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Esterhazy- Hazelnut Meringue and Custard Buttercream Cake

Esterhazy Cake is an Exceptional Hungarian cake made of Hazelnut Meringue layers and rich Custard Buttercream. The layers can be customized with a different type of flour like almond, or walnut.

Esterhazy cake with almond slices and topped with fresh raspberries and mint on a cake platter.

Esterhazy is a Hungarian cake made of thin hazelnut meringue (dacquoise) layers and buttercream that has egg yolk syrup as its flavor base. Originally, I believe it was made with almond flour, but since almonds themselves do not have much flavor, I decided to use hazelnuts instead.

A slice of Esterhazy cake topped with fresh raspberries in a plate.

If you want to, you can even use both flours and make alternating layers as I did in my cake, although I’m not sure that it really made the cake any better than it would have been with just hazelnut flour, so in the recipe I included instructions on how to make all hazelnut layers.

Hazelnut meringue cake with a custard buttercream topped with chocolate décor and raspberries.

As much as our family does like anything with nuts, I just couldn’t imagine that the end result would be as good as it was though. The Esterhazy Cake has a very mild, but well-balanced flavor. The top glaze on the cake can be made with either lemon juice or milk, but I thought that the tiny bit of sourness from the lemon juice made the cake all that much better by giving it a tiny dose of ‘zing’.

Not surprisingly, the berries, although not originally meant to be there, add a bright note, that I felt was very much needed. All in all, my whole family really enjoyed this combination and even though they usually will give their opinions on how well the flavors work and how a recipe might benefit from one thing or another, this one is perfect and doesn’t need anything else added or taken away. At least in our opinion. Let me know what you think when you make it!

Enjoy!

 

Esterhazy- Hazelnut Meringue and Custard Buttercream Cake

Yield: 8 inch round cake, 8-12 servings

Hazelnut Meringue (Dacquoise):

  • egg whites
  • hazelnut flour/meal (or almond)
  • granulated sugar

How to make Esterhazy Cake:

  • Preheat oven to 300F with the rack in the middle. If you do not have ground hazelnut flour, you can use a vegetable chopper or a food processor to chop the hazelnuts very finely.
  • Using an 8 inch round baking pan, trace a circle around it on parchment paper, cut around it giving about 1 to 2 inches extra. Now repeat it enough to get 10 circles.

How to Make the Hazelnut Dacquoise:

  • Whip 10 egg whites on high in a thoroughly clean from any grease bowl until frothy. With the mixer still running start to gradually add 1 1/4 cups sugar, about one tablespoon at a time. Once the sugar is added, whip the meringue for about 5 minutes.

Making the hazelnut dacquoise layer for this Esterhazy cake recipe.

  • Now add the hazelnut flour in 2-3 additions, carefully folding after each. Do not fold too much or the batter will deflate and not make proper dacquoise.

Adding in the hazelnut flour into the cake mixture.

  • Divide the batter between all your parchment circles and spread it within the drawn circle into a very thin layer. Place the parchment paper on a silicone mat if you have one, to keep it from sliding as you spread the batter.
  • Transfer 2 parchment circles with batter to a baking sheet and bake for about 5 minutes or until slightly golden in color. Remove from the oven and allow to cool without removing from the parchment paper. Continue baking all cake layers in this manner.

Laying out the meringue batter onto the parchment paper.

  • If you use almond flour, your batter will be very white without the speckles you see in the batter made with hazelnut flour.

 How to lay out the batter onto the parchment paper with the almond flour.

  • Roast the sliced almonds:
    Spread about 2 cups of sliced almonds on a baking sheet and bake, tossing often in a preheated to 325F oven until slightly golden, about 5-8 minutes. Watch the nuts closely as they go from done to burnt in a matter of seconds. Once roasted, remove from the oven and allow to cool.

While the layers are baking, make the Egg Yolk Custard Buttercream:

Ingredients for the Egg Yolk Custard Buttercream:

  • egg yolks
  • powdered sugar
  • all-purpose flour
  • milk, boiling hot
  • butter (1 1/4 cups or 280 grams), room temperature
  • vanilla extract

How to make the Egg Yolk Custard Buttercream:

  • Combine 10 egg yolks with the 1 1/3 cups powdered sugar and whisk until smooth. Now add 5 tablespoons of all-purpose flour and whisk again until no lumps appear. While continuing to whisk, add 1 1/4 cups boiling hot milk into the egg yolk mixture being careful not to add too much at once or the egg yolks will curdle.

 Making the homemade egg yolk custard buttercream.

  • Add the mixture to a saucepan and cook over medium heat while vigorously and continuously stirring until the mixture comes to a boil and thickens considerably. As the mixture starts to thicken it will look lumpy, but as you whisk it will smooth out. Cook for about 2-3 minutes past boiling, to rid of the flour taste. Cool to room temperature.

How to make the homemade egg yolk custard buttercream for this Esterhazy cake.

  • Whip room temperature butter on high for about 5 minutes, stopping to scrape the bottom of the bowl several times. The butter should look pale white in color and very fluffy.
    Now in 2-3 additions add the cooled custard to the whipped butter, whipping in between to incorporate. Lastly add 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract and whip once more to incorporate. Do not whip more than necessary or the buttercream will separate.

Whipping together the custard buttercream recipe for this meringue cake.

To assemble Esterhazy Cake:

  • Place a dab of frosting onto the cake board or platter. Place your first cake layer on top and carefully peel off the parchment paper. Top with about two full spoons of frosting and spread around to make an even layer. Do the same with the remaining cake layers and frosting. Do not cover the top layer with frosting.

    Do not put too much frosting on each layer or you will not have enough for the sides of the cake in the end.
    The amount of frosting on each layer will seem like very small amount, but it is enough.
    Once done layering the cake, cover the sides of the cake with the remaining buttercream.

How to assemble the Esterhazy cake on a cake platter.

Now make the glaze for the top of the cake.

Ingredients for the Powdered Sugar Lemon Glaze:

  • sugar
  • lemon juice (if you do not like the lemon flavor, use milk instead)
  • vanilla extract

How to make Lemon Glaze:

  • Add 1 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract and about 3 teaspoons of lemon juice and stir. If it’s hard to stir add more lemon juice until it’s thick, but spreadable. The glaze should not be too runny or it will run off the cake.
  • Take away about 2 tablespoons of the glaze and add 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder. Stir. Transfer to a ziplock bag and close. Snip off a corner.
  • Spread the white glaze on top of the cake, coming close to the edges, but trying not to let it go down the sides. Now make a spiral on top of the cake with the chocolate glaze. Next take a knife and make 8 stripes by dragging it from the middle towards the outside. Make 8 more stripes in between the first set by going in the opposite direction, from outside in.

Decorating the Esterhazy cake with lemon glaze and chocolate drizzle.

  • To cover the sides with sliced almonds, take a handful of slices and press them against the sides if you do not care about the design, or take whole petals of almond slices piece by piece and press them against the side of the cake. Looking at the pictures below you can decide how you would like to do it.

Lining the sides of the meringue cake with sliced almonds.

  • Take about 16 oz of raspberries and arrange them along the outside border of the cake.
    Allow the cake to sit at room temperature for about an hour or two before placing in the refrigerator and leaving it there for about 12 hours before eating.

A slice of Esterhazy cake on a plate with a spoonful of cake.

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Esterhazy - Hazelnut Meringue and Custard Buttercream Cake

Esterhazy - Exceptional Hungarian cake made of Hazelnut Meringue and rich Custard Buttercream | By Let the Baking Begin!
4.34 from 18 votes

A classic Hungarian cake made with Hazelnut Meringue layers and rich Custard Buttercream.

Author: Marina | Let the Baking Begin!
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Hungarian
Keyword: Esterhazy Cake, Hungarian Cake
Calories: 873 kcal
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 2 hours
Servings: 8 servings

Ingredients

Hazelnut Meringue (Dacquoise)

  • 10 egg whites
  • 2 1/2 cups hazelnut flour/meal (or almond)
  • 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar

Egg Yolk Custard Buttercream

Ingredients for the glaze

Also

Instructions

Prep

  1. Preheat oven to 300°F with the rack in the middle.

  2. If you do not have ground hazelnut flour, you can use a vegetable chopper to chop them finely.
  3. Using a 8 inch round baking pan, trace a circle around it on parchment paper, cut around it giving about 1 to 2 inches extra. Now repeat it enough to get 10 circles.

Make the Hazelnut Dacquoise

  1. Whip 10 egg whites on high in a thoroughly clean from any grease bowl until frothy. With the mixer still running start to gradually add 1 1/4 cup of sugar, about one tablespoon at a time. Once the sugar is added, whip the meringue for about 5 minutes.

  2. Now add the hazelnut flour in 2-3 additions, carefully folding after each. Do not fold too much or the batter will deflate and not make proper dacquoise.
  3. Divide the batter between all your parchment circles and spread it within the drawn circle into a very thin layer. Now bake two of the layers at a time, by placing them on a baking sheet. Bake for about 5 minutes or until slightly golden in color. Remove from the oven and allow to cool without removing from the parchment paper. Continue baking all cake layers in this manner.
  4. If you use almond flour, your batter will be very white without the speckles you see in the batter made with hazelnut flour.

Roast the sliced almonds:

  1. Spread about 2 cups of sliced almonds on a baking sheet and bake, tossing often in a preheated to 325F oven until slightly golden, about 5-8 minutes. Watch the nuts closely as they go from done to burnt in a matter of seconds. Once roasted, remove from the oven and allow to cool.

  2. While the layers are baking, make the Egg Yolk Custard Buttercream

How to make the Egg Yolk Custard Buttercream

  1. Combine 10 egg yolks with the 1 1/3 cups powdered sugar and whisk until smooth. Now add 5 tablespoons of all-purpose flour and whisk again until no lumps appear. While continuing to whisk, add 1 1/4 cups boiling-hot milk into the egg yolk mixture being careful not to add too much at once or the egg yolks will curdle.

  2. Add the mixture to a saucepan and cook over medium heat while vigorously and continuously stirring until the mixture comes to a boil and thickens considerably. As the mixture starts to thicken it will look lumpy, but as you whisk it will smooth out. Cook for about 2-3 minutes past boiling, to rid of the flour taste. Cool to room temperature.

  3. Whip room temperature butter on high for about 5 minutes, stopping to scrape the bottom of the bowl several times. The butter should look pale white in color and very fluffy.
  4. Now in 2-3 additions add the cooled custard to the whipped butter, whipping in between to incorporate. Lastly, add 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract and whip once more to incorporate. Do not whip more than necessary or the buttercream will separate.

To assemble Esterhazy Cake:

  1. Place a dab of frosting onto the cake board or platter. Put your first cake layer on top of the dabbed frosting, and now carefully peel off the parchment paper. Top with about two full spoons of frosting and spread around to make an even layer. Do the same with the remaining cake layers and frosting. Do not cover the top layer with frosting.

  2. Do not put too much frosting on each layer or you will not have enough for the sides of the cake in the end. The amount of frosting on each layer will seem like very small amount, but it is enough.
  3. Once done layering the cake, cover the sides of the cake with the remaining buttercream.

How to make Lemon Glaze

  1. Add 1 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract and about 3 teaspoons of lemon juice and stir. If it's hard to stir add more lemon juice until it's thick but spreadable. The glaze should not be too runny or it will run off the cake.

  2. Reserve about 2 tablespoons of the glaze and add 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder to it. Stir. Transfer to a ziplock bag and close. Snip off a corner.

To Decorate

  1. Spread the white glaze on top of the cake, coming close to the edges, but trying not to let it go down the sides. Now make a spiral on top of the cake with the chocolate glaze. Next take a knife and make 8 stripes by dragging it from the middle towards the outside. Make 8 more stripes in between the first set by going in the opposite direction, from outside in.
  2. To cover the sides with sliced almonds, take a handful of slices and press them against the sides if you do not care about the design, or take whole petals of almond slices piece by peice and press them against the side of the cake. Looking at the pictures below you can decide how you would like to do it.
  3. Take about 16 oz of raspberries and arrange them along the outside border of the cake.

  4. Allow the cake to sit at room temperature for about an hour or two before placing in the refrigerator and leaving it there for about 12 hours before eating.
Nutrition Facts
Esterhazy - Hazelnut Meringue and Custard Buttercream Cake
Amount Per Serving
Calories 873 Calories from Fat 387
% Daily Value*
Fat 43g66%
Saturated Fat 5g31%
Cholesterol 248mg83%
Sodium 99mg4%
Potassium 415mg12%
Carbohydrates 108g36%
Fiber 10g42%
Sugar 90g100%
Protein 21g42%
Vitamin A 405IU8%
Vitamin C 17mg21%
Calcium 202mg20%
Iron 4mg22%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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Marina | Let the Baking Begin

Welcome to Let the Baking Begin! I'm Marina and my love and passion for eating only the most delicious foods drive me to share that love here on Let the Baking Begin (since 2009). With over 20 years of experience in the kitchen, you know the recipes are tested and retested until perfect. I'm so happy to have you here. Enjoy! Read more...

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  • Viko

    Hi, I am Hungarian and Eszterházy torta is made with walnut not with hazelnut and has no buttermilk in it. (I read some recipes with cinnamon in it which is a nother mistake.) Please check authentic recipe before posting anything that originates from another country.

    · Reply
  • Clarisse

    I have made this for my Dad as a thank you for a trip to Vienna it was tremendous – as good as Demel! He had seconds before bed AND again for breakfast!
    He is visiting for his birthday this year & I plan to make it again but am short on time:
    QUESTION
    Can I bake layers of cake ahead?
    And if yes, how far ahead can I make the Oblaten layers & store them airtight?
    Thank you!

    · Reply
  • Vita

    Was planing to bake this cake
    Can I bake layers of cake ahead?
    And if yes
    How many days and how I should store just layers?
    Thank you

    · Reply
  • Dail Liles

    For recipe Hazelnut Meringue &Custard Buttercream Cake you do not say the amount to use of batter to make 10 layers. Would appericate a reply back

    · Reply
    • I’m not sure I understand the question. Could you clarify?
      Did you miss the recipe card at the end oh the post, may be?

      · Reply
  • Kate Daly

    Made this twice, as I had a special dinner to prepare for . First time put all meringues in oven together, took ages to cook, and got stuck. custard too difficult to mix in. Second time, cooked meringues one at time. still took ages, and still soft and stuck to parchment. Left them until slightly crispy round the edges, hoping for crispiness to come through. Carefully left custard to cool with clingfilm on top so no skin, and this was a little easier to mix in, but not great. Assembled it, and it looked beautiful. SO disappointing. Soft and tasteless really… only the raspberries made it worth eating, and, yes, it took me 5 hours – even second time. Maybe look for a different recipe with chocolate or some more taste, otherwise its a waste of time and effort. very disappointed

    · Reply
    • Filomena Costa

      Hi,
      Just read your comment; though I have not made this cake, I was very suprised at the custard cream recipe. You don’t add flour to custard cream, it shoul be cornstarch. For taste, I would add the best vinella extract, I use vanilla been or paste.

      · Reply
      • Custards are made many ways, some with flour, some with corn starch others with just eggs or egg yolk. This one is made with flour.

        · Reply
  • Natalia Abramchuk

    I absolutely LOVE making this cake, eating this cake and serving this cake to my loved ones. It is quite a process to make, but I have so much fun making it. It is soooo delicious, so beautiful. Thank you so much for the recipe. This is probably my fourth or fifth time making it and each time it’s gone within a day. Two at the most. Yummy!

    · Reply
  • Debbie

    Absolute disaster. My dough stuck to the paper too and after 25 minutes still wasn’t even golden brown and was still raw.
    I kept up trying to stay positive and nothing else worked even remotely.
    I’ve been to Vienna many times and had Esterhazytorte often in cafes and bakeries and this didn’t even seem to come close. Very complicated cake. I guess I’ll have to find another recipe.

    · Reply
    • Hi Debbie,
      There’re several reasons why the meringue based layers can get stuck to the parchment. 1 – either the parchment paper is of inferior quality (had this happen with a huge stack of parchment I bought), #2 the meringue was under-whipped before adding the nuts, or #3 the meringue was over-mixed after the nuts were added.
      Hope this helps in your future attempts.

      · Reply
  • Jessica

    Do you use metric measurements for your recipes or do you use the American tablespoon and teaspoon?

    · Reply
    • The recipe is made using American measurements of cups and tablespoons. If you’d like to see the metric system, just click “metric” and you’ll see the converted measurements.

      · Reply
  • Gina

    The dough stuck to the parchment paper completely. At 5 minutes it was raw and at 10 minutes it was a bit brown on the edges but there was no removing it from the parchment paper. The custard was a disaster—cooking it for 2 minutes past boiling ended in a very hard blob of yellow goo, no way to incorporate anything into it, let alone butter. I have no idea why this recipe has 5 stars.

    · Reply
    • Hi Gina,
      I’m sorry to hear you had such frustrating experience with the cake.

      It sounds like something went wrong from the get go which is why it all went downhill from there.

      Here’re are some things that could have gone wrong –

      – if you overfold the batter, it will not have enough air in it and the cake layers will be thin, deflated and sticky.

      – you used inferior parchment paper (I’ve had this happen to me, I bought it from the same vendor on amazon as before but that batch of parchment paper had everything stick to it. I bought it from a different vendor and then it was all fine).

      For the custard – if you scoop and you compact it too much you would be adding more flour than the recipe calls for and therefore the end result will be too thick. A splash of milk into the custard should fix this though.

      · Reply
  • Yova

    Dear Marina, after putting off making this cake for a few months, I finally made it this Friday. Thank you very much for the precise guidance through the process and for the pictures. We are four adults at home, all with sweet tooth and extensive experience with making and/or eating cakes. We all unanimously decided this is the best cake we have ever had! Thank you again!

    I only find very unrealistic the preparation time you give. Maybe it’s just me (although I’ve made quite a number of cakes in my life and am very well organized), but the whole process took me much longer; I needed about 30 minutes just to spread the Hazelnut Dacquoise on the sheets of paper. Could you give me an advice how best to do that and with what utencile?

    · Reply
    • Hi Yova! Thank you so much for your detailed feedback! I’m so happy you guys loved the cake!

      You’re right the time was a little off because some metrics were missing. I think the more true preparation time (total is closer to between 2 hours and 2.5 hours.

      Also, for the spreading of the batter on the parchment paper – if you place the parchment paper on a silicone mat it will keep it from sliding. I usually spread the firs two, place them in the oven and while it is baking I do the rest (just continue working like this until all cake layers are baked). You can use a flat offset spatula to help with spreading like THIS one.

      · Reply
  • Codie Kincses

    This cake is amazing I’ve now made it twice in the last 3 days for two different events one for my daughter named Eszter and one for my Thanksgiving at work, it is a heritage theme.

    · Reply
  • Sonia Boehm

    Hi I’m going to make this for an anniversary and noticed that your raspberries look as if they have been drizzled with toffee?

    · Reply
  • Yelena

    Can I use regular flour for this cake or does it have to be specifically the ones listed?

    · Reply
    • Hi Yelena, Thanks for the question! In this recipe only a nut flour can be used, otherwise the cake layers will not come out right. You can replace the almond flour with hazelnut or walnut flour.

      · Reply
      • Becky Hill

        Hi,
        Do you know if walnut flour can be subbed in the exact amount for the other nut flours?
        Thanks!
        Becky

        · Reply
  • Alina

    Hi Marina, I was wandering if I can add the butter to the warm custard and refrigerate it for a while to prevente it from curdleing ?

    · Reply
    • Hi Alina,
      Do not add butter to warm custard or it will melt and become runny. If your custard does start to curdle, you can warm it up a couple seconds at a time in the microwave until it comes together, but do not overheat or it will run and become too runny to fill.

      · Reply
  • Hey Marina! I am currently making this cake. Are the cake layers supposed to be soft instead of crispy?

    Thanks!
    Katy

    · Reply
    • Hi Katy,
      I have made it several times and they sometimes come out soft and sometimes a little crispier. Either way, it’s ok as they will soften up once layered with cream

      · Reply
      • Ok thanks, mine were soft and I was worried it would turn out too mushy and not crispy! But I’ll let you know how it turns out.

        · Reply
        • So I made this 6 hours ago and just cut into a piece. The cake layers are soft, I was expecting more of a meringue crunch with this. But overall it is good! I think I will make the markiza cake instead next time.

          · Reply
          • Hi Katy,
            Yes, in this cake the cake layers are meant to be soft. If you are looking for something more crunchy, Markiza, or Hazelnut Meringue Cake are good ones to try. Thanks for your feedback Katy! Have a good week!

            Marina

  • Nat

    Dont Know what happend, but my korzhi didnt turn out it all have small bubbles , 🙁

    · Reply
    • This usually happens if the egg whites were not whipped enough, or the batter was mixed too much once the nuts were added 🙁

      · Reply
  • Tatyana

    This cake looks and sounds absolutely delicious, so I attempted to make it for Christmas. It did not work ou,t and I followed the recipe exactly and have a lot of experience baking. I can not see what went wrong g exactly.:(

    · Reply
    • Hi Tatyana,
      Would you clarify what exactly did not work out? May be we can troubleshoot it together.

      · Reply
      • Tatyana

        Well, I ground up the hazelnuts myself, as you indicated is possible. When the batter was made, it resembled a meringue moreso than anything – almost like flour was missing (maybe the hazelnuts weren’t fine enough?). But when I stuck them in the oven, they were so sticky and I couldn’t get them off the parchament paper after baking for your recommended time, so I kept the subsequent ones in longer. But when i did that, they were so crunchy and tasted like a meringue and would bake unevenly (crisp on edges and raw in the middle). I may try store bought almond meal next time. What are the layers supposed to be like after baking? Like a cookie, like a meringue, or like a soft cake-like consistency?

        · Reply
  • Natascha

    I will be making this cake for the first time and have scoured the internet trying to find an answer to my question. Would you know how far in advance this cake can be made? You mention letting the cake set for 12 hours prior to serving, but are you aware of how the levels will be affected if baked and assembled 24-36 hours prior to serving? Thank you

    · Reply
    • Ni Natascha,
      You can easily make this cake one to two days ahead. The cake layers are meant to soften as they sit (which is why you want to wait at least 12 hours before serving), so even if it sits a little longer it will not worsen in flavor.

      · Reply
  • Nat

    Can I decorate out side of cake with different frosting, it is ok? Thank you

    · Reply
  • Nat

    Hi. Wanna make this cake, how toll is this cake? Thank you so much

    · Reply
  • Pana

    Hi, Marina. Cake looks amazing. Do you think i can use sugar instead of powdered sugar for egg yolks custard?

    · Reply
    • Hi Pana,
      Yes easily. Just google to see how much that much powdered sugar weighs and use the same amount of granulated sugar in place of it.

      · Reply
  • Natasha

    Hi, Marina. Do you think I could substitute corn starch for flour to make custard so it’s gluten free?

    · Reply
  • Beautiful cake.
    Could you tell me if I can keep the meringue batter waiting at room temperature while baking them two by two.
    I live in a pretty hot country and always have my doubts about leaving food at room temperature mostñy if it is raw.

    Thank you for sharing you expertise and your passion
    Sandra

    · Reply
    • You can bake it two by two, just make sure to spread it on parchment paper as soon as you whip it and then put two at a time into the oven, while leaving the rest on the counter.

      · Reply
  • Natasha @ NATASHA'S KITCHEN

    Those pictures are mouthwatering . What a great way to decorate the cake!

    · Reply
  • Oksana

    Amazing cake. Worth every step. (I used the milk glaze.)

    · Reply
  • Dear Marina, this cake is worth of every single minute of our time 🙂 Thank you and have a pleasant week end !

    · Reply
  • snowflakeslorr

    this is looks so awesome..it is very much my taste :-)..can’t wait to to try it.

    · Reply
  • Yana Stone

    Marina, you are amazing! This is too beautiful to eat! You always do such an excellent work. I am impressed beyond words. Thanks for being so precise and detail-oriented. Your recipes always work.

    · Reply

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