CAPUCHIN TORTE - KAPUZINERTORTE

Cake: (12 servings)
5 eggs
200 g/7 oz sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 3/4 tsp lemon juice
180 g/6.3 oz all-purpose flour
100 g/3.5 oz cornstarch
8 g/0.3 oz baking powder
200 g/7 oz unsalted butter, melted
100 g/3.5 oz kirsch liqueur (if using kirsch schnapps, add some sugar)
2 tbsp water
100 g/3.5 oz semisweet chocolate

Buttercreme:
63 g/2.2 oz unsalted butter
63 g/2.2 oz vegetable shortening
27 g/1 oz powdered sugar
1 egg
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Topping:
200 g meringues, chopped
10 g/0.4 oz cocoa powder (or leftover chocolate scrapings from the melting bowl)

Preheat oven to 400 F. Line bottom of a springform pan (26 cm/10.2 inch diameter) with parchment paper. Grease sides with butter.
Bring water in a pan to a simmer. Place a metal bowl with the eggs, sugar, salt and lemon juice over the simmering water. With a hand held mixer beat eggs at high speed until warm (but not boiling!). Remove bowl from heat, and continue beating mixture until lukewarm.
In a separate bowl, sift together flour, starch and baking powder. Fold flour into egg mixture, then, slowly, add liquid butter.
Pour capuchin batter into springform pan and bake cake for about 30 minutes. Place cake on a rack and let cool completely.
Melt chocolate over low heat or in the microwave. Remove torte from springform pan, turn it upside down and peel off parchment paper. Brush bottom with chocolate, let dry completely.
Mix kirsch liqueur with water. Brush repeatedly over top and sides of cake. Let sit for several hours or overnight.
For the buttercream, with a hand held mixer, cream together butter and shortening until foamy. Alternately add powdered sugar and eggs and beat at high speed until foamy. Add vanilla extract and mix well. With a spatula, spread buttercream over torte.
Sprinkle capuchin torte with chopped meringue, sprinkle with cocoa or chocolate scrapings and serve.

Tip for a richer buttercream experience:
Cut torte horizontally in halves and brush both halves with kirsch. Prepare double the amount of buttercream. Spread frosting first over top of both layers, assemble torte and frost sides also.

Finding the Best Capuchin Torte - Die Suche nach der besten Kapuzinertorte

In German food websites I found several recipes for Capuchin Torte with different doughs and frostings - one even with a marshmallow frosting. I tried the recipe that seemed most like the one I had in Bremen. The author was probably a pro, he just listed "buttercreme" as necessary ingredient without further specification. So Karl Neef's great baking book "Sunday Cakes and Holiday Tortes" supplied the missing vanilla buttercreme recipe.
I cut down on the amount of sugar, as usual, and wondered about the kirsch. Even though I do like alcohol in pastry, the given amount (300 g) seemed way too much, I really don't see how the cake can take it - unless it is totally submerged in booze!
The day before one of my bread baking class ladies had treated us with a wonderful Pavlova (recipe will follow). So I used what was left for the meringue topping. We liked the result of my baking experiment so much that I will sure do it again - but this time with double the delicious buttercreme (Richard's suggestion, of course!).

Auf deutschen Food-Websites fand ich mehrere Kapuzinertortenrezepte, mit unterschiedlichen Teigen und Cremes - eine sogar mit einer Negerkusscreme. Ich probierte das Rezept, das mir am ehesten dem Kuchen zu entsprechen schien, den ich in Bremen gegessen hatte. Der Autor war wohl ein Profi, er listete einfach nur "Buttercreme" als notwendige Zutat auf, ohne weitere Angaben. Also lieferte mir Karl Neefs grossartiges Backbuch "Sonntagskuchen und Festtagstorten" das fehlende Vanillebuttercreme-Rezept.
Ich reduzierte die Zuckermenge, wie ueblich, und wunderte mich ueber den Kirsch. Obwohl ich Alkohol in Kuchen sehr mag, schien mir die angebene Menge (300 g) viel zu viel. Ich kann mir wirklich nicht vorstellen, wie der Kuchen die aufnehmen kann - wenn er nicht voellig in Schnaps getaucht wird.
Eine meiner Brotbackkurs-Damen hatte uns am Tag vorher mit einer wunderbaren Pavlova verwoehnt (Rezept folgt noch). Also verwendete ich die Reste fuer den Baiserbelag. Wir fanden das Ergebnis meines Backexperiments so gut, dass ich es bestimmt wiederholen werde - aber dann mit doppelt so viel von der leckerer Buttercreme (Richards Vorschlag, natuerlich!).

"If on a Winter's Night" and Kapuziner Torte

I just came back from my trip to Germany. It was gray and cold and rained relentlessly for almost two weeks, in other words, typical Hamburger winter weather. Of course, everybody assured me that it had been really nice and warm until just before I arrived. But I didn't come for the weather, I wanted to meet with family and friends, trying to see all of them, hear everything that had happened since my last visit and sharing all my Maine stories about our trials and tribulations with our backyard construction.
Going into a bakery in Bremen with my friend Christa I marveled again at the enormous selection of different breads even in such a small suburban place. And the Kapuziner Torte we enjoyed while listening to Sting's newest CD "If on a Winter's Night" was just delicious - I have to find the recipe somewhere, it definitely had some liquor in it.

Ich bin gerade aus Deutschland zurueckgekommen. Es war grau und kalt, und regnete fast zwei Wochen lang gnadenlos, mit anderen Worten das typische Hamburger Winterwetter. Natuerlich haben mir alle versichert, dass es noch kurz vor meiner Ankunft schoen und warm war. Aber schliesslich war ich ja nicht wegen des Wetters hingeflogen, sondern um Freunde und Familie zu treffen, moeglichst alle zu sehen, alles zu erfahren, was seit meinem letzten Besuch passiert war, und all meine Mainer Stories ueber unsere endlosen Baumassnahmen loszuwerden.
Als ich mit meiner Freundin Christa in einer Baeckerei war, habe ich wieder mal ueber die enorme Auswahl an verschienenen Broten gestaunt, sogar in so einem kleinen Vorort. Und die Kapuzinertorte, die wir zu Stings neuster CD "If on a Winter's Night" genossen, war total lecker - ich muss das Rezept irgendwo finden, da war eindeutig irgendein Alkohol drin.