All Tortes Are Cakes, But Not All Cakes Are Tortes

National Coconut Torte Day is celebrated every year on March 13. It’s a day to celebrate a rich and creamy dessert that has people smacking their lips all over the world.

A torte is basically a form of cake without flour. It is a dense, multi-layered cake made with a breadcrumb or groundnut base and layered with a heavy helping of cream, jam, buttercream, ganache, or fruit.

• 100 AD – Coconuts have been around longer than people think; originally traded by Arab merchants who carried them from India to East Africa almost 2,000 years ago.
• 1200s – Resulting from his venture to Egypt, Marco Polo christens the coconut ‘the Pharaoh’s nut.’
• 13th Century – traders introduced the coconut to Europeans along the Asian Silk Roads, one of the more famous being Marco Polo, who called the coconut “The Pharaoh’s Nut.”
• 1400s – An edition of Dioscorides’ Tractatus De Herbis, an illustrated document of medicinal plants, alludes to the existence and value of coconuts.
• 1600s – Claiming fame from Linz, Austria, it’s known as the oldest cake in the world, originally believed to have begun in the 1600s at the Vienna Stadt und Landesbibliothek.
• 1653 – A handwritten recipe for Linzer Torte in the Vienna City Library shows an almond pastry with fruit jam, making it one of the oldest documented European tortes.
• 1718 – Recipes similar to that of the Sacher torte appeared as early as the eighteenth century, one instance being in the 1718 cookbook of Conrad Hagger.
• 19th Century – Until now, many have used the coconut as decorations and food, believing it had magical healing powers,
• Mid-19th Century – Coconut Becomes Widely Available in the United States. Improved shipping and processing allow dried and shredded coconut to be imported regularly, making it a popular ingredient in American home baking.
• Late-19th Century – Manufacturers begin selling factory‑processed, shredded coconut, making it safe, convenient, and affordable for home cooks to add to cakes and tarts.
• 1800s – Coconuts become available in America.
• 1832 – Sacher Torte, a chocolate cake filled with apricot jam and covered with chocolate icing.  It was created in Vienna in 1832 by a 16-year-old apprentice baker, Franz Sacher, for Prince Metternich.
• 1870s – With cheaper sugar and better ovens, American bakers embraced tall, iced layer cakes, setting the stage for elaborate coconut cakes and tortes.
• 1920s – The idea of coconut cake emerged in the 1920s and was served at ladies’ gatherings. From there, people began experimenting with coconut and eventually created the coconut torte.
• 1920s – Community cookbooks and women’s clubs help spread recipes for coconut layer cakes, encouraging home bakers to experiment with richer, torte‑style desserts.
• 20th Century – In the American South, tall white cakes covered in coconut gained a reputation as festive showpieces, often baked for holidays and special gatherings.
• Mid-20th Century – As Central European tortes gain popularity in North America, bakers begin combining nut‑based layers, whipped creams, and coconut to create modern coconut tortes.
• 2011 – A study by the National Geographic Society reveals the Southeast Asian and Indian origin of the coconut tree.
• The word torte is German and means cake.
• All tortes are cakes, but not all cakes are tortes
• Torte refers to both a multi-layered cake filled with buttercream, jam, or cream, and to a rich, moist, and dense single-layered cake.  A torte may be made with little to no flour, instead using ground nuts or breadcrumbs, along with sugar, eggs, and flavorings.
• The word ‘coconut’ is derived from the Iberian word ‘El coco,’ which refers to a mythical, hairy monster, which must have been a nod to the coarse hairs outside a coconut.
• A coconut tree can grow up to ninety feet.
• Coconut is rich in fiber, Vitamin B6, iron, and minerals like magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, selenium, and zinc.
• Coconut oil moisturizes our skin and helps keep it clear and hair silky, too.
• Tortes are commonly baked in a springform pan.
• All tortes are cakes, but not all cakes are tortes.
  • Cakes are usually made with the main ingredient of flour, but tortes usually don’t contain flour.
  • Tortes are much shorter than cakes because they have much thinner layers.
• The most well-known of the typical tortes include the Austrian Sacher torte.
• Coconuts are Not Nuts. “Coconuts are drupes, which are fleshy fruits with thin skin and a central stone containing the seed,” says Len Monheit, executive director of the Coconut Coalition of the Americas
• Coconuts contain a high amount of dietary fiber, as well as protein and many essential minerals, such as manganese, copper, iron and selenium, making them a beneficial health food you can feel good about feeding your family.
• Coconuts are used in oils, flour, water, non-dairy milk, snacks and more
• After drying, the meat of the coconut is called “copra.”
• There are 280 calories per cup of coconut.
• Makapuno, cultivated in the Philippines, is the most expensive coconut.
• Smashing a coconut in Hindu mythology symbolizes getting rid of ego.
• The three holes or eyes on coconuts are pores for germination. This is the point from where seedlings emerge.

Sources:

National Day Calendar

Days of the Year

Mobile-Cuisine

National Days Today

National Today

The post by SouthFloridaReporter.com appears on South Florida Reporter.