BRITTLE (GRILLAGE) CAKE - GRILAZ TORTA

Place of Origin: Croatia 

Found the recipe for this cake in my great granny’s Lilian old cookbook from 1926. I have adjusted it a bit as the original recipe called for much more sugar. Old cakes were waaaay to sweet. ;-)

BRITTLE (GRILLAGE):

150 g sugar

250 g walnuts, hazelnuts or almonds

CAKE:

10 eggs

150 g powdered sugar

2 tbsp pastry flour

ground brittle, ½ of mixture

FILLING:

4 eggs

100 g sugar

2 tbsp milk

250 g butter

ground brittle, ½ of mixture

1. For brittle, melt sugar in a pot over medium heat, add nuts of your choice. While still warm, pour onto marble surface (if you have one) or simply on greased large baking pan. You might need to trowel it to uniform thickness. When the brittle cools, break it into pieces and ground (save a few pieces, if you like, for decoration).
2. For the batter, whip egg whites till they form strong peaks. Stirring gently, add egg yolks, one at a time. Then, gradually, add sugar, flour and ½ of ground brittle (also save some ground brittle for decoration).
3. For the filling, beat butter till fluffy. Set aside. In a pot, whisk over very low heat (or in Bain-Marie) eggs, sugar and milk till light and fluffy. Set aside and let cool. Add ground brittle and butter.
4. Grease and flour round cake mold.
5. Heat oven to 180°C and bake for app 40-50 minutes. Check with a wooden toothpick. Let cool and remove from the mold.
6. Cut cake horizontally in 4 parts. Place one part on a flat surface or a plate and spread ¼ of filling. Cover with other part. Repeat.
7. Spread remaining filling over the top and sides of cake. Sprinkle with ground brittle and coarsely chopped pieces of brittle. You can also use some chopped nuts, chocolate.... or/and use some chocolate frosting and draw some irregular shapes.

GRILAŽ TORTA

Recept za ovu tortu sam našla u staroj kuharici moje prabake iz 1926-te godine. Malo sam ga promijenila i prilagodila svom ukusu jer u originalni recept ide jako puno šećera. Ti stari kolači su zaista bili preeeeslatki! ;-)

GRILAŽ (KROKANT):

150 g šećera

250 g oraha, lješnjaka ili badema

TIJESTO:

10 jaja

150 g šećra u prahu

2 žlice oštrog brašna

pola količine mljevenog grilaža

NADJEV:

4 jaja

100 g šećera

2 žlice mlijeka

250 g maslaca

pola količine mljevenog grilaža

1. Za grilaž, otopiti šećer u loncu na srednje jakoj vatri pa dodati orašaste plodove po izboru. Dok je smjesa još topla, izliti na mramornu površinu (ako ju imate) ili na namašćeni pleh. Kada se grilaž ohladio, izlomiti ga na komade i samljeti (nekoliko komada možete sačuvati za ukrašavanje).
2. Za tijesto: miksati bjelanjke dok se ne dobije čvrsti snijeg. Lagano miješajući dodati jedan po jedan žumanjak. Potom postepeno dodavati šećer, brašno i pola mljevenog grilaža (također možete malo staviti sa strane za ukrašavanje).
3. Za nadjev, miksajte maslac dok ne postane pjenast. U loncu na vrlo slaboj vatri ili na pari miksati jaja, šećer i mlijeko dok ne postane prozračno i pjenasto. Ohladiti. Dodati mljeveni grilaž i maslac.
4. Peći u namašćenom i pobrašnjenom kalupu za torte na 180°C oko 40 - 50 minuta (provjeriti čačkalicom). Ohladiti i izvaditi iz kalupa.
5. Prerezati tortu vodoravno na 4 dijela. Donji dio tijesta staviti na ravnu površinu ili tanjur i premazati s malo manje od 1/4 smjese, pokriti s drugim dijelom. Ponavljati do gornjeg dijela torte te cijelu tortu premazati ostatkom kreme.
6. Posipati tortu mljevenim grilažom te krupno sjeckanim komadićima grilaža. Mogu se upotrijebiti i sjeckani orašasti plodovi ili čokolada ili pak čokoladna glazura kojom se mogu iscrtati razni oblici, crte..

Recipe by Linda