Doberge cake
Encyclopedia
Doberge cake is a layered dessert originating in New Orleans, Louisiana
. Still popular in the area, the cake is made of multiple thin layers of cake
alternating with dessert pudding
. Very often the cakes are made with half chocolate pudding and half lemon pudding. They are covered in a thin layer of butter cream
and a fondant shell or, alternately, a poured glaze on the outside. They are normally made with six or more layers, but many amateurs make versions with fewer. Traditional flavors are chocolate, lemon and caramel.
, a cake made of nine génoise cake
layers filled with buttercream and topped with a hard caramel
glaze
. The doberge cake is based on a recipe originating in Alsace-Lorraine
. Ledner replaced the buttercream filling of the Dobos Cake with a custard filling and iced the cakes with buttercream and a thin layer of fondant.
Beulah Ledner's recipe is available in the cookbook, Let's bake with Beulah Ledner: A legendary New Orleans Lady by Maxine Wolchansky.
In 1946 Joe Gambino bought the name, recipe and retail shop, including her recipe for doberge cake. After a couple of years of illness, she reopened in a new location on Metairie Road under the name "Beulah Ledner, Inc." As her business and popularity grew, her son, Albert, designed and built a new building and a new machine to mass produce sheet cakes using his mother's recipes. She opened her new bakery on May 21, 1970; she ran it until the age of 87 when she sold the shop and doberge recipe to Maurice's French Pastries, which is still in the business of baking and selling Doberge cakes in Metairie, Louisiana
.
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
. Still popular in the area, the cake is made of multiple thin layers of cake
Cake
Cake is a form of bread or bread-like food. In its modern forms, it is typically a sweet and enriched baked dessert. In its oldest forms, cakes were normally fried breads or cheesecakes, and normally had a disk shape...
alternating with dessert pudding
Pudding
Pudding most often refers to a dessert, but it can also be a savory dish.In the United States, pudding characteristically denotes a sweet milk-based dessert similar in consistency to egg-based custards, though it may also refer to other types such as bread and rice pudding.In the United Kingdom and...
. Very often the cakes are made with half chocolate pudding and half lemon pudding. They are covered in a thin layer of butter cream
Butter cream
Buttercream is a type of icing or filling, used inside cakes, as a coating, and as decoration. In its simplest form, it is made by creaming butter with powdered sugar, although other fats can be used, such as margarine or lard. Colorings and flavorings are often added, such as cocoa powder or...
and a fondant shell or, alternately, a poured glaze on the outside. They are normally made with six or more layers, but many amateurs make versions with fewer. Traditional flavors are chocolate, lemon and caramel.
History
Beulah Ledner opened a bakery in New Orleans in 1933. She became very successful after creating a Doberge cake adapted from the famous Hungarian/Austrian Dobos CakeDobos Cake
Dobos torte or Dobosh is a Hungarian cake named after its inventor, a well-known Hungarian confectioner, József C. Dobos in 1884. It is a five-layer sponge cake, layered with chocolate buttercream and topped with thin caramel slices...
, a cake made of nine génoise cake
Génoise Cake
A génoise cake is an Italian sponge cake named after the city of Genoa and closely associated with Italian and French cuisine that does not use any chemical leavening, instead using air suspended in the batter during mixing to give volume to the cake...
layers filled with buttercream and topped with a hard caramel
Caramel
Caramel is a beige to dark-brown confection made by heating any of a variety of sugars. It is used as a flavoring in puddings and desserts, as a filling in bonbons, and as a topping for ice cream, custard and coffee....
glaze
Glaze (cooking technique)
A glaze in cooking is a coating of a glossy, often sweet, sometimes savoury, substance applied to food typically by dipping, dripping, or with a brush. Egg whites and basic icings are both used as glazes...
. The doberge cake is based on a recipe originating in Alsace-Lorraine
Alsace-Lorraine
The Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine was a territory created by the German Empire in 1871 after it annexed most of Alsace and the Moselle region of Lorraine following its victory in the Franco-Prussian War. The Alsatian part lay in the Rhine Valley on the west bank of the Rhine River and east...
. Ledner replaced the buttercream filling of the Dobos Cake with a custard filling and iced the cakes with buttercream and a thin layer of fondant.
Beulah Ledner's recipe is available in the cookbook, Let's bake with Beulah Ledner: A legendary New Orleans Lady by Maxine Wolchansky.
In 1946 Joe Gambino bought the name, recipe and retail shop, including her recipe for doberge cake. After a couple of years of illness, she reopened in a new location on Metairie Road under the name "Beulah Ledner, Inc." As her business and popularity grew, her son, Albert, designed and built a new building and a new machine to mass produce sheet cakes using his mother's recipes. She opened her new bakery on May 21, 1970; she ran it until the age of 87 when she sold the shop and doberge recipe to Maurice's French Pastries, which is still in the business of baking and selling Doberge cakes in Metairie, Louisiana
Metairie, Louisiana
Metairie is a census-designated place in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States and is a major part of the New Orleans Metropolitan Area. Metairie is the largest community in Jefferson Parish. It is an unincorporated area that would be larger than most of the state's cities if it were...
.