I´m not usually a fan of meringue, but this Hungarian Esterházy Torta has truly converted me! Or at least converted me to the Dacquoise, a meringue containing ground hazelnuts! This cake originated in Budapest and is named after a 19th century Prince of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.
In the original recipe, ground almonds were folded into the meringue and, nowadays, ground walnuts are often used instead. 4 or 5 layers of the meringue our sandwiched with a custard buttercream, traditionally flavoured with alcohol. In my version of the Esterházy Torta, I used ground hazelnuts for the meringue and added some Caribbean Rum to flavour the buttercream! The sides of the cake are coated in toasted hazelnuts and the whole thing is topped with a thick white icing and some chocolate icing for feathering! An absolutely delicious dessert, perfect for feeding a crowd!
The components of the Esterházy Torta
Making the individual components of an Esterházy Torta isn´t too difficult, however, making this cake can be a little time-consuming as you need to give things time to cool. I think it´s best to make the meringues the night before, and then just leave them to slowly cool in the oven overnight. The next day, you can prepare the custard buttercream and assemble the cake, before chilling it in the fridge for a few hours before serving.
Hazelnut Meringue (Dacquoise)
There are three different styles/methods for making meringue: Swiss, Italian and French. French meringue is the one most people are familiar with and also forms the basis for making a “Dacquoise”. Dacquoise is basically a French meringue mixture that has ground nuts folded into it.
To make a French meringue, you start by whisking egg whites in a clean bowl until almost stiff. Next, you need to gradually add the sugar, about a tablespoon at a time, whisking well between each addition. It is important to be patient with this step, as adding too much sugar at a time might cause the meringue to collapse. Once all the sugar has been added to the meringue it should have a stiff, glossy, white appearance.
You can then gently fold in the ground nuts. I chose hazelnuts for this recipe (but you could also use almonds or walnuts) and decided to toast them before adding them to the meringue for extra flavour. As Dacquoise is a spin on French meringue, it is subsequently baked in the oven to cook the eggs. The Dacquoise is only baked for around 25 minutes so that it is crispy on the outside but remains chewy on the inside. It must then be cooled slowly by leaving it in the oven (switched off) to prevent it from cracking. I would therefore recommend preparing the meringues the night before and leaving them to cool overnight.
Custard Buttercream
Both the Germans and the Russians like adding custard to their buttercream! It actually adds a really lovely vanilla flavour to it and gives it very thick and creamy consistency! It´s lovely and rich, and you don´t feel like you are eating just butter! To be honest, I prefer this type of buttercream over the “normal”/classic buttercream made with just butter and icing sugar.
To make the custard, you´ll have to gently heat the milk and vanilla until just below boiling point. In the meantime, 8 egg yolks are whisked together with icing sugar and flour. The 8 yolks will be left over from making the meringue – so there is no waste in this recipe! Once warm, pour the milk onto the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly to prevent the eggs from scrambling! The mixture is then returned to the heat to thicken (find more tips in my baking basics posts on How to make Crème Pâtissière).
Once thick, pour the custard into a shallow bowl to cool (make sure to cover the surface with clingfilm to prevent a skin from forming!). The custard needs to be cold before adding it to the whisked butter, otherwise the butter will melt and ruin your buttercream!
Icing and Decorating
To assemble the Esterházy Torta, the 5 disks of Hazelnut Dacquoise are sandwiched together with the custard buttercream. To create a level surface, put the final meringue on top of the cake upside down, so that the flat surface that was on the baking tray is at the top. Don´t put any buttercream on the top of the cake though, as this is where the water icing will go.
The sides of the cake are also covered in a thin layer of buttercream, so that you can decorate them with some more chopped and toasted hazelnuts!
To decorate the top, I used a simple water icing made from combining icing sugar with a little lemon juice. Take a little of the water icing and add some cocoa powder to it for a chocolate icing, before spreading the remaining white icing over the cake in an even layer. Fill the chocolate water icing into a piping bag and use it to pipe circles onto the top of the cake, leaving about 1.5cm between each circle. You can then use a toothpick to create a feathered effect.
How to make an Esterházy Cake | Step-by-step Picture Guide
More Baking Recipes
This Hazelnut Esterházy Torta is truly a cake to impress, and I have a few other recipes like that on my blog if you are looking for further inspiration! I have listed some of my favourites below, so do make sure you go check them out!
- Strawberry Meringue Roulade
- Chocolate and Vanilla Checkerboard Cake
- Mary Berry´s Frosted Walnut Layer Cake
- Chocolate Pavlova with Bailey´s Whipped Cream
- Sticky Toffee Cake with Pecan Praline
- German Black Forest Gâteau | Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte
- Classic British Trifle | Easy, No-Bake Recipe
- Christmas Snow Cake
- Mary´s Lemon Meringue Pie
- Chocolate and Nut Baked Alaska
- No-Bake Lemon Cheesecake with a Gingernut Base
Hazelnut Esterházy Torta | Hungarian Meringue Cake
Recipe
Ingredients:
FOR THE HAZELNUT MERINGUE (DACQUOISE):
- 8 medium egg whites
- Pinch of salt
- 400g caster sugar (divided into 300g and 100g)
- 250g ground hazelnuts, toasted
- 30g cornflour
FOR THE BUTTERCREAM:
- 8 medium egg yolks
- 150g icing sugar
- 40g plain flour
- 300ml milk
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 2-3 tbsp Caribbean rum (optional)
- 225g butter, softened
TO FINISH:
- 150g icing sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1-2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- Some fresh raspberries, to serve (optional)
YOU WILL ALSO NEED:
- Hand-held or free-standing electric whisk
- Spatula
- 2-3 large baking trays
- Small palette knife (optional)
- Piping bag
Method:
- Start by adding the ground hazelnuts (if you can´t find ground hazelnuts check the recipe tips above) to a large non-stick frying pan and toast them for a few minutes until lightly golden and you can smell the toasted hazelnut aroma. Don´t add any oil to the frying pan and make sure you keep the nuts moving throughout to stop them from burning. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
- Next, prepare your baking trays and baking paper. Using a small dinner plate or the bottom of a 20cm round cake tin as a guide, trace 5 circles onto your baking paper. Depending on the size of the trays, you should manage to fit about 2 circles on each tray. Place the baking paper onto the trays with the pen markings facing down.
- Preheat the oven to 160°C fan.
- To make the hazelnut meringue, place the 8 egg whites and the pinch of salt into a clean glass bowl. Start whisking on a low-medium speed until they start to form soft peaks. Now you can start adding 300g of the caster sugar, adding only a tablespoon at a time and whisking well between each addition. Continue to do this until you have incorporated all the sugar and the meringue is thick, white and glossy.
- Mix the remaining 100g of caster sugar and cornflour into the cooled toasted hazelnuts. Then carefully fold the nut mixture into the meringue, trying to knock out as little air as possible.
- Divide the mixture equally between the 5 circles (I used around 180g of mix per circle) and spread it out into the 20cm circles, levelling the top with a spatula, palette knife, or the back of a metal spoon.
- Bake the meringues in the preheated oven for 25 minutes until starting to crisp, then turn the oven off and leave the meringues to cool completely in the oven with the door closed (you may want to leave the meringues to cool overnight).
- To make the buttercream, you must first make a custard. Place the milk into a pot alongside the vanilla, and gently heat until just below boiling point. In the meantime, whisk together the egg yolks, flour and icing sugar until the mixture is frothy and pale in colour.
- Once the milk is hot, carefully pour it into the egg yolk mixture in a thin but steady stream, whisking continuously. This will ensure the milk doesn’t cook the eggs and ends up scrambling them! Return the mixture to the pot and gently heat, stirring continuously, for about 5-10 minutes until the custard has thickened. Pour the custard into a large bowl (this will speed up the cooling) and cover the surface with a piece of clingfilm to stop a skin from forming. Then leave the custard to cool to room temperature.
- Remove the butter from the fridge while you are waiting and leave it to come to room temperature. Once the custard has cooled, put the butter into a baking bowl and beat for about 5 minutes until fluffy and paler in colour, then beat in 2-3 tablespoons of rum (optional). Next, add in about half of the cooled custard and beat it into the butter. And the remaining custard and beat until everything is smooth and well combined. Leave to cool in the fridge for about 15 minutes before use.
- To assemble the Esterházy Torta, spread a tiny bit of buttercream onto the base of your cake board or plate to stop the cake from sliding away, then place the first circle of Dacquoise meringue, flat side facing down, onto it. Spread a layer of buttercream over the top of the meringue before layering the next disk on top. Repeat this until all the disks of meringue have been used up, leaving the top of the cake bare. For the last meringue disk, set it on top of the cake with the flat side (the one that was on the baking tray) facing up, to create a level surface for your cake.
- Next, spread some of the custard buttercream around the sides of the cake to fill any cracks and to create an adhesive surface for the chopped hazelnuts. Gently press the chopped hazelnuts into the buttercream around the sides of the cake to cover them. Chill in the fridge whilst you make the water icing.
- To make the water icing, mix the icing sugar with a little lemon juice until it reaches a thick but spreadable consistency. Remove about 2 tbsp of the icing and stir in the cocoa powder to it brown.
- Spread the white water icing over the cake in an even layer using a palette knife or the back of a metal spoon. Fill the chocolate water icing into a piping bag and pipe it in circles onto the top of the cake, leaving about 1.5cm between each circle. To feather the icing, take a toothpick and draw it through the icing from the inside to the outside of the cake. Repeat this 8 times (imagining the face of a clock, start at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o´clock and then draw 4 more lines in between). Then, starting from the outside of the cake, drag the toothpick inwards to create 8 lines between the 8 you have already done (see pictures above).
- Chill the cake in the fridge for at least 2 hours before serving. Enjoy!
