Made by alternating layers of cake with layers of chocolate cream and then covering the top with caramel, the Dobos torte takes its name from its inventor, Joseph Dobos, a Hungarian pastry chef who introduced his creation to the world at an 1885 exhibition of tortes and cakes. Within thirty years, recipes for the Dobos torte were being included in English cookbooks. In contrast, the linzertorte, though also a torte, takes its name not from a person but from a place: Linz, a city in Austria that derives its name, like the Belgian city of Limburg, from Undo, an ancient Germanic word meaning linden tree (in Europe, the linden, a tree cultivated for the shade it provides, is sometimes called a lime tree but is not related to the tropical tree that produces that green, citrus fruit). Linzertortes were first referred to in English in the early twentieth century, about the same time as Dobos tortes.
The renowned Hungarian dessert, the Seven-Layer Cake, is traditionally crafted from a genoise sponge, filled with a decadent chocolate frosting, and topped with crispy caramel. This elaborate rendition of the cake boasts an additional layer, totaling eight layers of sweet, indulgent goodness.