12 Days Of Christmas Desserts

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me... a firmament of festive, feasting finales!

Twelve drummers drumming...

MINI DOBOS TORTES

Hungarian Dobos torte, or drum torte, is a decadent layered sponge with chocolate buttercream and caramel. Budapest delicatessen owner and chef József C Dobos invented the cake in the late 1800s, adding a hardened caramel top to increase its shelf life. Double the recipe quantities if you wish to make 12 mini Dobos tortes

Makes 6 CHALLENGING 2 hrs 40 mins

WHAT YOU NEED SPONGE CAKE

9 room-temperature eggs, separated

450g (2 cups) castor sugar, divided in 2

160g self-raising flour

75g (5 tbsp) salted butter, melted and cooled

CARAMEL

200g white sugar

2 tsp vinegar

60ml (¼ cup) water

CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM

3 large egg whites (120g in total), at room temperature

225g (1 cup) castor sugar

250g good-quality 70% cocoa dark chocolate, finely chopped

2 tsp canola/sunflower/vegetable oil + extra, to grease

500g unsalted butter, cubed and softened at room temperature

3 tbsp espresso, cooled

3 tbsp whisky/rum (optional)

HOW TO DO IT

1 Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line two 30 x 20cm baking sheets with baking paper.

2 For the sponge layers, place the egg yolks and 225g (1 cup) of the castor sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip until the mixture has doubled and is thick and pale, up to 5 minutes. Sift the self-raising flour in and very gently fold into the egg mixture.

3 In a separate, clean bowl, whip the egg whites until soft-peak stage. Spoon in the remaining 225g (1 cup) castor sugar and whip until stiff peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the yolk/flour mixture in two batches. Stir 250ml (1 cup) of the batter into the cooled, melted butter until combined, then gently fold it back into the rest of the mixture.