Hungarian Walnut Torte -Diós Torta

Friends were coming, it was time to pick up a recipe for a notable cake. Not just something sweet, but rather something with an oomph! There was a recipe in my favorite pastry cookbook:  “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” that I had my eye on for a long time. I figured there was no better opportunity to give it a try.

I have to admit that I was really curious about this recipe. Reading through the ingredient list did not reveal anything that would surprise me. It appeared what I would call a classic torte: walnuts, eggs, butter! Back home we have a saying, something along the line that you can’t go wrong with cake that includes 10 eggs, 1/2 kg walnuts and 300 g butter. Well ingredient ratios here in this recipe were slightly different, but you got the drift. Basically everything was pointing  that something good will come out of this. I was just craving to find out what makes this torte recipe special!

The process also seemed simple and predictable. Walnuts were part of every section, from torte biscuit to buttercream.

At the end the only way to find out was to bake it, as I did!

This is how it turned out:

Making torte biscuit was pretty straight forward, with little caveat: the recipe called for 15 min egg mixing, instead it should have been perhaps no more than 7-8 minutes. More accurately baker shouldn’t rely on  time, but rather on visual indicators confirming when mixing is complete. More about those details in the recipe bellow.

As a result of overmixing  biscuit structure was weak and during baking the top of biscuit caved in.  It was not the end of the world, but I would rather have had it flat! Funny enough one of our friends was amused how I managed to make parabolic cross section shape, she thought it had a very nice visual appeal! Lesson learned: turn your weakness in your strength!

The kicker rally came when I made a buttercream: that was the most tasty, silky smooth, perfectly balanced sweetness buttercream I have ever tasted! That was it! This was what I was looking for, the key that makes this recipe exceptional!

The conclusion is: many cakes have similar ingredients, what makes the difference is process to a point, but more than anything it is the balance of flavors! That is what can differentiate average from an extraordinary cake!

Print Recipe

Hungarian Walnut Torte

Rich walnut cake with luxurious frosting!

Course

Bake, Dessert

Cuisine

Hungarian

Keyword

Walnut torte with walnut-custard buttercream

Prep Time

2.5 hr

Cook Time

35 min

Passive Time

2 hr

Servings

pieces

Ingredients

Cake

• 1/3 cup unflavored bread crumbs for spring form pan coating
• 135 g ground walnuts
• 1 cup all purpose non bleached flour
• 7 large eggs at room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar

Walnut-Custard Buttercream

• 240 g walnuts
• 1 1/4 cups confectioner's sugar
• 1 cup organic milk
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 2 large egg yolks
• 2 tbsp golden Rum
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 340 g unsalted butter softened at cool room temperature

Assembly

• 120 g finely chopped walnuts for garnish
• 12 walnuts halves for garnish

Course Bake, Dessert Cuisine Hungarian Keyword Walnut torte with walnut-custard buttercream Prep Time 2.5 hr Cook Time 35 min Passive Time 2 hr Servings pieces Ingredients Cake 1/3 cup unflavored bread crumbs for spring form pan coating 135 g ground walnuts 1 cup all purpose non bleached flour 7 large eggs at room temperature 3/4 cup granulated sugar Walnut-Custard Buttercream 240 g walnuts 1 1/4 cups confectioner's sugar 1 cup organic milk 2 tbsp cornstarch 2 large egg yolks 2 tbsp golden Rum 1 tsp pure vanilla extract 340 g unsalted butter softened at cool room temperature Assembly 120 g finely chopped walnuts for garnish 12 walnuts halves for garnish

Instructions

Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 177°C (350°F), rack in the middle.
2. Fine grind walnuts in a rotary drum grinder. Transfer ground walnuts to a medium size bowl and mix with flour, set aside.
3. Butter 22.5 cm (~9 ") spring form cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Dust the form with bread crumbs and tap out excess crumbs. Note: Use two 9" spring form pans if you can. This way you don't have to be concern about cake collapsing or overmixing. Alternatively use one pan and then later cut the cake.

   
4. Use hand held or standing mixer to beat eggs. Start at medium speed and add sugar in increments. Increase mixer speed to high and beat until mixture is thick and forms a slowly dissolving ribbon, approximately 6-10 minutes. Note: Carefully watch the mixture to avoid overmixing! Once the mixture is pale yellow and fluffed up check the ribbon. If you mix too long your mixture will start losing strength and will start shrinking by volume.

   
5. Add ground walnut mixture in two parts and gently fold in by using a silicone spatula.
6. Pour the batter to the spring form pan, level off and smoothen the top. Note: If you can use two spring form pans and fill each with half of the batter.
7. Bake for approximately 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
8. Transfer the spring form pan to a cooling rack, let cool off and unmold after 5 minutes. Use a sharp knife to separate the cake layer from the mold's side. Remove spring form side, invert the cake and remove form bottom and peel off parchment paper. Reverse the cake onto cooling rack and let cool completely.

Walnut - Custard Buttercream

1. Process the walnuts and confectioner's sugar in a food processor until walnuts are very finely chopped, powder like.
2. Add milk to a medium size sauce pan. Sprinkle cornstarch over the milk and whisk until fully dissolved.
3. Whisk in the yolks. Cook over medium low heat (3 out of 10) whisking constantly until mixture is thick as pudding. The mixture has to come to a boil temperature.
4. Strain the custard in a separate bowl, stir in vanilla and rum. To cool off hold the bowl set in the ice water, stir occasionally.
5. Transfer the custard into the standing mixer bowl and mix at medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute.
6. Maintaining medium speed add softened butter in increments, one tablespoon at the time. Increase speed to high and beat butter until smooth.
7. Beat in walnut-confectioner's sugar mixture, set aside.

Assembly

1. Transfer about 1 cup of buttercream to a pastry bag fitted with 9/16" star tip, set aside.
2. Use serrated knife or cake cutter to horizontally slice cake into 2 equal layers. Note: If two pans were used for baking you already have two equal cake layers and can go to next step.
3. Place the bottom layer onto a serving plate. Use an offset metal spatula to evenly spread about 1 cup of buttercream on top of it.
4. Top it up with the second layer and spread about 1 cup of butter cream on top. Use remaining buttercream to coat the sides of the cake.
5. Use offset metal spatula to press chopped walnuts onto the side of the cake.

   
6. Pipe twelve rosettes on top of the cake, around cake perimeter, place walnut half on each rosette.

   
7. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Take out of refrigerator 1 hour before serving.

   

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