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A German term that translates to “foam cake,” schaum torte is often the chaser to a wedge salad and prime rib at supper clubs across Wisconsin.
It is both elegant and homey, a crunchy meringue shell topped with whipped cream and a berry sauce. It is believed to have been brought to this country by German or Austrian immigrants in the 1800s and caught on in our fair state
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Schaum torte appears in the 1901 collection of old-school recipe gems, The Settlement Cook Book, compiled by Milwaukee’s Lizzie Black Kander. Here is how the torte is constructed:
Base: The meringue is made of egg whites, sugar, vanilla, salt and vinegar beaten until stiff peaks form. When it bakes, it collapses a bit and creates a cavity to pile with filling.
Filling: Billows of sweetened whipped cream are spooned inside the cooled meringue shell.
Fruit: Per tradition, sliced strawberries – sprinkled with sugar and allowed to sit so that juices form a thin, light and very sweet sauce – are layered over the whipped cream. And in Wisconsin, it’s not unusual to add a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Well, the German word torte roughly translates to cake. But it’s not quite that simple. A torte is a dessert composed of thin, dense layers (using ground nuts or breadcrumbs in place of flour) separated by buttercream, jam, chocolate, etc. While a torte is
a type of cake, not every cake is a torte.
