Day 48

Two words you will see often in connection with European-style cakes are gâteau and torte. Gâteau is the French word for cake (the plural is gateaux;

both singular and plural are pronounced “ga-toe”). The term is nearly as general as the English word cake and is used for a wide range of products;

For example, Gâteau Pithiviers, made of puff pastry and almond filling, and Gâteau St-Honoré, made of short dough and éclair paste and filled with a type of pastry cream. Gâteaux can also refer to more conventional layer

cakes.The German word torte (plural torten) is generally used for layer cakes. Its

many definitions often contradict each other. According to a British definition, a torte is a sponge layer cake that is marked off into individual wedges that are then individually decorated. Another entirely different

definition says that a torte is a cake baked from a batter that contains nuts and/or crumbs and little or no flour. Yet there are classic tortes that fit

neither definition.

Gateaux and Tortes

Planning and Assembling Specialty Cakes

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18Basic Cake Components• Optional bottom layer.• Optional cake ring linings.• Cake layers.• Additional specialty layers.• Dessert syrup for moistening and flavoring cake

layers.• Fillings.• Icings and coatings.

Specialty Cakes, Gâteaux, and Torten


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18Procedure for Assembling a Basic Layered Sponge Cake• Trim the edges of the cake as necessary.• Cut a notch in the edge of the cake so the layers can be line up

again after cutting.• Split in half horizontally.



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18Procedure for Assembling a Basic Layered Sponge Cake (continued)• Place one half on a cake card and moisten with a flavored

syrup.• Apply the filling with a pastry bag to get a uniform thickness.• Top with second layer and mask the top.



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18Procedure for Assembling a Basic Layered Sponge Cake (continued)• Mask the sides with the desired icing.• Smooth the sides with a plastic scraper.• Smooth the top with a palette knife. Glaze and decorate.


Cake/Mixing Method Egg Source Mixing Procedure Panning

Genoise Whole Eggs warmed with sugar to 105-113 degrees

Whip on medium until thick ribbons form. Fold in dry ingredients

Paper lined pans. No Grease

Sponge Whole Eggs, separated Whip yolks to thick ribbons. Whip whites. Fold these together. Then fold in dry ingredients

Butter the sides. Line the pan with parchment and butter the parchment

Angel Food Egg Whites ONLY Whip whites with a portion of sugar until firm, not dry peaks. Fold in dry ingredients

NO GREASE of any kind in the pan

ChiffonOnly one with chemical leavener

Whole Eggs, separated Mix all ingredients except egg whites. Whip these to firm and fold in batter.

Paper lined pan. No grease

Mixing Overview

Sacher Torte• Recipes similar to that of the Sachertorte

appeared as early as the eighteenth century, one instance being in the 1718 cookbook of Conrad Hagger, another individual represented in Gartler-Hickmann's 1749 Tried and True Viennese Cookbook (Wienerisches bewährtes Kochbuch).

Classical Cakes, Gâteaux, and Torten

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18Sachertorte


• In 1832, Prince Wenzel von Metternich charged his personal chef with creating a special dessert for several important guests. The head chef, having taken ill, let the task fall to his sixteen-year-old apprentice, Franz Sacher, then in his second year of training in Metternich's kitchen. The Prince is reported to have declared, "Let there be no shame on me tonight!" While the torte created by Sacher on this occasion is said to have delighted Metternich's guests, the dessert received no immediate further attention. Sacher completed his training as a chef and afterward spent time in Pressburg and Budapest, ultimately settling in his hometown of Vienna where he opened a specialty delicatessen and wine shop.

• Production and sale of the "Original Sacher Torte"• Hotel Sacher's "Original Sacher Torte" is sold at the Vienna

and Salzburg locations of the Hotel Sacher, at Cafe Sacher branches in Innsbruck and Graz, at the Sacher Shop in Bolzano, in the Duty Free area of Vienna airport and via the Hotel Sacher's online shop.

• The recipe of the Hotel Sacher's version of the cake is a closely guarded secret. Those privy to it claim that the secret to the Sacher Torte's desirability lies not in the ingredients of the cake itself, but rather those of the chocolate icing. According to widely available information, the icing consists of three special types of chocolate, which are produced exclusively by different manufacturers for this sole purpose. The hotel obtains these products from Lübeck in Germany and from Belgium.

• "Original" Sacher Torte has two layers of apricot jam between the outer layer of chocolate icing and the sponge base, while Demel's "Eduard-Sacher-Torte" has only one.

Alhambra • A typical European cake, on the other hand, can

be described as follows: sponge cake, such as genoise, split into thin layers, moistened with a

flavored syrup, filled and iced, and frequently set on a base of baked meringue, japonaise, or short dough. It is sometimes filled with fruit between

the layers, and is almost always decorated on top. A European-style cake is usually less than 3 inches high, and its broad, flat top provides an

excellent medium for pastry chefs to display their decorating skills.

Classical Cakes, Gâteaux, and Torten

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18Alhambra


Opera Torte• This dessert has been a classic for over twenty

years.• The Opera was created for those who

unabashedly chose chocolate and butter cream over fruit desserts.

• What makes this low, flat cake more modern than any of its predecessors is its shape (usually square or rectangular) and its undecorated sides that show all its layers

Self Improvement

Day 48