Raspberry Torte

Well, it has been a super busy month since I posted last. I got publish, which is why I have not put anything new up for a bit. Huzzah! If you are all interested in knowing more about the book, please hop on over to my German language blog and translate the post about it there. 

Anyways, this is a recipe for a Raspberry Torte that I was given a few years ago. It's pretty tasty. One of my friends made it on St. Valentine's Day and it turned out well for her. So, here is the recipe for you all! Hope you all enjoy it as much as everyone else has! Fair warning though, this cake takes a great deal of work to make and it is very touchy to humidity. If it is too humid the cake will have a greater chance of falling and if it is too dry it will crack and not go together right.

Ingredients for Cake

• 5 eggs, separated
• 1/2 cup of shortening
• 1/2 cup of butter, softened
• 2 cups of sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 2 cups of cake flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 cup of buttermilk
• 1 cup of toasted pecans, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup of flaked coconut
• 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar

Ingredients for Filling/Frosting

• 1 cup of raspberry preserves, warmed
• 11 ounces of cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup of butter, softened
• 6 1/2 cups of confectioners' sugar
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup of chopped pecans

Directions

• Let eggs stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. In a large mixing bowl, cream the shortening, butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour and baking soda; add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk. Stir in pecans and coconut.
• In another mixing bowl and with clean beaters, beat egg whites and cream of tartar on high speed until stiff peaks form. Fold a fourth of egg whites into the batter, then fold in remaining whites.
• Pour into three greased and floured 9-in. round baking pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 28-30 minutes or top springs back lightly when touched. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.
• Spread raspberry preserves over the top of two cake layers. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and confectioners' sugar until fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Place one raspberry topped cake layer on a serving plate. Spread with some of the frosting. Repeat with second raspberry topped cake layer. Top with plain cake layer. Spread remaining frosting over the top and sides of cake. Sprinkle with nuts.

Well, there you have it! Hope you enjoy! It is definitely worth the trouble. Also, if you replace the plain sugar in the cake with vanilla sugar it give the cake a bit more flavour. Also, you can put some frosting between the layers in additions to the preserves. If you choose to do that though keep in mind that you will need to frost the cake before putting the preserves on.