Linzer Torte

This week my aim was to find a recipe that would help me to use up at least a little bit of the redcurrant and vanilla jam I made a few weeks ago. The jam turned out pretty well and redcurrant is one of my favourites, but I was looking for something to highlight the taste of these little guys even more.

I don’t think I have ever shared this bit of information on the blog but my husband and I have an allotment, or Schrebergarten in German. I am a city girl, born and raised in a city with over a million inhabitants and at the other end of the scale is my husband, who grew up in a small village with a population of 800. He grew up surrounded by nature and now that we both live in a city apartment he grows frustrated not to have a green space, especially during the summer. He wanted to be relaxing closer to nature and not having to drive miles to get there. 

So about four years ago he came up with this allotment idea, a piece of land that gives people in the city the opportunity to have some space to relax by greenery, build a shed and grow food. After deciding to go after one the rest happened so fast and in the end we were given a piece of land by an elderly couple who just could not manage to look after it anymore. It’s about 300m2 and my husband did a great job building a shed that has a small kitchen, landing, barbecue grill and a greenhouse. With a lot of hard work we transformed this piece of land to grow fruit and vegetables (it is not easy working the land!) and also as a space to socialise with friends for a barbecue and relax on our hammock.

At the moment we have an apple tree, peaches, plums, rhubarb, lettuce, tomatoes, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, broccoli, marrow, cucumber, a mulberry tree and a lot more, including 8 bushes full of redcurrants, and trust me when I tell you: that is a lot of redcurrants.

I was very happy about how my first attempt to bake a Linzer Torte turned out, it tasted amazing. You can always substitute de redcurrant for another type of jam, but my advice is to choose a fruit that has a tartness to it.

Linzer torte

150g brown sugar

200g butter, room temperature

2 tbsp rum or Kirsch

3 eggs, yolks and whites separated

250g plain flour

170g almonds or hazelnuts, ground

A pinch of salt

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp cloves, ground

1 tbsp baking powder

Zest of 1 lemon

250g redcurrant jam

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Using an electric whisk beat the butter, rum and sugar until the mixture becomes pale in colour. Add the yolks and continue to whisk.

2. In a separate bowl mix the flour, ground nuts, salt, cinnamon, cloves, lemon zest and the baking powder. Slowly incorporate the dry and wet mixtures using the electric whisk but be careful not to over beat it. Pour 1/3 of this prepared mixture into a bowl and chill in the fridge.

3. Whisk the egg whites into stiff peaks and gently fold it to the 2/3 of the prepared mixture. Line the bottom of a round baking tin (28cm diameter) with greaseproof paper and pour the mixture. Top it with the jam.

4. Using a rolling pin flatten the dough that was in the fridge and cut it into strips to make a lattice effect on top of the torte. Bake for 35 minutes or until golden in colour.