Linz is a city in Austria after which this pastry is named. The crumbly pastry contains ground hazelnuts, walnuts or almonds, and spices such as cinnamon and ground cloves. Because of these spices it is a holiday classic in the Austrian tradition. The filling is made of redcurrant jam, plum butter, thick raspberry, or apricot jam. The characteristic feature of this pastry is the lattice (criss-cross) design on top of the pastry.
In North American bakeries Linzer Torte is often made like small tarts or cookies. These cookies are also known as Linzer sablés (German: Linzer Augen, "Linzer eyes"). The bottom part of the pastry is a circle, which is covered with jam. A circle of the same size as the bottom, but with a hole in the middle, so that the jam shows through (forming the eye) is placed. Lastly, the cookie is dusted with confectioner's sugar. You find Linzer Augen in almost ever German bakery.
Ingredients:
a springform (26 cm / 9 inches in diameter) or a Pyrex form (9x13 inches)
baking spray or grease
For the pastry dough:
200 g wheat flour (250 g when using a stick of butter)
1 leveled teaspoon baking powder
100 g sugar (113 g with a stick of butter)
1 package vanilla sugar or some vanilla aroma
1 pinch of ground cloves
1 leveled teaspoon ground cinnamon
100 g butter (or one stick butter = 113 g)
100 g ground almond flour (113 g for a stick of butter)
1 egg
1 egg white
For the filling:
100 g raspberry (or plum or apricot) jam
For the topping:
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon milk
Preparation:
1. In a bowl mix flour and baking powder. Add all remaining ingredients for the pastry dough. Using the knead hooks of an electric hand mixer, knead first on lowest, then on highest setting until a dough has formed. Shape dough into a ball with your hands, but don't knead it (see comments below). Wrap dough pastry in clear plastic foil and refrigerate for at least 30 min.
2. Grease the bottom of the springform or Pyrex form. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 F).
3. On a slightly floured surface roll out one half of the pastry dough. Put the bottom of the springform on top (greased side facing up), and cut the rolled pastry dough along the outside of the springform bottom. You should have a large circle of pastry dough of the size of your springform bottom. Using a pastry wheel cut the pastry dough into 16-20 strips.
4. Take the remaining half of the pastry dough and roll out on the greased bottom of the springform. Fix the springform ring around the bottom.
5. Add the jam on top of the bottom dough crust leaving about 1 cm or 1/2 inch space to the edge of the pan. Now take the pastry dough strips and layer them on top of the jam in a criss-cross pattern.
6. Mix the egg yolk with milk and brush on top of the cake layers and edges. This will help to bond the different layers, and gives the cake a nice glaze and color.
7. Bake in lower third in preheated oven for 30 min.
8. Remove edge of springform, loosen Linzer Torte from springform bottom, and let fully cool on the springform bottom.
Comments:
1. Because I know some people who are allergic to eggs I didn't use any eggs in this recipe. Instead, I used about three tablespoons of half-and-half in the pastry dough, and also used half-and-half to brush the cake's top.
2. Don't extensively knead the dough with your hands! This pastry dough is delicate, and the warmth of your hands will cause the pastry dough to crumble (we say that it "burns" the pastry dough), so minimize the time you work the dough with your hands. This becomes less of an issue if no eggs are added to the pastry dough, and is another reason why I prefer to leave out the eggs.
3. I don't have a pastry wheel, so I used a pizza cutter instead. The pastry wheel has a ridged edge, which makes the strips look very delicate, but the flat edge of the pizza cutter also work. One can also cut strips using a knife if no pastry wheel or pizza cutter is available; the wheel or pizza cutter just make it easy to cut even strips.
This sponge cake filled with whipping cream and lemon is a refreshing summer dessert. Although many people's favorite and frequently found in German bakeries, some practice is required when making it.
Although I've made many cakes with sponge cake I've never attempted a roll, so this is an exciting experience for me from which I will certainly learn something.
Ingredients:
a baking sheet (40 x 30 cm) lined with parchment paper
a towel or second sheet of parchment paper generously sprinkled with sugar (the sugar prevents the sponge cake from sticking to the towel or paper)
a small stove-top pot or casserole
Sponge cake:
4 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 package vanilla sugar or some vanilla aroma
80 g sugar
80 g wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Filling:
2/3 of a package of gelatine powder
4 tablespoons lemon juice
zest of one lemon
70 g confectioner's sugar, sifted
400 g cold whipping cream
1. Preparation: Grease baking sheet and line with parchment paper. Fold parchment papers along edges to form edges. Preheat oven to 200°C (375F)
2. Sponge Cake: Mix eggs and egg yolk with a hand mixer on highest setting until foamy (about 1 min). Mix sugar and vanilla sugar or vanilla aroma, and add slowly to eggs while beating the eggs, then keep beating the batter for an additional 2 min. Mix flour and baking powder, and briefly mix with batter. Evenly flatten batter on baking sheet. Bake for about 10 min in the middle of the oven until golden brown.
Remove sponge cake from oven and put upside down on sugar-sprinkled towel or parchment paper. Remove baked parchment paper, and immediately roll the towel and the sponge cake from the longer side to form a roll. Rolling the cake before it cools down prevents the sponge cake from breaking.
3. While the sponge cake is cooling, prepare the filling. Add 2/3 of a pack of gelatine and 2 tablespoons of water to a stove-top pot. Beat whipping cream until almost stiff. Heat gelatine on low heat setting until it dissolves, then mix in lemon juice, lemon zest, and sifted confectioner's sugar. Now dissolve 2 tablespoons of whipping cream in the gelatine, then immediately add the gelatine mixture to the whipping cream and beat until fully stiff.
4. Unroll the sponge cake. Evenly add the cream mixture onto the sponge cake, and roll from the longer edge back up. Chill lemon-cream roll for at least 2 h in refrigerator before serving.
5. Decoration: Sift confectioner's sugar over roll before cutting and serving.
This cake is a nice refreshing summer cake. The filling contains yoghurt, fruit and some whipped cream making it quite light. Neither the preparation of the sponge cake nor the filling is too difficult, but some practice could be useful (see my comments below).
Baking time: 10 min
Cooling time: at least two hours
Total time: 2.5 h
Ingredients:
baking sheet (40 x 30 cm)
some grease
two sheets of parchment paper, a little bigger than the baking sheet
Sponge cake:
3 eggs
3 tablespoons hot water
50 g potato starch
100 g flour
125 g sugar
1 package vanilla sugar or some vanilla aroma
1 teaspoon baking powder
Filling:
2 tablespoons lemon juice
200 g cold whipping cream
1 package gelatine powder
500 g quark or plain Greek yoghurt (fat free, Fage or Chobani brand)
2 cans mandarin oranges
1 package vanilla sugar or some vanilla aroma
125 g sugar
some grated lemon zest
Decoration: some powdered sugar
Preparation:
1. Grease baking sheet and line with parchment paper. Fold parchment paper to form edges around baking sheet. Preheat oven to 200°C (350F).
2. Sponge cake: Mix eggs and hot water with a hand mixer at highest setting until foamy. Add in sugar and vanilla sugar or vanilla aroma and mix for an additional 2 min. In a separate bowl mix flour, starch and baking powder. Add flour mixture to eggs and mix in for about 1 min on low speed setting. Pour batter onto parchment paper on baking sheet, flatten evenly, and bake for about 10 min until golden brown.
3. Prepare a second piece of parchment paper and drizzle sugar on it. This will prevent the sponge cake from sticking to the parchment paper after baking. Directly after baking, carefully remove the baked parchment paper from the edges of the baked sponge cake, then put the sponge cake upside down onto the parchment paper drizzled with sugar. Carefully remove baked parchment paper from the back of the sponge cake. Let sponge cake cool fully, the cut in half to make two plates of about the same size (30 x 20 cm).
3. Filling: Drain canned mandarin oranges with a colander, collect syrup. Mix gelatine powder with 3 tablespoons of the mandarin syrup in a pot. Let sit for 5 min. Slowly heat mixture on the stove to dissolve gelatine.
In a bowl mix Greek yoghurt with sugar, vanilla sugar or vanilla aroma, lemon juice and lemon zest. Don't use a hand mixer for this! Add four tablespoons of the yoghurt mixture with a whisk to the dissolved gelatine, then add gelatine into yoghurt mixture using a whisk, not a hand mixer.
Whisk whipping cream until stiff. Carefully fold first whipping cream, then mandarin oranges into yoghurt mixture.
Add filling on top of first half of sponge cake, add second half of sponge cake on top and push down a little to make it stick. Cool cake for at least two hours before serving. Cut into squares or triangles and serve.
4. Decoration: Drizzle powdered sugar on top, and cut cake into pieces.
Comments:
1. Other canned fruits can also be used, e.g. canned peaches or pineapple. Do not use fresh pineapple. Fresh pineapple contains an enzyme that cleaves the gelatin, so the filling won't become stiff!
2. I used a hand mixer to make the yoghurt filling - big mistake! It turns the Greek yoghurt into a liquid, the gelatin cannot really do its job, making it difficult to assemble the cake. To rescue it, I first pre-cooled the yoghurt mixture in the refrigerator for about 20 min. To assemble the cake I lined a Pyrex form with parchment paper, added the bottom sponge cake layer, then added one half of the filling, cooled it for about 30 min in the refrigerator, added the second half of the filling, and cooled the cake overnight. I did not add the top layer yet, which made my version a little dry. If the top layer is cooled with the cake, it soaks up some of the moisture from the yoghurt making it softer and less dry.
3. Cutting the cake can be a little tricky because the filling can squeeze out from the sides when cutting. To prevent this from happening the top layer can be cut on a board into the desired serving size, and re-assembled on top of the filling. Using the pre-cut top layer, the bottom and filling can be easily cut along the top layer.
4. As I had mentioned in comment 2 I didn't put the top layer on during the chilling time, which made it a little dry. I had left one piece with the top in the refrigerator for another night, and it was perfect. Now both layers, top and bottom, were moist, but not soggy! In conclusion, prepare this cake at least a day or 1.5 days ahead, so that it will be just perfect when it comes to serving it.
This tart is as traditional as it can get when it comes to German baking. It's one of the most basic tarts and many people's favorite.
It is traditionally made is this flan tart pan (Obstbodenform). I didn't have one, but I found that Amazon.com sells them, actually "made in Germany" (http://www.amazon.com/Zenker-Flan-Tart-Nonstick-11-Inch/dp/B00022447Q/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1365450046&sr=8-5&keywords=zenker+pan). They come in two sizes 28 cm (11 inches) or 30 cm (12 inches), and I bought the smaller one since it just fits into my toaster convection oven.
This recipe uses a few ingredients that are very commonly found in German stores, but they are harder to come by in the US. I usually bring a stack of these from Germany, but Amazon.com sells them, too, however ridiculously overpriced. Although I used the German products for this tart, I will describe alternatives in my comments that you can use without relying on the original overpriced products.
For this tart one doesn't necessarily have to use strawberries; most fruits (all berries, jarred cherries, and even canned fruit such as peaches, pears, apricots or even a fruit cocktail) can be used.
Ingredients:
A flan tart pan or Obstbodenform (Ø 28 cm)
some butter and flour
For the crust:
125 g or one stick butter
80 g sugar
2 eggs
1 package vanilla sugar or some vanilla aroma
1 pinch of salt
175 g wheat flour
1 leveled teaspoon baking powder
1-2 tablespoons milk
Topping:
1 package vanilla pudding
(http://www.amazon.com/Dr-Oetker-Vanilla-Pudding-Pack/dp/B000NY8OLA/ref=sr_1_1?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1365450103&sr=1-1&keywords=dr+oetker+vanilla)
250 ml milk
some sugar
1 kg or 2 pounds fresh strawberries
Glaze:
250 ml water
1 package Dr. Oetker Tortenguss (cake glaze) fix (Erdbeer/strawberry)
(http://www.amazon.com/Dr-Oetker-Cake-Glaze-red-2s/dp/B000NY8OEC/ref=sr_1_4?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1365367610&sr=1-4&keywords=dr+oetker+glaze)
Preparation:
Grease flan pan, add some flour, shake it around in the pan, then pour out the flour that doesn't stick. Preheat oven to 180°C (350F).
Crust:
1. Add butter to a mixing bowl. Using a hand mixer mix butter until soft.
2. Add sugar, vanilla sugar/aroma, and salt until evenly mixed. Add one egg at a time and mix for about 1/2 min.
3. Mix flour and baking powder. Add in two portions to crust batter alternating with the milk.
4. Evenly distribute batter in baking pan, flatten surface with a spatula.
5. Bake crust for about 20 min at 180°C (350F).
6. Remove pan from oven, put pan upside down on a plate lined with parchment paper. Let cool. Transfer crust onto a pie plate.
Topping:
1. Wash and clean strawberries, remove stems, then cut in half.
2. Prepare pudding according to the instructions, but using a little less milk, so that it becomes less liquid.
3. Let pudding cool down. Covering the freshly prepared pudding with a piece of clear plastic wrap directly touching the surface will prevent the formation of a milk skin.
4. Add pudding to the middle of the baked crust (when the baked crust is flipped after the baking it'll reveal a middle that is surrounded by a raised edge).
5. Stagger strawberries on top of pudding.
Glaze:
Prepare glaze with water according to the instructions or see comments below. Using a tablespoon and starting in the middle, cover strawberries with glaze. Let cool down and serve.
Comments:
1. If you don't have this type of flan pan you can use a springform pan. When adding the pudding and strawberries, just leave about 1/2 inch (1cm) space from the edge.
2. Pudding: The pudding is meant to add some vanilla taste and some moisture to the strawberry tart. I prefer cook and serve pudding because it is less liquid, but you can certainly exchange it for some Jell-O pudding that is prepared without cooking or even pre-packaged pudding from the refrigerator section. It might taste a little different, though.
3. Another suggestion is to add some (50 ml) eggnog to the pudding mix to give it some interesting twist.
4. To make your own glaze use the following recipe:
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon potato starch
2 tablespoons sugar
250 ml water, fruit juice or water mixed with some fruit syrup
Preparation:
Mix 1 tablespoon potato starch with 2 tablespoons sugar and a few tablespoons water until no clumps remain and sugar is dissolved. Boil remaining water or juice. While stirring slowly add starch mixture. Let boil for another 1/2 minute while stirring. Immediately pour glaze over tart. Let cool until glaze is solidified.
The glaze becomes clear when potato starch is used, with corn starch the glaze isn't clear. Using fruit juice, the syrup canned or jarred fruits are stored, or water with a little syrup (e.g. Grenadine, strawberry or raspberry) will add some color and taste to the glaze.
