Linz cake: step-by-step recipe with photo

Linz cake (in the original Linzer Torte) is an Austrian cake with a lattice pattern. It received such a name in honor of the city of Linz in Austria.

A special feature of this dessert is a crumbly dough, consisting of flour, unsalted butter, egg yolks, lemon zest, cinnamon, lemon juice and nuts (usually forest, but sometimes even with walnuts or almonds). This cake is covered with a stuffing of red currant, plum puree, fresh raspberries or apricot jam. On top of the cake is covered with a lattice of dough. For this, it is rolled out, cut into thin strips and laid on top of the filling crosswise. Baking is covered with slightly whipped egg whites, baked and sometimes decorated with sliced almonds.

Linz cake is a classic festive dish in Austrian, Hungarian, Swiss, German and Tyrolean traditions. This dessert is usually eaten for Christmas. In addition, it is often done in the form of small pies or biscuits.

History

Experts say that "Linzer" is the oldest cake in the world. For a long time, the oldest recipe was considered to be the year 1696, which was stored in the Vienna Archives. In 2005, however, an even older recipe of 1653 was found.

In addition, the invention of the Lintz cake is the subject of numerous legends telling of a Vienna confectioner named Linzer (according to Alfred Polgar) or chef Johann Konrad Vogel (1796-1883), who in about 1823 in Linz began mass production of pie that made him Known throughout the world. In any case, the Lintz cake from Austria has been several centuries old.

Is it possible to prepare this delicacy yourself?

If desired, you can easily make such a dessert at home. Linz classic cake, whose recipe is considered one of the oldest, is prepared as follows. You will need the following components:

• 250 g butter butter.
• 250 g of flour.
• 150 g ground hazelnuts (or almonds).
• 125 g of sugar.
• 2 tablespoons breadcrumbs breadcrumbs.
• 1 egg.
• 1 egg yolk.
• A generous amount of cinnamon powder.
• Pinch of cloves ground.
• A pinch of salt.
• Grated lemon peel or lemon juice.
• Wafers for layering (optional).
• Egg to cover.
• Red currant for filling.
• Sliced almonds (optional).

Linz cake: step-by-step recipe with photo

Pour a little flour on the work surface, cut the butter cubes and rub it with your fingers into the flour to create a light crumb. Mix with cinnamon, a pinch of ground cloves and a little salt, put lemon zest or lemon juice. Stir quickly to form a smooth dough, give it a ball shape, cover with a food film and put it in a cool place for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180 ° C in advance and apply a spring-loaded spring-shaped shape of suitable size.

Now lightly press a little more than half the dough to the base of the mold using your knuckles. Make the remaining dough in a few small strips (for the grate) and one wider layer (for the edge). If desired, cover the base with waffles and grease the cake frosting, leaving 1 cm around the edge. Place the prepared dough in the mold at the edges (as a border) and press it gently.

Put the red currant so that it is not above the edges of the workpiece. Lay the prepared strips of dough from above, creating a grate. If desired, you can sprinkle the product with chopped almonds. Cover the cake with a beaten egg and bake in a preheated oven for 50-60 minutes. Take out the product, leave it for cooling, ideally put it "ripen" at room temperature for a day, wrapped in a tissue napkin.

Option with raspberries

As it was said earlier, Lintz cake, a recipe with a photo of which can be found in this article, has several varieties. If the classic variant with red currant and hazelnut is considered, the variations include both other berries as fillings, and a combination of different nuts in the test. So, what do you need for a crimson Lintz cake?

You will need these ingredients:

• 3 cups of raspberry filling (fresh berries, mashed in puree);
• 2 ½ cups of universal flour;
• 1 ¾ cups mixture of ground almonds and hazelnuts;
• 1 packet of unsalted butter;
• 1 table spoon of cinnamon;
• 1 cup of sugar;
• ½ teaspoon of tea;
• ¾ tablespoons of tea powder for baking;
• 1 tablespoon table vanilla extract;
• 1 ½ spoon tea citrus peel (lemon, orange or their mixture);
• 2 eggs;
• ½ cup apricot jam;
• 3 table spoons of water.

How to cook such a dessert?

Rub the oil, sugar and citrus peel, mix with eggs and vanilla extract until smooth. In a separate bowl, combine the nuts, flour, salt, cinnamon and baking powder. Add the dry mixture in oil in stages, mix until smooth. Refrigerate the dough for an hour.

Then roll it to a thickness of about one and a half centimeters and put it in a baking dish, separating a small part for decoration. Spread over it a raspberry puree with a layer about one centimeter thick. Roll out the left piece of dough thinner, cut into thin strips and lay over the berry grate. Bake at 200 degrees until the top of the pie turns rosy. As soon as you get the cake out of the oven, prepare the top cover. To do this, heat the apricot jam and mix it with a little water. Cover it with a hot cake. The finished product can be decorated at will with whipped cream and fruit.

Non-standard variant with cranberries

In this version of the Lintz cake, it is also proposed to use a combination of hazelnut and almonds. Despite the fact that usually this dessert is filled with raspberry or apricot jam, you can deviate from the classical wishes and use fresh cranberries. This berry will make it a wonderful treat on the autumn and winter holidays. The secret of the dough made with the addition of nuts is that it remains ductile in a cooled form. Linz cake, the recipe of which is presented below, can be stored for up to a week if it is well packaged. In addition, this product is also perfectly frozen before or after baking.

How to cook it?

To prepare Lintz cake with cranberries, the following ingredients will be needed.

Ingredients for filling:

• 340 grams of cranberry;
• 450 grams of sugar;
• Juice of 1 orange, diluted with water - 220 ml;
• Orange peel 1;
• a pinch of salt.

Ingredients for the dough:

• 120 grams whole hazelnut;
• 120 grams of almond whole;
• 270 grams of universal flour, plus a small amount to work with the test;
• 160 grams of sugar;
• 14 tablespoons / 198 grams unsalted butter;
• A peel of 1 lemon and 1 orange;
• 1 large egg plus 1 yolk;
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract;
• ⅛ tablespoons of tea ground cloves;
• 1¼ teaspoons of ground tea cinnamon;
• ¼ teaspoon of tea leaves;
• ½ teaspoon of tea powder for baking;
• Powdered sugar (optional)

Cranberry Lintz cake: step by step recipe

Mix all the ingredients for the filling in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Lower the temperature and stir until the cranberry berries start to burst. Continue cooking by lightly beating the mixture with a spoon until it reaches the consistency of the jam. This will take about 30 minutes. Set aside for cooling.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Place hazelnut and almonds on a baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes until they turn brown. Peel the nuts from the skin until they are warm. Cool them, then grind them in a food processor, adding 3 tablespoons of flour.

In a deep bowl, combine the butter, sugar, citrus peel. Beat the mixer until the sugar is completely dissolved. The mixture should be homogeneous. Separately, whisk the egg, egg yolk and vanilla, add to the previously prepared mass and mix.

In a separate bowl, mix the ground nuts, the rest of the flour, cloves, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. Add to the oil mixture in three steps, stirring every time until a slightly sticky dough forms.

Divide the dough into two unequal parts. Form a larger piece into a ball, wrap and flatten to a thickness of 2.5 cm. Wrap the cloth and refrigerate for 3-4 hours.

Forming and baking

Then preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Take the dough out of the refrigerator and leave it for 10 minutes. On parchment paper, form a large part of the dough into a circle, topping it with flour if necessary. Lay it evenly in a baking dish, covering the bottom and walls.

Roll out a smaller piece of dough with a rectangle measuring approximately 25 by 30 centimeters and a thickness of 0.5 cm. Cut into strips of small width. Put it in the refrigerator for a while.

Spread the cranberry filling evenly over the dough in the form. Put the prepared strips on top of the grid pattern. The remaining fragments of the test are twisted into a rope 1 cm in diameter and use it to decorate the outer edge of the cake. Bake for 30-5 minutes until the filling begins to bubble. Allow to cool and, if you want, sprinkle with powdered sugar.