A Tour of the Globe to Find Dessert Cakes Beginning with “T”

Too many cakes makes an exhaustive list and that combined with a short attention span of modern times is a recipe for disaster. So, we filtered it down and curated a list, alphabet-wise to cover as many dessert cakes as we could that are specialties of their respective countries, some with stories of a living home to some being associated with gangsters and nervous men. Here’s another list for cakes beginning with “T”.

1. Tarta de Mondoñedo

One of the oldest desserts from Spain's small town of Mondoñedo, it was first baked by the local nuns in the 12th century. The cake has multiple layers made out of puff pastry, sponge cake, angel hair pasta, almonds and an assortment of dry fruits. It shot to fame when it caught a pastry chef's attention and also a good writer named Carlos Folgueiro and Álvaro Cunqueiro respectively. The cake found a mention in the book named Galician Cuisine which helped in earning it recognition. 

2. Tasmanian Apple Cake

The little island of Tasmania hangs to the South of Australia and is known for its apples. While the cake might be simple, the taste is unmatched owing to the local ingredients, especially the apples. The cake uses a combination of sweet and tart apples mixed  in cinnamon and lemon zest and juice. This is combined with flour, sugar, eggs, melted butter and baking powder. The cake after baking remains moist and firm. Local dry fruits and nuts are often added to cake for added taste and flavour. 

3. Torta Barozzi

This Italian cake has a rich almond and cocoa flavor with an intense aftertaste of rum and coffee. Invented in 1907 by Eugenio Gollini, it was dedicated to the 16th-century architect Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola. The recipe remains a secret known only to the Gollini bakery heirs. Traditionally consumed for breakfast with coffee or tea, its rich flavors also complement custards or vanilla ice cream.

4. Tompouce

A traditional Dutch pastry consisting of puff pastry filled with cream and topped with smooth, pink icing. Rectangular in shape, the icing is often colored bright orange on King's Day in Amsterdam to represent Dutch colors. The name is believed to come from a performing dwarf called Tom Pouce. It's commonly served with tea or coffee, especially at festive events.

5. Torta Bejarana

With a long history that dates back to at least the 18th century, Torta Bejarana comes from Venezuela’s Caracas region. This cake is unique because it uses local ripe plantains that are mashed and turned into a batter with toasted corn flour, eggs, butter, spices like cloves and cinnamon. It also has local cheese added to it with the sweetness coming from panela (local cane sugar). The cake has a rustic appeal and the name comes from the two Bejarana sisters who baked it for the first time with readily available local ingredients. 

6. Topfentorte

This one's an Austrian cheesecake made with quark cheese as the main ingredient. Along with eggs, sugar, flour, lemon juice and zest, whipping cream, and gelatin, the tangy quark filling is sandwiched between two layers of fluffy sponge cake. After baking, it's typically chilled before serving, sometimes dusted with powdered sugar. Think of this as a no bake cheesecake from Austria. 

7. Torta Garash

One of Bulgaria's most popular desserts Torta Garash has five delicate walnut sponge layers interspersed with dark chocolate. The tale of the cake is tied to a starry-eyed Austro-Hungarian confectioner Kosta Garash. He came to the city of Ruse after honing his culinary skills at a school in Vienna to the city of Rise, where he soon started working at a lavish hotel there. To entertain the elite hotel's special guests he invented this delicious chocolate cake in 1885. The cake was  later introduced to Sofia, and it became a renowned Bulgarian dessert found in patisseries and restaurants nationwide.

8. Torta Caprese

Originating from the Italian island of Capri in the Bay of Naples, Torta Caprese is a chocolate cake, that has quite some stories around its origin. There’s a famous saying associated with this cake – “uno dei pasticci più fortunati della storia”, meaning one of history's most fortunate mistakes. This cake was created when a local baker in the island forgot to add flour in the 1920s to an almond cake. There's another version of this story which says a woman was baking a cake for the local gangsters and in her nervousness, she forgot to add the flour to the cake. It doesn't matter really, because the cake turned out just fine and was soft and rich in chocolate flavour. There's also a third version that links it to the Austrian Sachertorte, that was ordered by the King of Naples' wife who was an Austrian. Which version is true, is hard to tell.