I don't *think* it was because I saw Julie & Julia on the plane that I decided to make Dobosh torte for Christmas dessert. I have made it before, though not for years; I should have known BETTER.
The Dobosh torte is the perfect dessert *to have someone else make for you*.
Despite the copious detail included in Maida Heatter's recipe for Dobosh torte there are some things she left out of the instructions. This may provide some help.
1: Do not attempt the Dobosh torte unless you have a patient personality and enjoy detail work. We are talking seven layers: that provides a nearly infinite number of ways things can go wrong.
2: Assemble all the equipment pieces before you start: the pieces of foil or parchment paper, the cookie sheets you're going to bake the layers on, whatever gizmo you're going to use to trace the outline of the layers, etc. Count how many racks you have and figure out what you're going to do with the cooled layers when you run out of racks. Also, count your eggs. You will need 13 yolks and 7 whites, and a strategy for something to do with the six left-over whites.
3: Ask yourself if it's worth it. Yes, the Dobosh torte is good. But so is the mousse pie, which is a lot less work. And so are many, many other desserts that do not require two hours of painstaking work and that are not (as Recipezaar says) **468** calories a slice. Seriously?
4: Consider the possibility that you'd be just as happy beating some eggs, throwing in a little sugar, and making a chocolate omelette. It's practically the same thing.
5: Change into clothes that are already laundry-bound. There is no way to make Dobosh torte that does not involve getting covered with flour and gook.
6. Make the torte *at least* one, preferably two, days in advance. That way, you won't hate it so much when it's time to eat it.
7. Use silicon-treated parchment paper to bake the layers on. That really *will* lift right off. No matter how carefully you butter and flour foil or how perfectly you bake the layers (way down the instructions it mentions that layers that haven't baked long enough will stick), it probably won't.
Still, the ruined layer(s) make nice samples.
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