Pawaru-Grahmata

№ 2IX. nodaļa

Mandeļu torte

Almond torte

  • Serves 6–8
  • about 1½ hours, plus cooling
  • Melnraksts · vēl nav izmēģināts

1796Mandelu torte.

Modernizētslpp. 360–364 · PDF 374–378
6 porcijas

The book gives 12 eggs (14 if small), 1 mārciņa of sugar "or more", the zest of 1 lemon and 1 mārciņa of sweet almonds, which converts to about 420 g sugar and 420 g almonds. For the glaze it gives ½ mārciņa of sugar (about 210 g) to 1 egg white. We've used half.

Method

9 soļi
  1. Heat the oven to 170 °C (160 °C fan). Butter a 22–24 cm springform tin and dust it with the crumbs.
  2. Put the 3 whole eggs and 3 yolks in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, without the bowl touching the water. Whisk until just warm to the touch (about 40 °C), 3–4 minutes.
  3. Take the bowl off the heat and keep whisking, with an electric mixer, until thick, pale and about three times the volume, 6–8 minutes.
  4. Whisk in the sugar a spoonful at a time, then the zest and cardamom, and whisk until thick again.
  5. Fold in the almonds a little at a time.
  6. In a clean bowl, whisk the 3 whites to stiff peaks and fold them in gently.
  7. Pour into the tin and bake for 40–50 minutes, until risen and golden and a skewer pushed into the middle comes out clean.
  8. Run a thin knife round the edge, loosen the base, and turn the torte out onto a plate, then turn it the right way up onto a serving plate.
  9. For the glaze, whisk the icing sugar and egg white to a thick, smooth paste "like thick syrup". Let the torte cool for 10 minutes, then spread it thickly over the top while it is still warm. Dry it in the oven at 100 °C for 10–15 minutes, until the glaze has set. Decorate with candied peel or sprinkles.

Notes

What the book says vs. what we added

the method is the book's: half the eggs whole, the other half as yolks, whisked over embers until warm, then off the heat until thick; sugar, lemon zest and cardamom, then the almonds, and finally the whites of 6–7 eggs beaten "like snow". The tin is buttered and crumbed, baked in a tortu panna with gentle embers above and below, loosened with a thin knife and turned out twice. The bain-marie, electric mixer, oven temperature and times are ours.

Scaling

the book's full quantity fits a 28–30 cm tin and serves 12 or more.

White glaze

whisk 2–3 egg whites to stiff snow and add finely sifted sugar until very thick, spread it on, let it set in a warm oven and repeat until white and glossy. For our size, 1 white and 150–180 g icing sugar. Raw egg white is only partly cooked in a cool oven, so pasteurised white is safer for children, pregnant or elderly guests.

Coloured glazes

the book colours the set glaze red with plore (probably cochineal-dyed crape soaked in rose water), yellow with saffron, blue with litmus or, better, cornflower juice and sugar, and brown with chocolate, and paints patterns with them. Safe modern choices: beetroot or raspberry juice for red, saffron for yellow, butterfly pea flower tea for blue, and melted dark chocolate.

Poisons

the book warns against vermilion (mercury sulphide), verdigris (copper acetate) and Prussian blue, "for what use is all the colour and pretty look if life and health are ruined!" Vermilion and verdigris are genuinely toxic; none of the three belongs on food.

Almond torte with pastry (Mandeļu torte ar mīklu)

pound blanched sweet almonds very fine with half their weight in sugar, a knob of butter, fine cinnamon, orange flower or rose water and a couple of egg yolks into a thick paste, put it in a pastry case of fine puff pastry and bake slowly. Or bake it on a pastry base without a rim, like the macaroon torte (09-016), and glaze it. For a 22 cm torte: 200 g ground almonds, 100 g sugar, 30 g butter, ½ tsp cinnamon, 1 tbsp orange flower water and 2 yolks in 350 g puff pastry; bake at 200 °C for 10 minutes, then 170 °C for 25–30 minutes.

Lemon almond torte (Citronu mandeļu torte)

whisk 18 egg yolks with ¾ mārciņa (about 315 g) of sugar until it rises, add 4 loti (about 50 g) of flour, the grated zest of 4 lemons and 1 mārciņa (about 420 g) of ground almonds, fold in the whites of 12 eggs beaten stiff, and bake slowly in a puff pastry case. A third of the book's amounts fills a 24 cm case: 6 yolks, 105 g sugar, 2 tbsp flour, the zest of 1–2 lemons, 140 g ground almonds and 4 whites, in 400 g puff pastry, baked at 200 °C for 10 minutes, then 170 °C for 30–35 minutes.

Another almond torte (Cita mandeļu torte)

1 mārciņa of sweet and 4 loti of bitter almonds, blanched (soaked in hot but not boiling water, skinned, dropped into cold water, patted dry) and pounded with a little rose water; 1 mārciņa of warmed sugar; 20 eggs, separated and beaten separately, then together "always in one direction", with the sugar, for another hour; then the almonds. It is baked in a tin lined with buttered paper, with buttered paper over the top, until golden brown and level with the rim. The book tests the oven with a scrap of paper: if it only turns slightly yellow, the heat is right. A quarter of the book's amounts suits a 20–22 cm tin: 105 g ground almonds, 2–3 drops of bitter almond extract instead of the bitter almonds, 1 tbsp rose water, 105 g sugar and 5 eggs. Whisk with an electric mixer for 10 minutes instead of an hour, and bake at 160 °C for 45–55 minutes.

Bitter almonds

raw bitter almonds contain amygdalin, which releases hydrogen cyanide; they are restricted in many countries. Bitter almond extract gives the same flavour safely.

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