Recipe Thursday - Esterhazy Torte

I actually had never heard of this dessert before until I posted it on my old blog and got so many hits on it, I decided to repost it here. One of my English pals says it is scrumptious. I will take his word on it and might make it myself one day for my husband and kids (I don't have a sweet tooth).

Here is a pic:

I found quite a few recipes but they were all in a language totally foreign to me. I tried translating a few on my own and the recipe became totally lost in translation - I think at one point it translated some of the ingredients as: 8 Protein, 200 g Puderzucker, 1 Lemon (n), of it the bowl, 1 Msp. Zimt, of it the bowl....and I stopped cuz I had no idea what they were talking about. I never heard of puderzucker or zimt but they don't sound appetizing. So I searched and found one that was translated into English.

Esterhazy torte
Ingredients
10 egg whites
7/8 cup vanilla sugar
2 1/8 cups ground blanched hazelnuts (about 8 1/2 ounces)
1/4 cup finely chopped glace citron
1/2 cup twice-sifted flour
Esterhazy Butter Cream (1/2 recipe)
Apricot Jam Glaze
Chocolate Fondant Frosting

Directions
Beat egg whites and sugar until very stiff. fold in nuts and citron, lightly but thoroughly. Fold in flour, lightly but thoroughly. Spread batter on baking sheets in five equal layers. Cut out 5 (8-inch circles) of baking parchment paper and set these on baking sheets, two circles to a sheet. Or Generously butter and flour the baking sheets; with an 8-inch cake pan, mark out two circles on each sheet. Now, with a rubber spatula, spread batter as thinly as possible over either parchment or marked-out circles.
Bake in slow oven (300 degrees F) about 3/4 hour or until layers are done and lightly golden.

When cake layers are done, immediately with sharp knife and pancake turner lift them off baking sheet and invert onto floured flat surface. If you used parchment paper, peel it off immediately, carefully.

Let layers rest overnight or until completely cold and firm. Set one layer on cake plate, shiny side up; spread with one-quarter of the butter cream. Repeat until all cake layers and butter cream are used up, ending with a cake layer shiny side down (underside will be smoother, thus a better surface to take the frosting. Spread top of cake with Jam Glaze. Cover entire cake with frosting.

Jam Glaze (generally apricot jam): Put 2 tablespoons jam through a sieve or food mill so there are no pieces of fruit in it. Simmer jam with 1 tablespoon cold water, over low flame, until hot and well blended. with pastry brush, spread glaze over cake.

ESTERHAZY BUTTER CREAM:

You can always add an extra egg yolk or two to any butter cream to make it especially luscious. But one classic, ineffable Viennese butter-cream recipe--this one--traditionally demands high proportion of egg yolks. Not to mention the epicurean kiss of fine French brandy as a flavoring.

4 egg yolks
1 cup milk
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon vanilla sugar (bend a vanilla bean and place in a covered container of granulated sugar for a few days
3/4 cup (3/8 pound) butter
1 cup powdered vanilla sugar or plain powdered sugar if you don't have vanilla one (confectioners' icing)
1-2 tablespoons Cognac or Brandy

In top of double boiler, over barely simmering water, whisk together yolks, milk, cornstarch, and sugar until mixture is thick and creamy (about 5 minutes). Remove from heat and continue whisking until lukewarm. Set aside to cool. Cream butter and powdered sugar until very light and fluffy. Gradually beat in cooled egg-yolk mixture, by spoonfuls, keeping butter cream fluffy. Beat in Cognac. Chill to spreading consistency. Spread between layers of Esterhazy torte (use the other 1/2 recipe for other cakes.

So there you go. I am re-giving all you searchers the recipe.