Scott Kisabeth has, in his baking repertoire, a showcase dessert called Dobos Torte that almost never
sees the light of day.
His wife, Denise, wondered aloud: "When’s the last time you made one of these?" as he labored
to create the multi-layer architectural masterpiece for this week’s Cook’s Corner.
"It’s been quite awhile," Kisabeth admitted. Actually, he can’t even remember the last time.

But the rareness of its appearance is in keeping with family tradition.
Dobos Torte, also known as a drum torte because the finished confection looks much like a drum, is a rich
Hungarian sponge cake normally consisting of seven layers filled with chocolate butter cream and laced
with a caramel topping. It was named for Hungarian pastry chef Jozsef Dobos in 1884.
"My mother was Hungarian and she made it with 11 layers instead of 7.
"She made it only on very special occasions," Kisabeth recalls. "Big birthdays,"
which he defines as 30 or 50, and not even on Easter. "She didn’t make them very often, and they
were pretty impressive."
As birthday cake, no candles were needed. Adding them would have been like gilding the lily, and besides,
"you can’t put candles in it because of the caramel top."
Kisabeth, a Bowling Green resident and long-time engineer at WBGU-TV’s Tucker Center for
Telecommunications, enjoyed pulling out the recipe for the cake.
"I haven’t made it very often over the years, but it does bring back very fond memories of times
spent with my mom. When I was much younger, she taught me the basics of cooking, which my wife is still
quite thrilled about because, although she does cook, she welcomes my turn in the kitchen."
Kisabeth’s mother, a home economics teacher who once served as a background cook for Marcia Adams on
Adams’ popular cooking PBS series back in the 1980s, saw to it that her two sons as well as her two
daughters all learned to cook.
"I believe my mother got her recipe for Dobos Torte from an old Hungarian cookbook, which we have
not been able to locate," although he remembers it well. A paperback, it was about 5-by-8, with a
green cover. "We’ve got it someplace, but I can’t find it right now.
"It was probably handed down from her mother. She made it to 100 years old. The only place I’ve ever
seen this particular recipe is in her cookbook."
When Kisabeth did online research he saw no other versions like it.
The use of eggs for the frosting is unique.
"You have to cook it to custard consistency because you can’t have raw eggs. When you do cook the
eggs it turns a pale yellow, and thick like a custard."

After you let it cool you put the chocolate in it.
"I still use her cake recipe, but have altered her frosting recipe because the original frosting is
not very sweet at all," Kisabeth noted. "I use a basic butter cream frosting, substituting
whole milk for the eggs" found in his mom’s version.
He estimates the cake takes about three hours to make, from batter prep to wash-up. But it’s not all that
difficult.
"It’s not a 10 on a 10-scale. The hard part is probably separating the eggs because you’re doing so
many. You’ve got to watch the egg shells.
"It’s really just time consuming."
Admittedly, "the caramel glaze on top can be a little tricky. It cools very quickly. I find it
easier to pre-cut the top layer to be glazed first into however many pieces you desire (I used 12) and
pour the caramelized sugar over each individual piece."
You should figure 90 minutes just for creating the layers of the cake, if you opt for 11 or 12 as
Kisabeth did, "because each layer cooks at 400 for 6 minutes, 40 seconds – in our oven."
Kisabeth uses 10-inch springform pans.
He warns other cooks to use care during this "busy, repetitive process" of producing the many
cake layers. "Go to the oven with your oven mitts, so you don’t burn yourself, because you get so
busy with prepping the next pan to go in the oven and that beeper goes off – hey it’s time to get me out
of the oven!"
Another caution: "If you under-cook them they can stick to the cooling rack, so some people flour
the rack, but I don’t have a problem with that."
Also be careful when cooking his mother’s filling – the 10 eggs, cornstarch and sugar – in the double
boiler.
"You don’t want to heat it too fast because you’ll end up with scrambled eggs. You want to bring the
heat up slowly."
Kisabeth finds it a shame that not many people make cakes from scratch, in this Duncan Hines era.
Other Hungarian specialties always showed up at the Kisabeth dinner table, too, with help from the
couple’s now-grown children, Matthew, 27, and Jennifer, 24.
"At Christmas time we always made Hungarian Kiffles, a holiday cheese crescent roll with apricot or
prune filling. And we always do stuffed cabbage, the riced meatballs, chicken paprikash. The kids all
know how to make that. It’s a lot better than mac and cheese."
Kisabeth began at WBGU-TV in 1979, while a student at the university. After graduation in 1983 he went to
work for the PBS competition, at WGTE in Toledo, returning to WBGU in 1985. For the past seven seasons
he’s been part of the team producing "American Woodshop," a 13-part series that’s shot in
Piqua.
It’s a natural assignment for Kisabeth, an active member of the Northwest Ohio Woodworkers Guild.
His other main interest over the years was serving as a Boy Scout scoutmaster. He taught the boys how to
cook over an open fire, a thrill for the youngsters since "most of them didn’t know how to cook at
all."
9 eggs, separated – yolks in one pan, whites in another
1 ¬? cup sugar
1/3 cup warm water
1 ¬? cup sifted flour together with 1 ¬? tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. lemon extract
Beat egg yolks; add water and lemon extract. Add sugar, beat well (about 5 minutes). It will turn pale
yellow and thicken.
Fold in sifted mixture of flour and baking powder.
In another bowl, beat egg whites and fold them into the egg yolk mixture. Now you have a big bowl of
fluffy batter.
To carefully measure out cake batter, use a 2/3-cup measuring cup and pour into buttered and floured cake
pan. (I place the batter in center of cake pan and spin the pan to get the quarter-inch layer spread
evenly across the pan. You can also use a spoon to spread the batter out to the edges.)
Bake at 400 degrees for 6 minutes, 40 seconds, or until edges just begin to brown. Repeat the process for
each layer.
Turn baked layers onto a cooling rack and let set until cool.
* Disclaimer: This is a fast-moving, repetitive process, so remember to go to the oven with your oven
mitts.
MOTHER’S
FILLING:
10 eggs, slightly beaten
1 ¬? tsp. cornstarch
1 ¼ cup sugar
Cook above in double boiler, bringing the heat up only gradually, until thick like custard pudding (about
5 minutes).
Then stir in:
2 squares unsweetened chocolate (melted in microwave or double boiler)
Cool, then add:
6 oz. creamed butter (1 ¬? sticks)
1 tsp. vanilla
Combined thoroughly with mixer.
Frost layers and sides. Reserve one layer for the top. To make that top layer, cut evenly into 12 pieces
like a pizza. Place individual pieces on a cooling rack with wax paper below it and pour the hot caramel
mixture on the pieces.
To make the caramel top, use 1¬? cup sugar, melted. Swirl in a non-stick pan on top of stove; about 6-7
minutes. Don’t stir or the caramel will stick to the spoon.
* ALTERNATE
My chocolate butter cream frosting:
12 (1-ounce) squares bittersweet chocolate
2 cups unsalted butter
2 tablespoons whole milk
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* Version shown in the photo.