This Mocha Almond Waffle Torte is made with thin, waffled-wheat-flour wafers. Ukrainian cooks layer these versatile wafers, round or square, with an assortment of buttercream fillings, jams and sometimes almond or other nut pastes pressed together as a no-bake dessert. Some versions are served as a torte; others are cut into bars as cookies.
I had forgotten about this no-bake dessert until recently at a dinner in Warsaw with Ukrainian refugee women who were reminiscing about the food they missed most in exile. Someone mentioned andruty and I asked the woman from Zhytomyr next to me whether she had a recipe for sweets made with andruty;. she had never heard the word. Other women in the group, native Lvivуanу, remembered andruty from childhood and explained how they were assembled into a torte. That explanation triggered a recollection and the Zhytomyr native recalled that Soviet bakeries used such wafers to make tortes filled with caramelized sweetened condensed milk. In subsequent discussions with other Ukrainian women, I learned that wafer tortes are prepared primarily in Galician homes.
Although various names are attributed to this dessert, depending on where and by whom it is made, a dessert made from thin wafers is an Austro-Hungarian confectionary legacy. It was originally called Pischinger after Viennese confectioner Oscar Pischinger who in the mid-19th century layered five thin waffle-wafers with a coffee-nut buttercream and sold the Pischinger torte in his confectionary shop.
Shortly thereafter, recipes for the Pischinger torte appeared in cookbooks throughout Galicia, the part of ethnic Ukraine and Poland ruled by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Enterprising cooks started to assemble Pischinger tortes with wafers, some flat and some waffled, baked on stove-top heated waffle irons. Eventually, a factory in the Polish city of Kalish mass-produced waffled wafers.
In Ukraine and Poland, the plain wafers are called andruty from German root words meaning without browning, and which describe the wafers as white and dried out, not fried. Over the years, the name andruty became the generic name for the finished dessert. Lviv bakers and confectioners, however, insist that the plain wafers are andruty and the finished dessert is called a waffle torte.
When I was a little kid, the cooks in my family, all great bakers, regaled our extended family with Ukrainian sweets of all kinds and introduced me to andruty. In the 1950s, these wafers were hard to find in Baltimore’s small Ukrainian community, just a thousand or old and new immigrants, centered around Ukrainian Orthodox and Ukrainian Catholic Churches and the Self-Reliance Credit Union. We didn’t have a Ukrainian store in town so we bought assorted sausages and ham from a Polish meat market, herring from a Jewish deli, hearty rye bread from Levin’s Bakery and otherwise made do with what the women in my family could find at the Broadway Market or the local A&P. But the American mecca for East Coast Ukrainians was the large, decades-old Ukrainian community in New York’s East Village. There, one could find everything Ukrainian, but not every immigrant family had a car.
As soon as the word went out via the gossip network that a community member was heading to New York, Baltimore’s Ukrainian women sent their purchasing requests (and envelopes with cash) for food, handcrafting supplies, books, Ukrainian newspapers and records. Regardless of when the emissary returned laden with filled orders, it was Christmas in Baltimore.
When one of the family cooks occasionally received a package of andruty from New York, she converted these thin, tasteless layers into delectable treats by layering the wafers with buttercreams and tart jams cut into variously shaped bars dusted with confectioner’s sugar and served as cookies. These wafer bars were different each time; I suppose they improvised with ingredients on hand.
Chocolate, marzipan and jam bars
As a child, I enjoyed the andruty desserts prepared by family cooks and did not understand they were not baked. I recall only that wafers were hard to find, which is not the case now. Packages of 6-10 wafers of various diameters and thicknesses are available in Eastern European (Polish and Ukrainian) delis in all major cities and on-line as “tort wafers” and come in white, chocolate, pink, yellow and green.*
My Lviv friends tell me that local cooks in Lviv keep a few packages of waffled wafers on hand for emergencies and create fillings from pantry ingredients on hand (eggs, milk, chocolate, jam and nuts. A Lviv waffle torte can have as many layers as ingredients permit, defying its flavor and simplicity. This no-bake dessert is easy to prepare and can be kept in an airtight container for 5 days at room temperature or for two weeks in the refrigerator. It is a quick, simple but ingenious dessert for unexpected guests or when craving something sweet.
Mocha Almond Waffle Torte ingredients
As for filling options for this no-bake dessert, there seem to be no hard-fast rules for a waffle torte. It can be filled with buttercreams or cooked fillings, flavored with cocoa powder, coconut, coffee, cognac, fruit, nuts or jams and marmalades. Whatever the filling, it should be moist to soften the wafers, but not too wet to make them mushy. Thus, soft cheese or whipped cream filling are unsuitable for wafers. Pischinger torte layers should be soft. It looks and tastes best after 24 hours after the waffle sheets can absorb the moisture from the filling.
Here are some possible combinations: coffee buttercream with layers of apricot jam mixed with coarsely chopped flaked almonds; vanilla buttercream, flavored with a tablespoon of cognac or rum, layered with chocolate ganache and raspberry jam; alternate layers of chocolate buttercream and coconut buttercream with a few tablespoons of sweetened, shredded coconut; or, simply one buttercream of choice. The possible combinations are endless, but once the layers are filled, the torte should be pressed under a heavy weight for a few hours or overnight so that the layers adhere together before decorating or frosting the top and sides.
To create this Mocha Almond Waffle Torte, I combined several complementary ingredients: a mocha buttercream, an almond filling and raspberry jam. The mocha buttercream combines chocolate and instant espresso coffee to mimic the flavor of the Yemeni coffee known for its natural chocolate flavor. The almond filling is a spreadable marzipan with a sweet, nutty taste. The lemon-enhanced raspberry jam adds a citrusy note to the sweet fillings, resulting in a winning combination. If using thick waffle layers which may not soften from the moisture in the fillings, prepare a half cup of very sweet espresso or simple syrup and spray lightly over each wafer during assembly.
This Mocha Almond Waffle Torte is best if prepared beforehand, overnight or even several days before serving so that the fillings’ moistness permeates and softens the wafers.
Mocha Almond Waffle Torte – Three fillings
1 package waffled wafers – 8-10 wafers, 7-10 inches (18-25 cm in diameter)*
For mocha buttercream:
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
1 tablespoon hot water
2 large egg whites, room temperature
4 ounces + 1 tablespoon (126 g) granulated sugar
1 ½ sticks (170 g) unsalted butter, room temperature and in ½ inch ( cm) cubes
2 ½ ounces (71 g) semi-sweet chocolate chopped, melted and cooled
For almond filling
4 egg yolks
6 tablespoons sugar
8 tablespoons whipping cream, scalded
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup almond flour
For raspberry jam
12 ounces (330 g) Smucker’s seedless raspberry jam
1 teaspoon lemon zest
4 teaspoons lemon juice
Preparing mocha buttercream filling: Dissolve espresso powder in hot water. Stir and set aside to cool. Chop and melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl over simmering hot water. Cool.
Heat egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Whisk until egg whites are warm to the touch and sugar is dissolved, and the mixture is smooth, about 3 minutes.
Transfer mixture to bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and whisk on medium speed until stiff, glossy peaks form and mixture cools, about 10 minutes.
Reduce speed to low and gradually add cubes of butter, whisking well after each addition.
Switch to a paddle attachment and reduce speed to low; beat in espresso mixture and melted chocolate until smooth. Beat frosting for three to five minutes to reduce air bubbles. Cover with plastic wrap and keep at room temperature until ready to use. Makes 2 cups.
(This frosting can be stored at room temperature for up to three days, in a refrigerator for up to one week and in a freezer for up to six months. If stored in refrigerator or freezer, bring up to room temperature before using.)
Preparing almond filling: Cream yolks with sugar until pale yellow. Slowly add a few drops of hot whipping cream at a time, mixing well before adding more cream.
Transfer cream mixture to a heat-proof bowl and cook over a saucepan of simmering water, adding almond flour a spoon at a time and stirring to incorporate. When the almond mixture starts to thicken, transfer the mixture to a clean bowl and cool. If too thick to spread, stir in a few drops of hot whipping cream for a spreading consistency. Makes 2 cups.
Preparing jam filling: Whisk together jam, lemon zest and juice in a small pan over low heat or in a microwave safe measuring cup. Heat thoroughly, stir until smooth. Set aside to cool.
Assembling torte: Place one waffle sheet on a parchment-lined working bench and spread 4 tablespoons of jam filling to the edge of the wafer. Add another wafer and spread a ¼ inch (0.6 cm) thick layer of buttercream. Add another wafer and spread ½ of the almond filling. Add another wafer and repeat the jam filling and subsequent layers as above. Top with another wafer.
Layering torte
Wrap torte in plastic wrap and place a heavy object (like wooden chopping board) on top, covering the entire torte, to compress the wafers. Set aside for several hours at room temperature or overnight. Before serving frost the top and sides of torte with the remaining buttercream, decorating as desired.
When ready to serve, slice into narrow wedges to serve with tea or coffee. Of course, the torte can be cut into diamond-shaped bars, squares or rectangles and served as cookies as well.
Serves 12 or more depending on how cut.
Mocha Almond Waffle Torte
* https://www.amazon.com/Seweryn-Waffle-Sheets-Product-Ukraine/dp/B0B34YTFRN/ref=sr_1_5?crid=1EFSXZHF2PTZV&keywords=torte+wafers+sheets&qid=1669851330&sprefix=torte+wafers%2Caps%2C84&sr=8-
Photo credits: Slava Johnson
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