This Black Bread Torte – laced with chocolate, pistachios, and rum and topped with spiked whipped cream and cherry jam – is made from pumpernickel breadcrumbs.
This is a make-ahead cake. The refrigerator resting time is key.
Ingredients
- For the torte:
13 oz. pumpernickel
3.5 oz. semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup shelled, salted pistachios
1/4 cup spiced rum
6 eggs, separated
Pinch of salt
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
- For the cream:
2 cups heavy cream
6 Tbs sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbs spiced rum
- For assembly:
1/2 cup best-quality cherry jam
1 bar (3-4 oz.) best-quality chocolate bar
Directions
- Prep:
- Cube the bread and spread it out on a rimmed baking sheet, tossing every now and then until quite dry, roughly 24 hours. Working in two batches, process them to fine crumbs. Sift them through a sieve. The pieces that don’t make it through the sieve, return to the processor and give them another go. Continue until you have two cups of fine crumbs. (See notes. Repurpose any extra.)
- Use the grating attachment to process the semisweet chocolate. Any pieces that don’t make it through the grater, chop by hand to very small pieces. (Note that grated chocolate is very sensitive to heat. Don’t touch it with warm hands; don’t place it near anything warm.)
- Chop the pistachios. Reserve 1/4 cup of them. Place the rest in a fine-mesh sieve and shake the dust out into a bowl. Measure the dust. You want 1/4 cup of it. If you don’t have enough, continue chopping, sifting, and measuring until you do. Ultimately, this will cause you to get the nuts chopped to super tiny pieces, and this is what you want. Add the finely chopped nuts to the dust. (You now have two amounts of set-aside nuts: chopped and finely chopped + dust, which you must keep separate.)
- Make the torte:
- Grease bottom, but not the sides, of a 9-inch tube pan. Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Pour rum over breadcrumbs. Give it a good stir by hand. Set aside.
- Beat egg whites and salt with a handheld mixer on medium-high speed until they hold soft peaks. Increase speed to its highest setting, and with the mixer running, add sugar slowly, a Tablespoon at a time. Once all the sugar’s in, beat until egg whites are very firm, but still creamy.
- Use the mixer – without cleaning the beaters – on the yolks to break them up, a few seconds on lowest speed. Add vanilla. Fold 1/4 of the whites into the yolks. Stir bread crumb mixture, the 1/4-cup of chopped nuts, and grated chocolate together, and distribute it over the yolks. Scrape remaining whites over the bread crumb mixture, and carefully fold it all together. Pour into prepared pan.
- Bake 30 minutes or until top of cake is brown and springy to the touch. Let cool in pan, on rack.
- Make the cream:
- Whip the cream, ramping up to high speed. When it starts to thicken, add the sugar, vanilla, and rum. Continue to whip until it forms stiff peaks, and then whip just a bit longer, so the peaks are edging on very stiff, but nowhere near dry.
- Assemble:
- Run a plastic knife around the side of the cake to release it from the pan. Don’t saw, just push the knife firmly around the side of the pan. Remove the tube and remove the cake from the tube. Clean and dry the pan and tube.
- Slice the cake horizontally into two layers. (See notes.) Place the bottom layer back in the tube pan. Spread 2/3 of the cream over the bottom layer and spoon 6 Tablespoons of the jam over the cream. Use the back of a large spoon to spread the jam around. Add second layer to the pan, spread remaining creram on top, and use a teaspoon to distribut the rest of the jam in dollops, evenly around the cake. Run a butter knife through the jam, criss crossing as you go, to marble the jam into the cream. Cover the pan tightly with foil, and refrigerate for at least two hours, or overnight.
- Unwrap the chocolate bar and place it on a plate. Microwave on low power for short bursts, until it begins to feel slightly warm, but is nowhere near melting. (See notes.) Use a vegetable peeler to create shavings and/or curls.
- Remove the cake from the pan. (I recommend lifting with two bench scrapers, while a helper takes the tube away for you. However, you could cut the cake in half, remove both halves, and reassemble the cake on a plate. No one would know.) Use a spatula to apply the finely chopped, dusty pistachios to the side of the cake. Garnish the top lightly with chocolate, and even more lightly with pistachios. Keep refrigerated. Serve cold or at room temperature. (See notes.)
Notes
- It may take a while for your food processor to turn your bread into crumbs, and in the end, even after several rounds of processing, you may have a small bit of bread remnants that won’t seem to want to break down all the way. If that happens, try them in a coffee grinder.
- You could process the pistachios instead of chopping them by hand, but I fear that you’d wouldn’t get the best texture. By the time you got the dust you wanted, you’d probably have nothing but dust.
- When slicing the cake into layers, consider slicing it so that the bottom half is taller than the top half. As the finished cake sits overnight (or for days, because one thing this cake does have going for it is staying power), the top half will compress the bottom. So if you ultimately want it to look like you have even layers, start with a taller bottom layer.
- If you have a warm kitchen, you may not need to microwave the chocolate. Try using the peeler on the bar before nuking. If what you get is dust, then you need to warm the chocolate up.
- If you’re going to serve the cake at room temperature, it’s best to slice it cold first. Even if you intend to present the cake as a whole, slice it first but leave the slices in place. Slice with a serrated knife, using a sawing motion.
This cake didn’t turn out as well as I’d hoped, but I’m not ready to give up on it.
I saw this cake in The Art of Fine Baking, a cookbook from around 1960, and I was drawn to its unusual ingredients. I’ve never heard of a cake made from breadcrumbs … pumpernickle, no less! It looks pretty, but it tastes like a bunch of sweet things piled on a piece of pumpernickle. Did I use a pumpernickle that was too pumpernickley? Or is this a recipe that’d be better off left back in mid-twentieth century? It’s got potential, so I think it’s worth fixing. Let’s get into it.
I did a few things wrong:
I overwhipped the merengue, because the recipe specified that you had to do so for at least five minutes. Of course, I should’ve taken into consideration that the state-of-the-art hand mixer that I used can run circles around anything from the 60’s – and let’s not even talk about comparing that to whipping by hand. I should’ve gone with what I know to be right, and stopped when I had something that was stiff, and yet still creamy. My cake wound up with too little moisture, and too tight a crumb because of the overwhipping. If I were to do this again, I could…
- Do a better job on the merengue
- Whip the yolks as well, perhaps dividing the sugar between the whites and yolks
- Use a 50/50 mixture of pumpernickel and raisin bread
- Add a bit of spice to the batter, to amplify the rum spices and complement the chocolate. Note: not cinnamon.
Here are the things that did work:
I used a cherry-almond preserve made locally by Six Lugs. I spend my summers in a cherry-growing region, where you can find excellent cherry everything, from salsa to barbecue sauce, to jams and preserves. So, that explains my choice. I think black currant would also work well with this cake, and so would blueberry or blackberry. The most important thing is the quality: you want something that’s sweet and – most importantly – tart … but without being candy-like. And it’s got to be full of flavor. The sweet-tart jam paired with the sweet-and-spiced cream is stellar.
The type of rum you use will have a powerful effect on the cake’s flavor. It will contribute to the flavor of the cake, but it will be quite obvious in the whip. I recommend a spiced rum, because I think it best compliments the cake’s unusual flavor. I used a “Whaleback” spiced rum from Northern Lattitudes, another artisan shop local to my summer digs. It has alluringly interesting notes of vanilla, cinnamon, and clove – perfect for this unusual cake. (If not spiced rum, I’d go with dark.)
When this cake was baking, it smelled like the best cake I’d ever baked.
As this cake sat in the fridge, it improved, as I thought it would. The cake began to absorb moisture from the whip. This improved not only the cake, but also the whip, in as much as it condensed the whip a bit, which makes it seem more luxurious. At the same time, the cake flavors seemed to meld, and the pumpernickle flavor moved a bit further to the back. It seemed like fruit cake, or spice cake. I found myself enjoying it for breakfast, with a strong cup of black coffee. This is what makes me want to perfect this recipe; it’s got a lot of potential.
If you have ideas about any of this, I’d love to hear them in the comments!
Black Bread Torte
Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man!, unless otherwise indicated. Thank you, Kesor. This content was not solicited by anyone, nor was it written in exchange for anything. References for this post: “Black Bread Torte.” In The Art of Fine Baking, edited by Paula Peck, 160. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1961. Food Timeline, Ina Garten on Food Network, Tin and Thyme, and Williams-Sonoma. Make It Like a Man! has been ranked by Feedspot as #15 in the Top 30 Men’s Cooking Blogs!
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The pumpernickel seems different from the one we have in Germany. This is a fantastic and interesting combo of flavour and the torte looks for sure very tempting.
angiesrecipes recently posted…How To Make Wild Garlic Flavoured Oil
Thanks, Angie! Yes, breads here are very different from German breads.
My idea would be to trade you some weed pulling for a slice. 🙂 It looks delicious.
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Haha!
OMG Jeff- this looks AMAZING. Possibly in the 1960’s we were not used to things as sweet (although I do remember really loving candy in the 1960’s). I have to admit that as soon as I read it, it did sound a little unusual.
Thanks, Judee!
Such an interesting combination of ingredients. Sounds incredibly tasty! I’m in. 🙂 ~Valentina
Thanks!
“Note that grated chocolate is very sensitive to heat. Don’t touch it with warm hands; don’t place it near anything warm.” — your comments and suggestions,, such as this one, are helpful. Sometimes they’re very amusing too. Other food writers should follow your lead!
Hahaha! Thanks.
Un golosissimo riciclo di pane, un dolce molto invitante!!!
Thank you!
what a fascinating recipe jeff. breadcrumbs and salted pistachios. sounds fabulous. looks good too.
sherry recently posted…Butter Puff Pizza Pie/Slice
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Interesting. As soon as I saw that picture, I said “woah!” This does sound like an intriguing recipe, and I can totally understand why it jumped out of the book at you. I appreciated the notes, though. Really interesting point about equipment from the 1960’s vs. equipment from today. I’ve never really thought much about that, but you’d definitely need to adjust the time. The pumpernickel is different, but I think I really (!) like your idea of a pumpernickel and raisin bread combo. This sounds like a great summer cake, Jeff. Maybe for sitting out on the back deck in Asheville?
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How interesting! I’ve tried once rye-bread infused ice cream and “truffles” (I believe that were the Baltic region recipes) – cannot say I was very impressed because that’s just too peculiar flavour. But I think I would love to try this torte. The addition of cherry jam, rum, and pistachios sound great!
It wasn’t “great,” but I do believe it has potential.
Che buono! La proverò anche io, buona giornata!
Thank you!
Interesting combo of ingredients — wouldn’t have thought of this for a cake. And I don’t recall ever hearing about that cookbook (but no surprise — I was a tad back then, and only beginning to get interest in cooking because of Julia Child and her TV program). Have fun perfecting this!
John+/+Kitchen+Riffs recently posted…Huevos Rancheros
I know, isn’t it unusual? Thanks, John.
Jeff this cake is fascinating! First, it’s gorgeous. I love the layers and textures. Second, what a great historical component. Discovering old recipes is so fun, and this one sounds like an adventure. Really interesting point about adapting the instructions for the tools we have today. I hope you’ll keep us posted as you experiment!
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Delicius recipe, thank you! 🙂 Wishes from Lithuania!
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A lot of delicious flavors going on in this torte, Jeff! And that slice looks to die for… Only thing I’m not much of a baker. This might be a bit over my head, so to speak. Do you ship?
Thank you, Frank!
Wow — this is really a tour de force! I love all your notes (especially about the meringue — I always find my kitchen aid is much faster than other mixers), and the cherry almond jam sounds wonderful on its own. Definitely a good party cake. (Definitely need to make sure not too much is left for me and Mark!
Well, let me work with it a bit. It’s going to be a good one once I’ve figured out all the twists and turns.
Another interesting recipe with an unusual combination of ingredients. I’d love a piece of this in front of me right now with a big fork.
mjskitchen recently posted…Corona Beans with Roasted Tomato Garlic Sauce
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Your chocolate mousse recipe inspired me to look up other deserts on your blog. This looks delicious too! yummy 🙂
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