Torta #5: torta chocolate
The torta chocolate consists of three layers of biscochuelo de chocolate, and two layers of dulce de leche, topped off with a perfect layer of chocolate frosting (banado de chocolate).
We each take a bite. As you can tell from the picture, it is moist. It is also incredibly rich, but unlike the torta rogel, it seems perfectly balanced: the thick layers of chocolate cake work together with the thinner layers of dulce de leche in a way that could inspire epic poems. You can literally hear the sound of harps and the voices of angels when you take a bite. (OK, that may just have been a neurological reaction to the havoc being wreaked upon our insulin levels, but still: Harps and Angels.)
Dark chocolate, sweet caramel, a few flakes of coconut on top. We were stuffed, but we finished it all. Then we sat back and rested, and it was good.
It’s not as if this cake needs to have anything else going for it, but it does. Turns out that in other parts of Argentina, this cake is called torta de selva negra: “Black Forest,” or “Black Jungle,” probably the coolest name ever for a dessert. Welcome to the Jungle, indeed. (If you got the money honey, we got your disease….)
And that about sums it up. This torta is dark, dense, and transcendent. Turns out, this black jungle is really just a stairway to heaven. (Apologies for that one.)
Who Should Get It: Everyone. Even people allergic to chocolate or caramel. It’ll be worth the swollen throat or the coma or whatever.
Should You Share? No. NO! Can’t you read? You will want the whole Black Jungle to yourself. Remember Lord of the Rings? Gollum would have traded in that stupid ring for a piece of this.
Bottom Line of our Torta Test:
The Innsbruck has some really good desserts. But it has one dessert, in particular, that you really, really need to experience.
We only hope it didn’t cost poor Federico his soul.
And that we didn’t do irreparable damage to our bodies’ abilities to regulate sugar and insulin.
Considering I have developed the BIGGEST sweet tooth in Nepal (every meal consists of rice, salty lentils and spicy vegetables), I would absolutely have sold my soul to have been at this testing. After looking at these pictures, I might go cry, then buy some questionable snickers that contains egg (?).
Snickers WITH EGG??? That sounds delightful. I would scramble them.