Oven-Baked Odyssey to Find Signature Dessert Cakes From Around the world

If you adore cakes then you're in for a treat because there are too many to count in the world, whether or not they have a basic cake recipe. hence we pulled up a list for you, this time listing the ones beginning with “O”. Some are cheesy, uses a lot of whipped cream with liquor soaked raisins and some are filled with coffee and said to resemble the famous Opera House of Paris where the glitz and glamour happens most nights. 

1. Ohridska torta

Coming from North Macedonia, the Ohridska torta is a walnut cake which has a sweetened egg yolk filling which may also include walnuts. This cake is also known as Queen’s cake after Queen Maria who loved this cake. She used to ask pastry chefs to make it for her and sometimes baked the cake on her own. It earns its name from the Ohrid region of the country and often has a glaze of chocolate that goes over the layer of whipped cream. The walnuts in the cake are chunky and can be felt and seen in the cake slices quite clearly. 

2. Oroszkrém torta

The translation means Russian cream cake, but it comes from Hungary’s Budapest. The cake’s name comes from the famous Russian coffee house in the city – Oroszi Kávéház, where a famous Hungarian pastry chef invented it. It is a layered cake with sponge layers kept together with vanilla buttercream with rum-soaked raisins in it. It's often decorated with cream rosettes over the layer of whipped cream topping. The cake is light and has a refreshing flavour, perfect to have with a cup of coffee. 

3. Opera Cake

Fancy a French cake that comes from 20th-century France? You might've come across the Opera cake in fancy bakeries across your local city. It is said that French pastry chef Cyriaque Gavillon, working in the famed Dalloyau shop, invented this cake with the purpose of one bite revealing all of its flavours. His wife had suggested the name Opera because it resembled the Palais Garnier Opera House in Paris. Another version claims that Louis Clichy invented this cake in 1903 at a culinary exhibition. He was also a famed pastry and candy maker in Paris who introduced the “Clichy cake” in the event which might have been the predecessor of the Opera cake. The French call it the Gâteau opera and what makes it marvellous are the layers of coffee-flavoured buttercream, chocolate ganache, and Joconde biscuit (almond sponge) that is drenched with a local coffee liqueur. You will recognise it right away because it is adorned with a musical note or simply adorned with the word Opera. 

4. Ostfriesentorte

Named after the region it comes from, Ostfriesentorte, comes from the German region of Ostfriesen. In the region, it's made using sponge cake layers, with alternating layers of whipped cream with brandy-soaked raisins in them. The top of the cake and sides have the same whipping cream, usually without the raisins slathered on it and decorated with chocolate shavings or almonds. The sponge cake batter also uses a little bit of bourbon. 

5. Ostkaka

Coming from Sweden, Ostkaka is one of the oldest cakes made in the country and it's a local cheesecake. It's different from the American ones and it's prepared with rennet (animal enzymes that curdle milk) that converts milk to cheese which is mixed with flour, eggs, sugar, cream, and almonds. These are turned into a batter and baked until the top browns. You'd be happy to know Ostkaka is actually less dense with less fat content and quite custard-like. The Swedes like theirs at room temperature with jams, berry-based thick syrups or whipped cream and strawberries. They love it so much that there's a day dedicated to it called the Ostkaka dag, celebrated on 14 November. 

6. Othellolagkage

Named after Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello, this cake comes from Denmark and is one of the best creamy layered cakes or “Lagkager” to come from the country. Because of the extensive process that's needed to make it, it's served only on special occasions and it can be quite expensive to buy from bakeries. The cake is made with custard with a macaroni bottom and lined with chocolate icing on top. A marzipan decoration borders the cake and small buttercream swirls are also added as decoration to the Othellolagkage.