A Doberge By Any Other Name

Some call it a cake, some call it a torte. I call it the best chocolate dessert ever, hands down.

I first heard of Doberge cake when my husband mentioned it was the kind of cake he always had for his birthdays, growing up in New Orleans, and, hint, hint, would like to have again. "It's a chocolate cake, lots of layers, I don't know where they got it." Big help.

I floundered around a few years, trying to find an approximation in Los Angeles before the internet bailed me out yet again and a search turned up Gambino's Bakery in Metairie, the very same neighborhood where Tommy was born and raised. I ordered one -- $70.00, delivered overnight by FedEx, worth twice as much as it turned out -- and it became a tradition. And while its' dark, moist, fudgey chocolate goodness seemed unlikely to be improved upon, I never-the-less harbored ambitions of one day doing it myself.

I practiced throughout this past year on a couple of "amateur" Doberge cakes, four layer chocolate concoctions that were worth it alone just for the silky pudding between the layers. They were satisfying, but the real deal remained elusive.

That would be Beulah Ledner's original Doberge cake; eight thin layers of creamy white cake, stacked with rich chocolate ganauche pudding in between, and covered in not one, but two unbelievably rich chocolate frostings -- eight cups of sugar, eight eggs, nearly a pound of butter. Oh the glory of it all.

Mrs. Ledner opened a bakery in New Orleans in the 30's and adapted the recipe from the famous Dobos Torte, created by Austrian confectioner Jozsel Dobos way back when. Wanting to give it a bit of Creole panache, she named her creation "Doberge" cake, and sold it under her own banner until 1946 when Gambino's bought the name, recipe and retail shop from the family. The recipe was published in the long out of print cookbook, "Let's Bake With Beulah Ledner" by Maxine Wolchansky, Beulah's daughter. Search as I might (and I am VERY resourseful), I haven't been able to locate a copy, (Big door prize to anybody who finds it for me!), but fortunately I did find the recipe on the internet.

This year, the husband got his homemade Doberge cake! Yes it cost me an entire day in the kitchen. Yes, it has something like 1700 calories per slice. Yes, it was absolutely worth it.


DOBERGE CAKE

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 eggs, separated
1 cup milk
3 teaspoons baking powder
3 1/2 cups cake flour, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla
Scant teaspoon lemon juice

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare 9-inch cake pans with baking spray. Since this is an 8 layer cake, and few of us have 8 cake pans, and even fewer an oven that will hold them all at once, I use 4 cake pans and bake 4 layers at a time.

Cream butter, sugar and salt in bowl of electric mixer until smooth. Add egg yolks and blend until smooth. Add sifted dry ingredients alternately with milk. Beat until blended. Add vanilla and lemon juice.

Beat egg whites with hand mixer until they hold a stiff peak. Gently fold beaten whites into batter.

Measure 3/4 cup batter into each pan and spread evenly over the bottom. (It will be very thin.) Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Repeat baking process until batter is completely used.

Cool completely. Stack layers with CHOCOLATE CUSTARD FILLING. Spread CHOCOLATE BUTTER CREAM FROSTING over top and sides. Chill for several hours until firm.

Frost chilled cake with ALWAYS DELICIOUS CHOCOLATE ICING.


CHOCOLATE CUSTARD FILLING

2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons cornstarch
2 heaping tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
4 whole eggs
1 tablespoon butter, melted
4 1-ounce squares unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 tablespoon vanilla
4 cups (1 quart) milk

Mix all dry ingredients together in a saucepan. Add eggs, butter, melted chocolate, vanilla and milk. Mix and cook over medium low heat until thick, stirring constantly. Cool before spreading between layers of cake.


CHOCOLATE BUTTER CREAM FROSTING

2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter or margarine, room temperature
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1-ounce square unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons (more or less) hot water

Cream sugar and margarine (or butter). Add cocoa, then melted chocolate and vanilla, blending thoroughly. Add hot water by tablespoons until mixture is spreading consistency. (Since I don't like to run out of frosting before I run out of cake, or skimp on the good stuff, I usually make a recipe and a half of this stuff. If you have any left over, it freezes well and I'm sure you can find some reason to use it sooner rather than later.)


ALWAYS DELICIOUS CHOCOLATE ICING

1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
4 1-ounce squares semi-sweet chocolate, melted
1/2 stick unsalted butter
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine all ingredients in sauce pan, slowly bring to a boil over medium low heat. Boil for about 10 minutes until icing begins to thicken. Then beat with hand electric mixer until thick enough to spread. Again, this is not a fluffy icing, but a thick, pasty concoction, and your fingers may useful in "patting" in onto the sides of the cake.)

A lot of trouble? You bet, but this cake is so good, (not to mention quite the showpiece), that I'm looking for an excuse to make one again soon! Anybody got a birthday coming up?