Zuger Kirschtorte
A round torte made of almond or hazelnut meringue bases, a soaked sponge and a pink buttercream, its sides covered with flaked almonds and its top dusted with sugar. Born in Zug in 1915, it is flavoured with the region's kirsch.
In the workshop of a Zug confectioner’s, the pastry chef drenches the sponge, then lays a flat hand on it. When the syrup comes up to the palm, the amount is right. Culinary Heritage of Switzerland reports this gesture, which says everything about the torte: moist to the core.
Origin
The cherry has long mattered in Zug: according to the List of Living Traditions in Switzerland, a cherry market was held there as early as 1627, and the canton also makes its kirsch from them. Heinrich Höhn opened a small confectioner’s in the town in 1913. According to Culinary Heritage of Switzerland, he spent several years looking for a torte soaked in this local spirit; his first advertisement for a “Zuger Kirschtorte” appeared in a local newspaper on 23 December 1915, and the torte found its present form in 1917. Awarded prizes at exhibitions, it stirred envy: other confectioners in the town imitated it.
Making
The federal specification lists four components: two Japonais bases, discs of egg white beaten with sugar and almonds or hazelnuts, baked until crisp; a pale sponge; a kirsch syrup; a buttercream flavoured with kirsch. Everything is assembled by hand. Set on a first base spread with cream, the sponge soaks up its syrup, then is topped with the second base. A layer of cream then envelops the whole and holds in the alcohol. The sides are covered with toasted flaked almonds, the top with icing sugar mixed with starch, marked with a diamond pattern. Today the pink of the cream comes from beetroot juice; old recipes used raspberry syrup.
At the table
Whole or in slices, it is served for dessert, often with a coffee. Once cut, it keeps for a few days in the fridge, with cling film over the cut side. It contains alcohol: the specification requires at least 4% by weight.
Today
Since 2015, Zuger Kirschtorte has been a protected geographical indication (IGP): it is made only in the canton of Zug, with Zuger Kirsch or Rigi Kirsch. According to Culinary Heritage of Switzerland, ten confectioners in the canton were turning out more than 250,000 a year in 2018. This demand has benefited the high-stem cherry trees of Zug and the Rigi, which are once again better tended.
Sources: Culinary Heritage of Switzerland, entry “Zuger Kirschtorte (GGA/IGP)”; Federal Office for Agriculture, specification for Zuger Kirschtorte IGP; Federal Office of Culture, List of Living Traditions in Switzerland, entry “Kirschenanbau”.