole thing before serving and storing in the refrigerator (the frosting held up and tasted better cool/cold). I’d also recommened working on making the frosting and caramel toping while you bake the cake layers because this recipe takes quite a bit of time. Can’t wait for an excuse to make this again 😉
This was not as hard as i thought it would be, but it was time consuming. I made this for my hungarian family and it was a huge hit. Everyone took a turn down memory lane.
I am in the process of baking this recipe right now. It certainly does not take just 1 hour 30 min. It took me 2.5 hours to just make the sponge cake layers, and there was not enough batter for a 6th layer (I am following the recipe to the T) I am sure it will turn out delicious though.
I made this cake years ago for my Hungarian father-in-laws 75th birthday party. Let me tell you, you better have a lot of free time on your hands cause this one takes a while! But it is worth it. My father-in-law said it was just like he remembered. The only caution I would give is to be careful with the cooked sugar layer. I made mine too thick and it was impossible to cut thru. We had to kind of hit it with the knife to break it. Next time I’d try to make a fine sugar straw instead.