I was looking for a quirky and interesting cake for my birthday this week. I came across this.
Blitz Torte (meaning “lightning cake”) looks really interesting. While I do have German ancestors, none of them were particularly notable cooks (at least not for a few generations), and so this is really the first I’ve heard of it. So let’s give this a try…
Follow package directions for Duncan Hines Yellow Cake, except in Step 2 add 4 egg yolks instead of 2 whole eggs. Spread batter in 2 greased and floured 9-in. round or 8-in. square layer cake pans. Spread this meringue over batter: Beat 4 egg whites with few grains salt until frothy. Gradually beat in 2/3 cup sugar.
Over meringue sprinkle 2 Tablesp. sugar and 1/4 cup shaved blanched almonds. Bake at 350° for 40 to 45 mins. Cool in pans 15 min. Remove from pans. Cool on rack meringue-side up.
To serve, cover meringue-side of one layer with a package of frozen red raspberries or strawberries, partially thawed and drained. Over berries spread 1 cup whipping cream whipped stiff with 2 Tablesp. sugar. (Save some whipped cream and a few berries to decorate the top.) Cover with other layer, meringue-side up. Makes 10 to 12 servings.
Usually the fun in retro cakes is making a cake from scratch. You’ve heard me pontificate about this before. But this time, the fun is all the stuff that goes on top of the cake.
I told Buzz he needed to get me an authentic 1960 package, but this was the best he could find.
Making a cake is easy enough, especially when using boxed mix.
And meringue can be whipped up (har har) quickly, too.
A sprinkle of sugar and almonds, and they were ready to bake.
Baking is where things got… weird. The cakes both doubled in volume while baking, but started collapsing when removed from the oven. The cakes had also pulled away from the inside edge of the pan, and weren’t nice straight cylinders.
Assembly is where things got difficult. Between the meringue sticking and crumbling, and trying to flip it out of the pan and then onto a rack, there were cracks and bits of cake falling off and it didn’t look much like a pretty, solid cake anymore.
Putting whipped cream and fruit in the middle, dropping the top layer on in a hurry, dolloping more on top — it was a rather haphazard assembly process!
Appearance aside, this was a pretty cool cake. Whipped cream and raspberries play nicely together, and make a delightfully creamy contrast with cake. Meringue and almond gave nice contrasting texture and sweetness to the whole thing. It’s a very interesting idea and well worth trying again in future!
Retro Recipe Attempts 
Great article. Love the pictures. I would happily grab a fork and dig in.
Would baking the meringues on their own work?
By: Lauri on September 7, 2015
at 3:27 pm
Interesting idea! Probably, as long as you were careful with the meringue shape and kept them round 🙂
By: Erica Retrochef on September 7, 2015
at 6:13 pm
I’m not a box cake fan, but there are whole books out there devoted to making great cakes from mixes by adding lots of other ingredients. This one looks really good and intriguing, I bet it tasted wonderful!
By: Lassie on September 7, 2015
at 4:01 pm
My first thought when I saw this was, “What a neat idea,” followed almost immediately by, “How the heck would you get that out of the cake pan?” Yours looks much better than I would have guessed given how hard it must have been to try to get a meringue-topped cake out of the pan and still intact!
By: Poppy Crocker on September 7, 2015
at 6:39 pm
Wow, what a beautiful idea! I am horrible at meringues, though, so I, too, would have had Imminent Cake Collapse happening pretty immediately, too – but this does look worth trying, if I try it with a springform, maybe…?
By: tee+d on September 7, 2015
at 7:40 pm
Looking at the advertisement, it seems that the top layer of meringue is rather thin compared to the other layer. Then again, that cake’s probably made up of asbestos. Still! It looks good!
By: sixdegreesofstoogeration on September 7, 2015
at 9:57 pm
Just make a couple of pavlovas on the side. Assemble afterwards.
By: Catanea on April 8, 2017
at 4:24 pm