So, unsurprisingly, I never managed to finish my World Bake series simply due to time constraints and the of course, in general, Tiffany-is-overambitious-and-cannot-for-the-life-of-her-remain-consistent-in-blogging-without-jeopardizing-sleep-or-sanity-or-social-life constraint. HOWEVER, my final chapter (though I wasn't aware of it at the time), turned out to be the best one of the lot. I figured I would post it, even though we officially launch in three days, making this blog filler completely irrelevant. Oh well.
Anyway, for my final international baking experiment, I decided to tackle a traditional Serbian chocolate torte called the "Torta Cokolada." What makes this torte interesting, is that it doesn't use flour as its primary ingredient. Instead, this chocolate cake made mostly with ground walnuts and eggs — giving it a very specific texture. The star ingredient in this recipe is Maraschino cherry liqueur … a guilty favorite of yours truly. I honestly don't usually enjoy my food to be unnaturally neon-colored, but there's something so irresistable about a maraschino cherry that always makes me want to fight it away from the hands of a child…
The process of making this three-layered cake was so involved that it took me almost four hours to complete. Exasperated, I told my roommates Jane and Yannan that we needed to celebrate something with the cake so that at least I wouldn't have baked this arduously time consuming cake for naught. Almost serendipitously, Yannan Wikipedia-ed possible national holidays we might be able to tack onto our Serbian cake cause, and found that the day that I had baked the cake was Disneyland's birthday AND the anniversary of the publishing of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf. How profound.
We celebrated with much revelry.
Recipe found here.
- Cake:
- 6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) softened butter
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 9 large eggs, separated
- 5 ounces melted and slightly cooled semisweet chocolate
- 2 cups ground (not chopped) walnuts
- 1/3 cup fine dry bread crumbs
- 2 tablespoons milk
- Filling:
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 4 large beaten egg yolks
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 tablespoons maraschino cherry liqueur (optional)
- 4 ounces (1 stick) softened butter
- 3 ounces melted and slightly cooled semisweet chocolate
- Glaze:
- 1 ounce unsweetened chocolate
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2-4 tablespoons boiling water
- Chopped walnuts for garnish
Preparation:
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To Make the Cake: Coat 3 (8-inch) round baking pans with cooking spray. Heat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, cream butter and 2/3 cup sugar. Add egg yolks and beat until smooth. Add melted, cooled chocolate, again beating until smooth. Stir in nuts, bread crumbs and milk.
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In a separate medium bowl, whip the egg whites until stiff. Stir 1/3 egg whites into chocolate batter to lighten the mixture. Then fold in remaining 2/3 egg whites trying not to deflate the volume. Divide equally among the 3 prepared pans and bake 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.
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To Make the Filling: Whisk together 1 cup confectioners' sugar with flour and combine it with 4 egg yolks and 1/4 cup milk in the top of a double boiler. Place over heat and stir constantly until mixture is thick. This can take some time. Add vanilla and liqueur, if using. Remove from heat and place in an ice-water bath to cool completely, stirring occasionally.
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In a medium bowl, cream 4 ounces softened butter with 3 ounces melted, cooled chocolate. Add cooled egg mixture to chocolate and whip until smooth. To assemble, place a cooling rack over a sheet pan to catch any drips from the glaze. Place 1 cake layer on the rack and spread top with 1/2 the filling. Place a second cake layer over this and spread the top with remaining filling. Place last cake layer on top.
- To Make the Glaze: In a microwave-safe bowl, melt unsweetened chocolate and 1 tablespoon butter. Mix in 1 cup confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla until crumbly. Add enough boiling water to form a pourable glaze. Immediately pour over the assembled torte, making sure the sides are covered. Press chopped walnuts into the sides of the torte. Let torte set completely before transferring with two metal spatulas to a serving plate.
There you have it!
I would very much like to blog the different foods that we might encounter after launch
and perhaps — I would LOVE to share those recipes with you.
Cheers.
