History of Linzer Torte

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Photo from Mother Myrick's Chocolates & Cakes

Torte is the German word for "cake." It is a cake that uses groundnuts as the predominant dry ingredient in place of most or sometimes all of the flour. Although they may be single layered, tortes are often sliced into several layers and filled with whipped cream, jam, or butter cream.

Linz, Austria, located in Upper Austria, main claim to fame is that it is the home of the delicious Linzer Torte, the oldest know cake in the world. It is made from almond short-crust pastry with a characteristic lattice pattern on top, and kept moist by red currant jelly. No visit to Linz would be complete without sampling the most famous pastry of the region.

1696 - An Austrian confectioner Jindrak, famous for its linzer tortes, traces the cake back to 1696:

The ''Linzer Torte" is known to be the oldest kind of cake in the world and has been so named since 1696. Whoever discovered the recipe or named it, will always remain a secret. The oldest receipt dates back to a 300 year old cookery book. Butter, almonds, sugar, flour and the finest of spices were used to make the pastry in former times. Today these ingredients are still mainly used when making the ''Linzer Torte."