Ambassador to the United Kingdom during the negotiations surrounding the Congress of Vienna, Minister for Foreign Affairs at the time of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 which almost led to the breakup of the Habsburg Empire, Paul III Anton, Prince Esterházy, was a statesman and diplomat of little success yet great renown. His family, the Esterházys, was a fantastically wealthy Hungarian noble family -- richer even than the Habsburgs themselves, apparently -- whose land holdings centred around Eisenstadt in contemporary Austria and spanned both sides of what today marks the border between Austria and Hungary. The Esterházys were the patrons of the composer Franz Joseph Haydn and gave refuge to Orthodox Jews expelled from other parts of the empire, forming the so-called Seven Communities later destroyed during the Holocaust. The Esterházy name, its power and cachet, was impressed upon the Habsburg empire, including in the kitchen, where various dishes from Esterházygulasch to the Esterházybombe were named in honour of the family -- and Paul III Anton, Prince Esterházy, in particular.
The lasting legacy of this Esterházy fever in the Viennese kitchen is the Esterházytorte. Created in Budapest at the beginning of the twentieth century, like so many things in the Austro-Hungarian empire it migrated to Vienna and established itself as one of the city's signature desserts. Like another great gateau of Hungarian origin, the Dobostorte, Esterházytorte is distinguished by its many fine alternating layers of, in this case, genoise cake -- made using ground almonds, hazelnuts, or sometimes walnuts, lemon zest, and (though I don't think I've ever had it this way) cinnamon -- and a custard cream or buttercream flavoured with cherry brandy. (Cherry brandy is the accepted modern variant on the original recipe, which used a combination of rum and maraschino.) To be a true Esterházytorte, the cake -- baked either in the round, served in pieces, or in a long, thin pan and cut into slices -- must be finished with the signature glaze, a feather icing with a clear base and a swirling chocolate pattern.
