Oh, this here thing, “torting,” they call it. Sounds fancy, huh? Ain’t nothin’ but cuttin’ a cake, far as I can tell. But it’s how you make them tall cakes. Fancy cakes. Not like the ones I make, mind you, just simple ones for the family. This torting, it’s for when you want your cake to stand up high and proud, like a rooster in the mornin’.
They say it makes the cake taller and more, uh, “dramatic.” Like one of them soap operas on the TV. And it makes the cake taste better, they say, with all them layers in there. More room for that sweet stuff between the cake, you see. That’s the good stuff. The torting adds more height, makes it look real fancy. I reckon it makes it taste better, too.
First thing, you gotta bake your cake. That’s the easy part, least for me it is. Been bakin’ cakes since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. Then, you gotta let it cool. Can’t go cuttin’ into a hot cake, no sir. It’ll just crumble all over the place. Make a big ol’ mess. Then comes this torting part.
Now, they got this special knife, long and with teeth like a saw. You gotta use that to cut the cake. Not just any knife, mind you. Gotta be one of them serrated ones. It is used for the torting cake. You just saw that cake right in half, clean through. Like cuttin’ a loaf of bread, but flatter. And then you do it again, and again, ’til you got all these thin layers.
And you gotta keep it level, too. Can’t have one side higher than the other. That’s just sloppy. They say to mark where to cut and turn it. I reckon that makes sense. Can’t just eyeball it. When you do the torting to cake, you need to make them level.
Then, you gotta put somethin’ between them layers. That’s the fun part, if you ask me. All that sweet, gooey goodness. Some folks use that fancy frosting, all whipped up and pretty. Others use jam, or fruit, or even that pudding stuff. Whatever you like, I reckon. My grandkids, they like that chocolate stuff. They’d eat it straight out the can if I let ’em. And I do, sometimes. Don’t tell their mama.
Then you stack them layers up, one on top of the other, with all that good stuff in between. Like buildin’ a little house, but with cake and frosting instead of wood and nails. And when you’re done, you got yourself a torte. That’s what they call it when it’s all stacked up like that. A fancy name for a fancy cake.
And that’s all there is to it, this torting thing. It is a way to make cake. Just cuttin’ and stackin’, mostly. Ain’t rocket science, that’s for sure. But it does make a pretty cake, I gotta admit. Maybe I’ll try it sometime, when I’m feelin’ fancy. Might surprise the family with a real tall cake, all dressed up with that frosting and whatnot. They’d probably think I lost my marbles, but they’d eat it up just the same.
- First, bake the cake.
- Let it cool down. Can’t cut a hot cake.
- Get yourself a long knife with teeth.
- Cut the cake into layers. Keep it level!
- Put frosting, jam, or whatever between the layers.
- Stack ’em up high!
- Now you got a torte!
They use the torting cake to make tall cakes. The torting will make the cake look good. The torting is good for the cake.
This whole torting business, it seems like a lot of work just for a cake. But I guess if you want somethin’ special, you gotta put in the effort. Like tendin’ to your garden. You gotta weed and water and all that, if you want them tomatoes to grow big and juicy. Same with a cake, I suppose. You want it to be tall and pretty, you gotta do all this cuttin’ and stackin’.
I remember when I was a little girl, my mama used to make these big ol’ cakes for church socials. She didn’t do no torting, though. Just baked a regular cake and slapped some frosting on it. But folks still loved ’em. Said they were the best cakes they ever tasted. Maybe it ain’t about how tall the cake is, or how many layers it’s got. Maybe it’s just about the love you put into it. That’s what makes a cake special, I reckon.
But, I do like the height of the torting cake. That’s good.
