It was tiers, tortes and technical torture in the tent this week as the bakers juggled multiple layers of cake, caramel and cream under increasing pressure from the judges.
Getting to grips with the luminous Kermit coloured Swedish princess dome cake saw the most competent contestants struggle with presentation. As the idea of recreating the complex confection had our Nutritional Therapists turning a similar shade of green, we instead turned to the showstopper bake for inspiration this week.
The delicious Dobos Torte is a multi layered delight comprising cake, buttercream and caramel. Our team have devised a food intolerance friendly version, skipping the gluten, egg and dairy, but not the fabulous flavour.
Super friendly Gluten, Egg and Dairy Free Dobos Torte
What you need
- Egg white substitute – 9 tsp Orgran ‘no egg’ mixed with 9 tbsp water
- Egg yolk substitute – 8 tsp Ogran ‘no egg’ mixed with 16 tbsp water
- 500g confectioners’ sugar
- 400g caster sugar
- 200g sifted plain gluten free flour
- 10g almond or cashew butter
- 4 tbsp coconut milk
- 3 oz dark chocolate
- ½ can of coconut cream
- 1tbsp espresso powder
- 1 tbsp vanilla paste (or extract)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
What you need to do
First, you will need to make the dairy free chocolate buttercream to give it time to chill…
- Break the dark chocolate into small pieces and place in a Bain Marie. Stir in the coconut milk and espresso powder
- Stir the mixture over the head until the chocolate is melted then remove from the heat and begin to add in the sugar, a little at a time until the mix is smooth and spreadable
- If the mix is too thick, add more coconut milk. If the consistency seems too thin you can add more sugar
- Keep the buttercream cool in the fridge until you need it
The next step is to make the cake layers…
- Preheat oven to 200OC / Gas mark 6
- Grease a 9 “spring form tin with the nut butter and dust with flour to prevent sticking.
- Mix and whisk the egg white substitute, gradually adding 200g of sugar. Beat until soft peaks form
- In a different bowl, beat the yolk mix with the coconut milk and vanilla
- Fold the yolk mix into the egg white mix and sift in the flour, combining everything together
- Spread 325ml of the batter into the spring form tin and bake for about 5 to 9 minutes or until the cake begins to brown slightly
- Remove cake from the oven and slide out of the tin with a spatula. Dust with flour and leave on a wire rack to cool
- Repeat this process until you’ve used all the batter. This should make another 6 cake layers
- When they are all baked, place the layers between sheets of parchment paper and chill for a few hours
Assemble your Torte!
- Using a cake base, begin to assemble the torte
- Take a cake layer and cover with buttercream, add another cake layer and press down firmly
- Repeat with the remaining layers, saving one last layer.
- Chill the cake for at least 6 hours along with the remaining buttercream.
- Heat 200g sugar into a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Stir the sugar as it browns and becomes an amber colour
- Carefully pour the caramel over the last cake layer, covering the whole surface. Dust with sugar once the caramel is cool
- Add buttercream to the top of the chilled torte and add the caramel cake layer. Finish the sides of the torte with the last of the chocolate buttercream.
