Recipes

Punschtorte

Punschtorte

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Ingredients

Ingredients for 1 Torte (10in (26 cm) diameter)

  • Basic sponge cake for tortes
  • 14 oz 400 g Sponge cake chunks
  • ⅓ cup 8 cl Rum
  • 5 cl Simple syrup
  • Zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon
  • Dash of cinnamon
  • ½ cup 50 g Apricot marmalade
  • To Glaze
  • Apricot marmalade
  • 250 g Fondant colored with pink food dye
  • About 7 oz 200 g Dark couverture chocolate
  • Hazelnuts ground

Instructions

  • Prepare the sponge cake according to the recipe, bake a torte, and cut it twice horizontally.
  • For the filling, cut the middle torte layer and the sponge cake chunks into small pieces.
  • Mix with apricot marmalade, rum, simple syrup, orange and lemon zest, and a dash of cinnamon and knead the mixture well until it stays together.
  • Brush the torte base with apricot marmalade and place in a torte ring.
  • Spread the filling on top.
  • Cover with the second torte layer, weight with a board or similar, and chill for several hours.
  • Remove from the torte ring, overturn, brush with marmalade, and glaze the top with fondant.
  • Brush the sides with melted chocolate and press ground hazelnuts against it.
  • Put the rest of the chocolate in a piping bag and decorate the top.
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Course; Chocolate / Tarts
Cuisine; Austria / European

Black Forest Cherry Torte

Black Forest Cherry Torte

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Ingredients

  • Ingredients for 1 Torte 10in (26 cm diameter)
  • Basic chocolate sponge cake batter OF Basic Sachertorte batter
  • 1 lb 450 g Sour cherries from a jar, with juice
  • 7 tbsp 100 ml Sour cherry juice
  • ¼ cup 50 g Granulated sugar
  • Dash of cinnamon powder
  • 2 tbsp plus 2 tsp 25 g Cornstarch
  • 3 tbsp 4 cl Kirsch (cherry liqueur)
  • 3 tbsp Simple syrup
  • 1⅔ cups 400 ml Whipped cream to garnish
  • Chocolate shavings to garnish

For the Parisian Cream

  • 1 cup 250 ml Heavy cream
  • 9 oz 250 g Cooking chocolate
  • For the Cherry Whipped Cream
  • 2 cups 500 ml Whipped cream
  • 4 Sheets gelatin
  • ¼ cup 6 cl Kirsch (cherry liqueur)
  • 4 tsp 2 cl Water
  • ⅓ cup 40 g Confectioner’s sugar

Instructions

  • Prepare the chocolate sponge cake or Sachertorte batter and bake a torte.
  • Let cool and slice twice horizontally.
  • Boil the sour cherry juice with cinnamon and sugar.
  • Mix the cornstarch with some water and pour into the juice to thicken it.
  • Set aside 14 cherries to garnish.
  • Bring the rest of the cherries to a boil once in the juice, then remove from heat and let cool.
  • For the Parisian cream, boil the heavy cream, melt the chopped chocolate in it, and let cool for about 2 hours.
  • Before the cream begins to harden, stir it with a mixer.
  • For the cherry whipped cream, add cold water to the gelatin, remove excess water, and dissolve the gelatin in warmed kirsch.
  • Mix in the water and confectioner’s sugar and carefully fold it all into the whipped cream.
  • Place one torte base in a torte ring, mix the kirsch and simple syrup together, and saturate the torte base with half of the mixture.
  • Using a piping bag fitted with a large round nozzle, pipe the Parisian cream onto the torte in 4 rings.
  • Fill the space in between with the cherries.
  • Set the second torte layer on top and saturate with the rest of the kirsch mixture.
  • Spread cherry whipped cream on the second layer and cover with the last torte layer.
  • Chill for about 6 hours.
  • Remove from the torte ring, spread whipped cream on the torte, and garnish with chocolate shavings, whipped cream rosettes, and cherries.

Notes & Wine Advice

Kefier’s Cherries
It is celebrated as a traditional jewel of Baden housewifery. But there’s one thing: the Black Forest cherry torte has a birthday and an inventor. They say that in 1915 Josef Keller, a confectioner from Radolfzell on Lake Constance, presented a successful new torte creation for his master baker’s test in Bad Godesberg by Bonn. On a visit to a student bar in Godesberg called Café Anger, he ate cherries with cream and had the idea to layer chocolate cake saturated with Black Forest kirsch and cherries in whipped cream and garnish the whole thing with chocolate. The only problem with it is the housewives: They still don’t believe the story.
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Course; Fruit / Tarts
Cuisine; Austria / European

Charlotte Malakoff

Charlotte Malakoff

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Ingredients

Ingredients for 1 Torte (10in (26 cm) diameter)

  • 1 Torte base made with ¼ of the warm sponge cake recipe
  • 250 g Ladyfingers
  • Rum
  • Almonds grated and roasted
  • Chocolate glaze to dip the ladyfingers
  • 1⅔ cups 400 ml Whipped cream to garnish

For the Cream

  • ⅔ cup 150 ml Milk
  • 8 tsp 35 g Granulated sugar
  • 2 tsp 10 g Vanilla sugar
  • 3 Sheets gelatin
  • 2 Egg yolks
  • 4 tsp 2 cl Rum
  • 1 Egg white
  • 5 tsp 25 g Granulated sugar
  • 1⅔ cups 400 ml Whipped cream
  • Dash of salt

Instructions

  • For the cream, mix milk, granulated sugar, vanilla sugar, salt, and egg yolks and heat in a bain-marie until the mixture begins to thicken.
  • Add cold water to the gelatin, remove excess water, and dissolve in the warm mixture.
  • Mix in the rum and chill the cream until it is almost set.
  • Begin to beat the egg yolks, add granulated sugar, and then beat to stiff peaks.
  • Fold the egg whites and whipped cream into the cream.
  • Place the cake base in a torte ring and saturate with some rum.
  • Set aside 7 of the ladyfingers to garnish.
  • Place the rest of the ladyfingers into 2 or 3 layers alternating with the cream.
  • Before putting the cream on top of the ladyfingers, splash them with rum.
  • Make a final layer of ladyfingers and spread the top and sides with whipped cream.
  • Set a half ladyfinger dipped in chocolate glaze on each slice and sprinkle roasted almonds in the middle.

Notes & Wine Advice

Mr. Malakoff was Pelissier
The Charlotte Malakoff is a sweet fortress that torte lovers eat their way through like the pudding mountains in the mythical Land of Plenty. This torte gets its name from the storming of a bastion, namely the Russian fortress of Malakov Kurgan at Sevastopol in Crimea, which was conquered by the French General Jean J. Pélissier (1794–1864). However, this torte is neither Russian nor French, but rather came from formerly Austrian northern Italy and quickly became established among the Danube monarchy. Of course, this torte must not be baked, but rather is built on rum-infused ladyfingers and so-called Malakoff cream, similar to tiramisu cream, for which there are many recipes involving whipped cream, butter, milk, mascarpone, and egg yolks. In many old cookbooks you will find that this recipe is not called a torte at all, but rather a “Galician cream.”
 
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Course; Tarts
Cuisine; Austria / European

Sachertorte

Sachertorte

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Ingredients

Ingredients for 1 Torte (10in (26 cm) diameter)

  • Basic Sacher batter
  • Apricot marmalade
  • Chocolate glaze or Sacher glaze

Instructions

  • Prepare and bake Sachertorte batter according to the basic recipe.
  • Remove from the pan after it has fully cooled.
  • Cut straight on the top, turn over and cut through it horizontally.
  • Brush the lower layer with slightly warmed apricot marmalade, place the top cake layer on top, and brush with marmalade again.
  • Chill.
  • Pour the warm glaze over the torte all at once, smooth quickly with a spatula, and spread around the side of the torte, too.
  • Place on a cake plate and let rest for several hours so the glaze can dry.

Notes & Wine Advice

If you want to spare yourself the effort of preparing the Sacher glaze, you can simply use a store-bought chocolate glaze.
The Remains of the Cake Fight
The most famous of all Viennese tortes, and perhaps the most famous torte in the world, was not invented by a great baker. The recipe actually came from a second year apprentice. Franz Sacher, born 1816, baked this chocolate torte for the first time in 1832 as a cooking student in the house of Prince Metternich. Sacher’s torte became world famous, but was also to become the topic of many lawsuits between the Hotel Sacher and the Demel Pastry Shop regarding the intellectual property rights of the title “Original Sacher Torte.” The most important point of conflict: should the obligatory marmalade layer be in the middle (like Demel’s torte) or beneath the glaze (as in the Hotel Sacher and also in the cookbook of Marie von Rokitansky)? Ancestors of the Sachertorte could be found much earlier, like in the 1718 cookbook of Conrad Haggers or in Gartler Hickmann’s ‘Proven Viennese Cookbook” from 1749. Since Katharina Prato presented a “Chocolate torte. À la Sacher” in her “Southern German Cuisine,” Chocolate glaze, apricot marmalade, and the name Sacher have been inseparable—no matter where the apricot marmalade is.
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Course; Tarts
Cuisine; Austria / European

Panama Torte

Panama Torte

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Ingredients

Ingredients for 1 Torte (10in (26 cm) diameter)

  • Basic Panama cake dough
  • Almonds grated and roasted

For the Parisian Cream

  • 2 cups 500 ml Heavy cream
  • 18 oz 500 g Cooking chocolate

Instructions

  • Prepare the Panama batter and bake a torte.
  • Let cool and cut horizontally twice.
  • For the Parisian cream, boil the heavy cream, melt the chocolate in it, and then let cool for 2 hours.
  • Before the cream begins to harden, cream with a mixer.
  • Spread cream on each cake piece and set on top of each other.
  • Ice the outside of the torte with cream, but leave some cream for decorating.
  • Chill the torte.
  • Sprinkle with almonds and decorate with the rest of the cream as you wish, such as with rosettes.

Notes & Wine Advice

Parisian cream can be prepared in advance and stored in the refrigerator. Before using, it must be warmed and creamed again.
The Canal Torte
The opening of the Panama Canal was as exciting of an event for the people of 1914 as the moon landing was fifty-five years later. Apparently, a cooked chocolate almond torte was served in Vienna for the event, and called a Panama torte. Since there is very little in the world that is really new, recipes for this cake could be found in cookbooks that were published when there was still no pass between the Atlantic and Pacific.
The Ten Commandments of Torte Baking
1. Make sure that the inside of the torte pan is very clean before you fill it with batter and is lightly buttered and floured, unless otherwise specified.
2. For heavy tortes, use only soft, creamed butter so that as much air as possible gets into the batter.
3. Always fold in flour and beaten egg whites last and very carefully. It is the only way to make it come out light and fluffy.
4. Make sure that you only mix the flour and egg whites very briefly with the mixed or beaten batter.
5. Make sure that the butter you use does not become hot, otherwise the torte will be more prone to fall.
6. If the recipe calls for baking powder, always sift it with the flour.
7. Lay the baked torte upside down on a lightly floured board, so that it gets a nice, flat top.
8. Never overfill cream tortes, because they will become not only too rich, but also more difficult to cut.
9. Immediately after filling or icing a cream torte, place it in immediately in the refrigerator or other cool place so that the cream firms quickly.
10. Dip the knife you are using to slice the torte in hot water between each cut. Saw gently when cutting instead of pushing down to prevent cream from spilling out.
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Course; Tarts
Cuisine; Austria / European

Dried Pear Strudel

Dried Pear Strudel

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Ingredients

Ingredients for 10 Servings

  • Basic strudel dough or ready-made dough
  • Oil for brushing
  • Flour for the work surface
  • 7 tbsp 100 g Butter, melted
  • Confectioner’s sugar for dusting

For the Filling

  • 2 sticks plus 5 tbsp 300 g Butter
  • ⅔ cup 80 g Confectioner’s sugar
  • 16 Egg yolks
  • 10.5 oz 300 g Walnuts, chopped
  • 9 oz 250 g Dried pears, briefly soaked in water and chopped
  • 3.5 oz 100 g Raisins, chopped
  • 3.5 oz 100 g Dried plums
  • 3 oz 80 g Candied orange peel, chopped
  • 3 oz 80 g Cooking chocolate, grated
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • Dash of salt
  • Dash of cinnamon
  • Dash of cardamom
  • 16 Egg whites
  • ⅓ cup 80 g Granulated sugar

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 340 °F (170 °C).
  • Prepare the strudel dough according to the basic recipe, brush with oil, and let rest.
  • For the filling, cream the butter with confectioner’s sugar and egg yolks.
  • Mix in the rest of the ingredients except for the egg whites and granulated sugar.
  • Begin to beat the egg whites and then beat them to stiff peaks with the granulated sugar.
  • Carefully fold in the egg whites.
  • Lay a cloth on the work surface and flour evenly.
  • Lightly flour the dough as well and place on the cloth.
  • With a rolling pin, roll the dough out as thinly as possible.
  • Then slide both hands under the dough, palms down, and slowly stretch it in all directions, until it’s so thin that you could read a newspaper through it.
  • Be very careful not to tear the dough.
  • Saturate the dough with ¾ of the butter.
  • Lay the filling on the dough in a strip.
  • With the help of the cloth, fold the dough over the filling and then fold around once.
  • Cut off extra.
  • Place the strudel with the seam down on a buttered baking sheet and brush with the rest of the butter.
  • Bake for about 40 minutes.
  • Dust with confectioner’s sugar and serve.

Notes & Wine Advice

As the crowning moment of a harmonious menu, sabayon  and cranberry compote (see p. 182) make wonderful additions to dried pear strudel.
Drying Pears
In Austria, it is common to dry pears and then bake them into delightful breads, strudel, or cakes. Dried pear bread can be found throughout the Alps around Christmastime. Paolo Santonino, a Bishop’s secretary and diarist traveling north out of Italy, first talked about dried pears in 1485, when he went into raptures over a dish “of cooked, sweet pears that, served in a bowl, are covered in butter and semisweet spices.”
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Course; Fruit / Pastry
Cuisine; Austria / European

Cream Strudel

Cream Strudel

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Ingredients

Ingredients for 15 Servings

  • Basic strudel dough or ready-made dough
  • 1 stick plus 6 tbsp 200 g Butter
  • ¾ cup 100 g Confectioner’s sugar
  • 9 Dinner rolls
  • 1¼ cups 300 ml Milk
  • 9 Egg yolks
  • 2 tbsp 30 g Vanilla sugar
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • ⅓ cup 50 g Cornstarch
  • 1½ cups 375 ml Sour cream
  • 9 Egg whites
  • 7 tbsp 100 g Granulated sugar
  • 7 tbsp 100 g Butter, melted
  • Flour for the work surface
  • Confectioner’s sugar for dusting

For the Royale

  • 4¼ cups 1l Milk
  • 4 tsp 20 g Granulated sugar
  • 2 Eggs

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 °F (180 °C).
  • Prepare the strudel dough according to the basic recipe.
  • Remove the crusts from the rolls, cut into small pieces and saturate with milk.
  • Cream the butter with confectioner’s sugar.
  • Fold in the bread, egg yolks, cornstarch, vanilla sugar, sour cream, and lemon zest.
  • Begin to beat the egg whites and then beat them to stiff peaks with the granulated sugar.
  • Carefully fold in the egg whites.
  • Lay a cloth on the work surface and flour evenly.
  • Lightly flour the dough as well and place on the cloth.
  • With a rolling pin, roll the dough out as thinly as possible.
  • Then slide both hands under the dough, palms down, and slowly stretch it in all directions, until it’s so thin that you could read a newspaper through it.
  • Be very careful not to tear the dough.
  • Saturate the dough with ¾ of the butter.
  • Lay the filling on the dough in a strip.
  • With the help of the cloth, fold the dough over the filling and then fold around once.
  • Cut off extra.
  • Place the strudel with the seam down on a buttered baking sheet and brush with the rest of the butter.
  • Bake for about 30 minutes.
  • For the Royale, mix all the ingredients together, pour over the strudel, and bake for another 20 minutes, lowering the oven heat to 320 °F (160 °C).
  • Dust with confectioner’s sugar and serve while still warm.

Notes & Wine Advice

White Strudel from the Red Barn

What would the Viennese bakery be without the accompanying legends? Every legend about the invention of the “Milli cream strudel” leads straight to the inn Zum Roten Stadl—”At the Red Barn”—in Breitenfurt, near Vienna. In the nineteenth century Breitenfurt was famous for its strudel specialties. The absolute bestseller was a strudel made with breadcrumbs, milk, butter, eggs, vanilla, raisins, sugar, and cream, which was apparently named for the cook, Milli. However, a milk cream strudel was listed in a Viennese cookbook from 1696.
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Course; Pastry
Cuisine; Austria / European

Quark Strudel

Quark Strudel

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Ingredients

Ingredients for 10 Servings

  • Basic strudel dough or ready-made dough
  • 7 tbsp 100 g Butter
  • ⅔ cup 150 g Confectioner’s sugar
  • 21 oz 600 g Quark, or other soft, fresh cheese
  • 1¼ cups 300 ml Sour cream
  • 8 Egg yolks
  • ½ cup 80 g Cornstarch
  • 2 tbsp 30 g Vanilla sugar
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 2 oz 50 g Raisins
  • 8 Egg whites
  • 1 cup less 2 tbsp 200 g Granulated sugar
  • 7 tbsp 100 g Butter, melted
  • Confectioner’s sugar for dusting
  • Flour for the work surface

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 °F (180 °C).
  • Prepare the strudel dough according to the basic recipe.
  • Cream the butter with confectioner’s sugar.
  • Mix in the strained quark, sour cream, and egg yolks.
  • Fold in the cornstarch, vanilla sugar, lemon zest, and raisins.
  • Begin to beat the egg whites and then beat them to stiff peaks with the granulated sugar.
  • Carefully fold in the egg whites.
  • Lay a cloth on the work surface and flour evenly.
  • Lightly flour the dough as well and place on the cloth.
  • With a rolling pin, roll the dough out as thinly as possible.
  • Then slide both hands under the dough, palms down, and slowly stretch it in all directions, until it’s so thin that you could read a newspaper through it.
  • Be very careful not to tear the dough.
  • Saturate the dough with ¾ of the melted butter.
  • Lay the filling on the dough in a strip.
  • With the help of the cloth, fold the dough over the filling and then fold around once.
  • Cut off extra.
  • Place the strudel with the seam down on a buttered baking sheet and brush with the rest of the butter.
  • Bake for about 40–45 minutes.
  • Dust with confectioner’s sugar and serve while still warm.
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Course; Pastry
Cuisine; Austria / European

Pear Strudel

Pear Strudel

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Ingredients

Ingredients for 10 Servings

  • Basic strudel dough or ready-made dough
  • 3 lbs 1.3 kg Pears, fully ripe
  • 3.5 oz 100 g Raisins
  • 3.5 oz 100 g Almonds, grated and roasted
  • ½ cup 120 g Sugar
  • 5 oz 150 g Sponge cake crumbs
  • 4 tsp 20 g Vanilla sugar
  • 2 tsp 1 cl lemon juice
  • 7 tbsp 10 cl Poire Williams
  • 7 tbsp 100 g Butter, melted
  • Flour for the work surface
  • Confectioner’s sugar for dusting

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 °F (180 °C).
  • Prepare the strudel dough according to the basic recipe.
  • Peel, quarter, and core the pears.
  • Cut the pears into thin slices and mix with raisins, almonds, cake crumbs, sugar, vanilla sugar, lemon juice, and Poire Williams.
  • Lay a cloth on the work surface and flour evenly.
  • Lightly flour the dough as well and place on the cloth.
  • With a rolling pin, roll the dough out as thinly as possible.
  • Then slide both hands under the dough, palms down, and slowly stretch it in all directions, until it’s so thin that you could read a newspaper through it.
  • Be very careful not to tear the dough.
  • Saturate the dough with ¾ of the butter.
  • Lay the filling on the dough in a strip.
  • With the help of the cloth, fold the dough over the filling and then fold around once.
  • Cut off extra.
  • Place the strudel with the seam down on a buttered baking sheet and brush with the rest of the butter.
  • Bake for about 40 minutes.
  • Dust with confectioner’s sugar and serve while still warm.

Notes & Wine Advice

When served with chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream, this pear strudel is a delicate, sweet ending to a fine menu.
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Course; Fruit / Pastry
Cuisine; Austria / European