Christmas and the Dobosh Torte

Every year at Christmastime while I was growing up, my family would gather at my Grandmother's house with the "the folks from upstate". My Grandmother would make a wonderful dinner (except for the peas and carrots, which my cousin and I would smoosh one at a time before putting them in our mouths to try to make the best of them), and we would exchange gifts and have a fabulous time. These folks were, and continue to be, my very favorite extended family members, because we always laughed and had so much fun. Best of all, I got to see my cousin, and we had the most wonderful times together. We never needed expensive games or toys, just paper and pens. We made up fun and imaginative games all by ourselves. One of my favorite parts of the family Christmas celebration was dessert. Every year my Grandmother would order a Dobosh Torte from a specialty food catalog called the Swiss Colony. A Dobosh Torte is a multi-layered cake with very rich chocolate frosting between each layer. The bakers at the Swiss Colony then pour chocolate over the entire confection, and place a thin decorative line of green coconut along the top. It is quite simply the most delicious cake there is. After my Grandmother passed away, I continued the tradition of ordering the torte for the annual gathering. One year, being particularly strapped financially, I thought I would make the cake myself. In searching for a recipe, I discovered that the true Dobosh Torte was a bit different from what I was used to eating, and had an interesting history. According to Wikipedia, "Dobos Cake (/'doboʃ/, Hungarian: dobostorta) is a famous Hungarian cake, invented by and named after a well-known Hungarian confectioner, József C. Dobos (1847-1924) in 1884. It is a five-layer sponge cake, layered with chocolate buttercream and topped with thin caramel slices. Dobosh or Dobos Torte (type of cake) was first introduced at the National General Exhibition of Budapest in 1885; Franz Joseph I and his Empress Elisabeth were among the first to taste it. " As I am Hungarian (in addition to a few other things), I was impressed to learn that this is a recipe of my heritage. I tried to find the most authentic recipe I could, and found that the recipe was time consuming and required a tremendous amount of work. If you're interested, here is a link to the recipe. http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/viennese-dobos-torte.

This weekend, my husband and I are hosting the annual family get together, and I have ordered the traditional Swiss Colony Dobosh Torte. I'm very much looking forward to celebrating Christmas with my favorite extended family members, and having a piece of this wonderful cake.