Chocolate Orange Cake with Meringue (Vasina Torta)

Dark chocolate orange cake with meringue, also known as Vaso’s cake or Vaso’s torte (Vasina torta) is the best Serbian traditional cake, beloved in the Balkans. Invented by a grateful mother in law, the cake boasts three layers (a nut based crust, a chocolate and orange topping, and a topping made entirely out of meringue) of perfectly combined citrus and chocolate flavors and an (optional) chocolate glaze.

BELOVED IN THE BALKANS, VASO’S TORTE IS THE JEWEL OF SERBIAN DESSERTS

Most desserts in the Balkan region are old fashioned and require once expensive ingredients (eggs, walnuts, butter, etc.). A lot of was at stake, so people judged a cake on its quality. (Quality meant rich, filling and aesthetically pleasing.)

As you can guess, Balkan desserts tend to be challenging complex.  They generally don’t allow for shortcuts, 30-minute prep or 3-ingredients or less.

However I suspect most of you, like me, value quality over quantity. And quality requires dedication. Today’s dark chocolate orange cake with meringue, is no exception.  The cake, also called Vaso’s cake or Vaso’s torte (Vasina torta), isn’t good.

It’s superb! 

TORTE VERSUS CAKE

Tortes are a type of cake.

When we think of a typical cake, it's spongy on the inside and beautiful on the outside. Recipes call for glazes, frostings and toppings to achieve this effect.

But these gorgeous cakes are often tasteless underneath their makeup.

 Admittedly, in diaspora circles these cakes are a subject of disdain. You'll often hear a disappointing “oh, it’s just an ordinary sponge (patišpanja),“ where patišpanja indicates an easy to make cake.  

You can recognize sponge based cakes by color.  If you cut yourself a piece and it's yellow inside, it's probably a regular sponge cake.

Meanwhile, a torte is a denser, richer type. Its crust consists of eggs, flour, ground nuts and chocolate. Tortes are more complicated to make, but the moisture factor, substance and taste are lightyears ahead of sponge cakes.

Tortes fall into a group of sweets I call 'grown up' desserts.

I’ve discussed this with a lot of people and jointly concluded that tortes and heavier desserts (think baklava, hazelnut cake, plum pie, etc.) are sweets we tolerated in childhood, but learned to appreciate - learned to love - only after becoming adults.

Is it because this chocolate orange cake (and desserts like it) is rich? Is it because nostalgia kicks in later in life and becomes the guiding light of our taste? Do our taste buds change for better as we age?

I don’t know.

I do know is when I eat Vaso’s cake these days, I pant with satisfaction at how sensual the threesome of orange, dark chocolate and meringue can be.

(Please note that on the blog I use the terms (torte and cake) interchangeably.)

STORY BEHIND THE CHOCOLATE ORANGE CAKE (AKA VASO’S CAKE)

We can't know for sure how much of this story is fiction and how much isn't, but I'd like to think it's all a true story. I’ve picked up the pieces via several online sources, so forgive me if I don’t get all the details right.

At the beginning of 20^th century there lived (in a small Serbian town of Paraćin), a handsome man named Vaso Čokrljan. A longtime bachelor, Vaso's marital status was for many years the main topic of town gossip.

What a surprise it was to everyone to hear that at the tender age of 41 Vaso finally married! The lucky lady in question was one Jelena, who'd later describe Vaso as gentlest and kindest of husbands.

When Jelena was pregnant with their child, local doctors informed them she probably wouldn’t survive giving birth. Vaso was devastated.

Sparing no expense he travelled with Jelena to a well known gynecologist in Vienna. Although the birth was difficult (they had to use a complicated set of clamps), both Jelena and their baby girl survived.

After recovering in Vienna, they returned to Paraćin. To celebrate their triumphant return, Vaso’s mother in law organized a huge celebration. She made many regional delicacies for this feast, but the main attraction became a special cake she created in honor of her son in law.

This three layered cake boasted the best region had to offer (different types of nuts, meringue and eggs), and was paired together with a citrus orange flavor. These ingredients (oranges especially), were expensive and difficult to procure, so this wasn’t a cake just anyone could whip up.

And that's how we got today’s chocolate orange cake.

BUT FIRST...

As Vaso's cake was usually something I ate at a pastry shop, and not a cake we usually made at home, I tested quite a few recipes. For the final version you're reading today, I relied heavily on two sources. My gratitude goes out to them.

1. The Big National Cookbook

First source was a classic Yugoslavian cookbook called the "The Big National Cookbook" (Veliki narodni kuhar).

(I own the 6th edition published in 1984, as a collaboration between National book, Belgrade (Narodna knjiga Beograd) and Youth book, Ljubljana (Mladinska knjiga, Ljubljana). The recipe for Vasina Torta is on page 398.)

If you speak B/C/S and love cooking, you MUST get this cookbook! (And this is a minimalist speaking!)

2. Jelena from Food for Thought

Second source was a Belgrade food blogger named Jelena, who blogged over at Food for Thought.

Jelena belongs to that original group of men and women who wrote for the love of food -  not SEO, and whose articles didn’t consist of  “OMG You guuuuuuys!!! :)” followed by 37 adjectives.

Unfortunately she stopped blogging circa 2015. However, each post is translated into English, so you can browse her recipe index. Her food is phenomenal.

Jelena, if you read this post at some point thank you for your blog, for your detailed and patient way of responding, and for the treasure of knowledge you shared!

CHOCOLATE ORANGE CAKE IN TASTE AND LOOKS 

LAYER 1: SIMILAR TO OTHER CAKES

What's unusual about this chocolate orange cake is that there is only one cake (crust) layer. (Most cakes have on average 2-3 parts for layering.) This layer is made with eggs (separately mixed), ground walnuts, sugar and grated baking chocolate.

This layer is very similar to cakes we've done before. So, when I made this chocolate orange cake for the first time I called mom over. She's the cake whiz in our family and I felt better having her throw a glance over every now and then. Even one of her glances can prevent a cardinal mistake.

LAYER 2: ORANGE DEFINED

Orange defines cake's second layer.

The foundation of this second layer is sugar syrup and walnuts, eggs and  chocolate. But it is the freshly squeezed orange juice and orange zest (which turn the flavor slightly toward citrus), that give this cake the 'wow' factor. (You can adjust the amount of orange juice. Optimal amount is between 7-10 tablespoons.)

LAYER 3: ITALIAN MERINGUE

Classic Italian meringue forms the third layer of our chocolate orange cake. You may remember that what makes this meringue different is the addition of sugar syrup to egg whites whipped into soft peaks. Here is where mom (again) came to rescue as she can whip up a perfect meringue in her sleep.

If meringue scares you I found a website with great tutorials for every kind of meringue you can imagine. I find it helpful to think about it this way: at its most basic, meringue is just egg whites, a pinch of salt and a mixer.

(OPTIONAL BUT RECOMMENDED) LAYER 4: CHOCOLATE GANACHE

Most people use a portion of the meringue to plaster cake sides with a nice snowy finish.

But I trusted Jelena. She insisted cake was best when the three layers are left alone, and the fourth and final layer made entirely of dark chocolate, for Jaffa effect.

Jaffa is a type of cookie biscuit topped with (artificial) oranges and chocolate. (Biscuits similar to Jaffa include Tops, Delicje, Milka's ChocoJaffa and others.) Chocolate is poured on top of the cake and left to drizzle on the sides, leaving a perfect window into the layers one, two and three. It's magic!

However, you can imagine my disappointment when (after I would nail the other three complicated layers), my ganache, that simplest of chocolate toppings, kept on coming out all wrong.

First time around the chocolate was too thick. When I poured it over the cake it looked... (use your imagination).  Second time I made it the bag with chocolate exploded above the cake sending chocolate everywhere in one big splash. The third time, I don't even remember what happened the third time.

I finally watched a few of Tatyana's videos to get the idea of how she does it. (She's a cake blogger with numerous tips on cake decorating.) I'm not at what I now call 'Tatyana level,' but the ganache is coming out better each time.

(By the way, term ganache comes from the old French for "moron." Apparently a chef student messed up while pouring hot cream onto chocolate. His  mentor called him a ganache, although the result was the splendid glaze we use today.)

CAKE BUDDY

Even if you are an experienced baker, give yourself at least three hours the first time you make this cake. (No worries, the layers don't take an hour each. It's just that there are waiting periods in between.)

For example, the first cake layer needs some time to cool off after baking. Parallel to that, it's best if you leave the orange layer in the fridge for 30-45 minutes. You'll have an easier time spreading it over the cake layer after it's toughened.

Finally, these two should really integrate in the fridge together for at least an hour or two before you make the meringue.

Meringue should not be going onto anything remotely warm, lest it gets destroyed. In the same manner, nothing should be going onto meringue while it's warm, lest it gets destroyed.

I found this chocolate orange cake, our Vaso's torte, tastes best a couple of days after you make it. If unable to wait that long (who has the time?), at least promise me you'll give it a solid "sleepover" in the fridge.

Finally, do yourself a favor and get a cake buddy in exchange for a slice or two. If all they do is wash the dishes as you’re going through them, you’ll be infinitely better off. Because you will use A LOT of dishes.

Ok, now this is entirely too much information. Let me know if you make this cake, and how you like it.

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