I will start this blog post with a simple statement that reflects today’s reality in nearly all developed world: “If you want to enjoy an amazing cake or cookie, don’t look where to purchase it, there is no such thing. The truly great, tasty pieces of confectionary art can be only baked in your kitchen!”
Linzer torte together with Sacher torte makes two of Austria’s most famous desserts. I baked Sacher torte several times and it was a really incredible dessert, but the Linzer Torte somehow eluded me. The recipe came on my list several times, but for one reason or another it just never materialized. Finally I did it, I made it for a recent family dinner. What can I say except that I awarded 5 stars beside the recipe title in my favorite dessert book “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague”, from which I borrowed the recipe. That is a mark I give only to a recipe with an outstanding taste that is worth nothing and repeating.
The taste is truly amazing! The perfect blend of sweet and sour with underlying nutty flavour. It has on of those “kicks” that makes you smile after you take a bite, it is so good! There are many recipes of Linzer torte with the oldest one on record going back about 300 years, printed in 1719. Generally, the torte recipe variations could fall in 3 broad categories: White, Brown and Creamed Linzer torte. First two are made with short crust dough while for the last one the butter is creamed, making the dough very soft. The White torte is made with almonds while the Brown torte, one that I made, with cocoa and toasted hazelnuts.
Brown Linzer torte is distinguished by its darker color and deeper flavour. I also made one deviation from the original recipe: instead of black currant preserves I used apricot preserves. I tried black currant preserves, I have some that I made myself, but just felt that apricot flavour would work better. It did, I loved it!
This is pretty simple recipe to make with no special skills, tools or ingredients required. If you have ever made a short crust dough for a fruit pie or similar dessert, this recipe will be a breeze! It is also convenient that the recipe also can be made in 2 parts, the dough on the day 1 and the filling and baking on the day 2.
Last but not least, the same dough recipe is used to make famous Linzer Cookies! I made those as well and that recipe will be subject of one of the incoming posts!
| Prep Time | 2 hours |
| Cook Time | 1 hour |
| Servings |
people
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- 1 1/2 cups all purpose non bleached flour
- 200 g hazelnuts toasted and peeled
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 lemon zest
- 1/2 tsp ground cinamon
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 200 g unsalted butter cubed, room temperature
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 cup apricot preserves
- 1 tbsp golden rum or water
- 1 large egg separated
- 1 tbsp organic milk
Ingredients
Dough
Filling
Brushing
Garnish
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- Toast the raw hazelnuts, cool and remove skin.
- In a food processor fitted with metal blade, process together flour and roasted hazelnuts until the nuts are ground into a fine powder.
- In a large bowl mix together processed hazelnut mixture, sugar, cocoa, lemon zest, cinnamon, cloves and salt.
- Add the cubed butter to the mixture and use a pastry blender to cut it until the mixture resembles a cornmeal.
- In a small bow, whisk together yolks and lemon juice.
- Using a fork, stir in the liquid into the flour mixture until it clumps together.
- Shape the dough into a ball, divide into 2 equal parts.
- Place each dough part separately into its own plastic wrap and using a rolling pin make 2 thick disks.
- Refrigerate at least 1 hour or ideally overnight. The dough actually can be kept in the fridge for up to 2 days.
- Preheat the oven to 177°C (350°F), rack in the middle.
- Butter a 230 mm (9" ) springform pan, and line the bottom with round parchment paper, butter the paper.
- Crumble one of the dough discs into the pan. With your fingers press the dough firmly into the pan, spread it evenly and bring it 1" up the sides of the pan. The dough will be quite thick, about 1/4".
- Use a fork to prick the dough all over. Cover the pan with plastic wrap, put the pan in the freezer for 10 minutes.
- Using a whisk, in a small bowl beat the egg white with pinch of salt until foamy.
- Lightly brush inside of the cold dough shell with the beaten egg white.
- Bake the dough shell for 15-20 minutes or just until the dough is set. Cool completely on a wire rack.
- Take other dough disc out of the fridge and leave at room temperature for 5 minutes.
- Warm up apricot preserves with rum or water until is soft and uniform, without chunks.
- Spread the preserves evenly in the shell.
- Roll out the second dough disc on a lightly floured counter to a thickness of about 1/4".
- Cut the rolled dough into 3/4" wide strips. Ideally you will use a fluted pastry wheel, but if you don't have it use a flat pizza cutter wheel as I did.
- Lay the strips in a lattice pattern on top of the jam, trim ends as required to fit. Don't worry if in the process some of the strips crack (likely it will), simply piece them together and continue on.
- Collect together trimmed pieces and remaining dough. Knead them together and then use this dough to create a thin layer of dough around the edge of the crust. This is on top of the lattice ends in order to to seal them. Discard any remaining dough.
- In a small bowl add egg yolk and milk, beat them together until smooth and uniform.
- Brush the top of the cake with this mixture and sprinkle with sliced almonds.
- Bake the cake until the preserves are bubbling, 45-55 minutes.
- Cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack. Use a sharp knife to carefully run around the pan wall to loosen the cake. Do not try to remove side of the spring form pan at this point!
- Leave the cake in the pan, sitting on a cooling rack to completely cool off, minimum 3-4 hours, ideally overnight.
- Remove the sides of the pan.
- Carefully invert the torte on a flat plate (I used a large cutting board), peel off the parchment paper. Invert the cake again onto a serving plate.
- Sift the confectioner's sugar over the torte and serve.
- Keep the torte tightly wrapped at room temperature for up to a week.
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