With the help of my wife & sister-in-law, here is my best description of a desert we used to get for parties from a place called "The Hobson House" in Long Grove, Illinois. Unfortunately the place closed quite a few years ago & I have been without my favorite desert ever since.
It had 3 layers (approx. ¾"-1" thick each) of cake that had a texture sort of similar to the outer part of an éclair (not real sweet or like a cake mix) possibly baked in a buttered pan with granulated sugar creating a bit of a crunchy/crispy exterior.
We think the filling was custard, rasberries, sliced sugared almonds, & pastry crème.
I'm told that The Hobson House called this a Torte. When I google "Torte" the descriptions I get doesn't really describe the stuff I'm looking for.
Anybody have any info that would help me be able to eat this again?
Jstin,
I believe you would achieve the torte you're looking for by using puff pastry circles, basic vanilla custard and the garnish of your choice.
Puff pastry is available in most markets now. It must be baked at a high temp (400-450) brushed with water and sprinkled with sugar. The sugars will melt and sort of caramelize keeping the circle from getting soggy when put together. I believe your description is spot on for this and the butter content in the dough would give the appearance of a buttered pan.
hth
jstin
you could also brush the pastry circles with a light coating of white choc when stone cold to also prevent the pastry from becomming soggy when assembling. hpoe this also helps you.
Gee, I haven't been to Long Grove for a long time! There are some fine chocolates to be found there....
To me your recipe sounds more like it's made from choux pastry, the pastry that's used in eclairs, cream puffs, etc. Choux (pronounced "shoo") is very, very easy to make. You can pipe it into any shape you like using a pastry bag (or plastic bag with a piping tip stuck through one corner).
Mezzaluna,
After reading the post once more, I think your insight might be more correct. or we may both be right. It maybe something like the bottom of a St. Honore. A puff circle, then pipe choux paste on top and bake. You poke holes in the choux and fill with custard.:lol:
OR, now that I think about it a little more. It could be the popular German dessert, Bienenstich sp? BeeSting. That is sort of a Brioche dough baked with a crunchy sugary almond top. It is then cut in half and filled with custard. Yea, that's the ticket
baddaboom
Just to be sure, what I referred to as "filling" is actually spread between the layers of "cake" in place where icing would be with a common layer cake. As you can probably tell I'm not much of a chef.
Yes, Long Grove does have good chocolate.
No, it's not Bienenstich, although that's the closest that I've had. My sister-in-law mentioned above married German & has brought Bienenstich to parties just to tease me.. I wonder if I can use what ever the cake layers are made of to begin my testing?
ChefRAZ, the bottom pic looks pretty close. The cake layers were thicker though. The entire torte was probably 4" tall after the whipped cream was applied just before serving. I think I neglected to say that before.
jessiquina, I don't think it was a napoleon, looks good though.
This extraordinary cake was called a raspberry torte. We sold hundreds throughout the many years. And if I can get up to my attic sometime, I'll polk around for that box with all the recipes. No promises...
Did you ever find the recipe for the Raspberry WhippedCream and Custard Torte from Hobson House in Long Grove? ---- It was to die for and must be found! Did it have a meringue layer along with fresh raspberries , custard and yellow sponge?
You are looking for a Blitz torte. I have been hunting down the same cake/chef for years. I have an idea of how to make it. there are Blitz torte recipes, just not the exact one at Hobson.
I tasted and bought this item several times from the Hobson House for my catering business. They called it a Raspberry Blitz Torte. Your description is very good. I too would love to taste it again.
We got this torte every Christmas for 20 years from the Hobson House. I've been looking for this recipe for ever. Did you happen to get it from the lady or anybody? My family still asks for it every Christmas!
Sorry that I haven't tried this. Better you search somewhere near to that shop. Or even go online for searching.
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