The World's Simple Cake Recipes Starting With ‘D’

Each country has one of more signature cakes that sometimes is more famous than the actual country itself. Like you might know the cake before knowing that the cake is from that particular country. Creamy meringues, nutty buttercream to sublime layered cakes, there’s one of each kind that was crafted with care for royalty down to the masses who cherish the cake, sometimes for the nostalgic element more than the cake itself. So, here are some signature cakes, around the world starting with the alphabet “D”.

1. Drømmekage

Literally meaning the Dream cake, Drømmekage is from Denmark and is a vanilla sponge cake with a delicious caramelly topping of coconut. It is said to taste the best the next day. This cake’s history goes back to at least 50 years ago when a woman called Jytte Andersen, from Denmark’s Hjallerup, in Jutland entered a local baking competition with this cake. It won the contest and shot to fame right after; her granddaughter later named the cake Drømmekage. It is one of Demark's most popular and consumed cakes, today.

2. Dobos torta

Funnily enough, the name Dobos in Hungarian means drummer and torta means cake in general. This cake is fondly referred to as Dobosh locally, which is a layered pastry and as why such a weird name, it is because it's named after its inventor Hungarian chef József C. Dobos, who wanted to create a pastry that wouldn’t spoil quickly. This cake is a layered cake with chocolate buttercream frosting ground-dried nuts and a hardened caramel top.

3. Devil’s Food Cake

While it’s an American invention, its origin dates back to at least 120 years ago It made its debut in Mrs. Rorer’s New Cook Book: A Manual of Housekeeping, in the US. The cake uses regular ingredients along with a ‘stingy’ amount of bitter chocolate in its recipe. Unlike modern chocolate cakes that are sweet and sugary, cocoa was used to darken the batter, not enhance the flavor. It was almost like a revenge cake that showed the finger to the “angelic” vanilla cakes that were popular during that time.

4. Dacquoise

This cake is from France which comes from 18th-century France, from the tiny town of Dax, which was created to celebrate the victory of Napolean’s army. Each layer of the cake represented the prowess of the military. The cake is made with a generous amount of meringue, made from egg whites and sugar with a sprinkling of nuts. As for its appearance, it looks like a thick block of sandwich cake and might not look as well-crafted as other cakes.

5. Dundee Cake

Perhaps the most famous cake to come out of Scotland, the Dundee cake doesn't need that elaborate of an introduction, does it? It was first baked some 350 years ago, for Mary Queen of Scots, but commercial acclaim only came in the early 1800s to 1900s when the Dundee region started baking up a storm. It's a popular choice during Christmas festivities and tastes quite similar to fruitcakes but instead of cherries, it uses almonds, which are neatly arranged on the cake's surface in concentric circles.

6. Dios Torta

A Hungarian walnut cake, Dios torta, is rich in chocolate owing to the layers of chocolate buttercream frosting peeking between the layers of walnut sponge leaves. The cake is made with flour, eggs, ground walnuts, sugar, baking powder and lemon zest. While the buttercream uses chocolate, egg yolks, sugar, butter, milk, and vanilla. The cake goes in two layers with the buttercream frosting in between and on top. It's then decorated with walnuts and chocolate shavings.

7. Donauwelle

Also nicknamed the Snow White cake, Donauwelle is a sheet cake that is of German origin and is also popular in Austria. It has a triad of colors — white, chocolate and pink. Two cakes make up the Donauwelle, the bottom layer is plain vanilla and the top layer is rich chocolate over which thick ganache is poured over the two sponges along with buttercream and cherries. The cherries while baking create a beautiful cascading pattern inside the cake as they get into the cake batter, said to represent the currents of the Danube River. This cake also goes by the names Schneewittchenkuchen and Schneewittchentorte, which translates to snow white cake.