A cake made for celebrations: Doberge and its history in New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — A celebration arguably isn’t complete without a cake, and for some New Orleans families, that cake is a doberge cake.
This crowd-pleasing cake, typically flavored with chocolate or lemon, originates in New Orleans. But how did it get here, and how have modern bakers been adding their own twist to the classic cake?
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To get some answers, WGNO talked with Charlotte McGehee and Charles Mary IV from Debbie Does Doberge.
Mary said that the tradition of doberge cake dates back to the 1930s, with the original recipe coming from a baker named Beulah Ledner.
“Beulah Ledner came up with a great idea and made this wonderful dessert and started a little bakery and that bakery went on for a little while and became extremely popular,” Mary said.
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He said the name derives from a similar baked good called a “dobos torte” but has changed over time to reflect the new cake and a “Frenchified” name.
“It’ been a celebratory cake for New Orleanians and a pretty well-kept secret for almost 80 years now,” Mary said.
McGehee said that doberge cake is comprised of three components: an oil or butter-based cake, a custard, pudding or ganache filling and poured fondant icing.
The cake typically contains six to eight layers of cake with custard between each layer. However, McGehee said her cakes only contain seven.
When making cakes, McGehee said she likes to keep her recipe closer to Ledner’s take on the dobos torte with a lighter cake and pudding filling.
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“We use pudding rather than custard and no eggs, just like as light and fluffy as possible. We try to focus on the flavors being as impactful as possible,” she said.
For the traditional chocolate and lemon flavors, McGehee said she uses a white butter cake rather than a yellow cake, noting that she does not use any butter or egg yolks.
“We kind of wanted to keep in the same tradition that Bulah adapted dobos torte from what we were reintroducing to the city that was Charlotte’s particular style of doberge which was again, making it lighter for the modern palate,” Mary said.
McGehee enjoys experimenting with new flavors. She said she has a different rotation of flavors for every holiday as well as some boozy flavors.
“The rainbow wedding cake flavor is definitely the most popular outside of the chocolate and lemon,” McGehee said.
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Some of the more unique flavor combinations McGehee and Mary have tried include fig and white chocolate goat cheese, peanut butter and jelly, nectar sno-ball and a “red hot velvet Elvis.”
In addition to cakes, McGehee makes “dobites,” mini cake squares similar to petit fours.
“Our doberge petit fours are completely encased in fondant as opposed to other petit fours where they’re just iced on top,” Mary said.
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