I remember my mother making this as a no-bake tort using sponge fingers.
She called it tort Jadwiga.
I have not been able to find a recipe for this other than in my notes and now I wonder whether she called it after me!
Partly because I did not have any sponge fingers and partly because I wanted to make a round cake – I decided to make this by baking two round fat free sponges.
Three are 4 parts to the ingredients list:
- Fat free sponges – I used a quick English style version
- Juice of a large orange
- Rum & Almond butter icing
- Toasted flaked almonds to decorate.
Ingredients -Fat Free sponge
- 4 eggs
- 150g caster sugar
- 150g self raising flour
Method – Fat Free sponge
- Pre-heat the oven to GM4 – 180°C
- Grease and line the base of two 18cm diameter baking tins.
- In a bowl whisk the eggs and caster sugar until they are pale and creamy.
- Gently fold in the flour.
- Pour the mixture into the tins and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden.
Ingredients – Butter Cream
- 110g unsalted butter
- 50g ground almonds
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 tablespoons of rum
- 300g icing sugar (approx)
Method – Butter Cream
- Cream the butter with around half of the icing sugar.
- Add the egg yolks and cream again till fluffy.
- Add the ground almonds and the rum and whisk again.
- Start adding the rest of the icing sugar until you have a thick butter cream.
Assembling the tort
- Prick the top of each sponge with a skewer.
- Place one of the sponges on the cake stand or plate you are going to use.
- Using a spoon pour half the orange juice over the base of the tort.
- Put a layer of the butter cream over the base.
- Put the second cake on top and gently pour the rest of the orange juice over it.
- Using a small spatula cover the top and sides with the rest of the butter cream.
- Scatter the almond flakes over the edge of the top and around the sides of the tort.
Tea set by Royal Standard – Lyndale from the 1950s
Journey From A Polish Kitchen 
Hi Helena, I stumbled across your post about the Jadwiga Tort and couldn’t believe what I was reading… I was searching for the recipe of jadwiga because my Mother used to make it for special occasions. She thought it had been named after my Great Grandmother! Either way, the recipe came to the UK with my Grandmother Janina around 1944. The recipe I remember was very close to yours but used what we called Boudoir biscuits (lady fingers) in a couple of opposed layers to form the base. The whole cake ended up as a long, basically white, rectangle with almond flakes on the top. This is either an amazing coincidence, a well known Polish tort or we’re related !!!
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Wow! My name is Halina Jadwiga, named after my Grandmother Jadwiga. My mum came to England via Kazakhstan and Palestine (Polish School there) in 1947(or 46). She made this cake with sponge fingers or as you say boudoir biscuits but I tried it out with sponge cake as I did not have any. (Hers was a rectangle shape also.)
I searched and could not find this recipe in books or online. As I wrote, this was from my notes and jottings. What a coincidence!
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Thank you for the reply Halina… I think you might have solved the coincidence!
My mother was also at the Polish School in Palestine (Ain -Karem) around 1946-47. Her mother (my Grandmother – Janina Szalinska) was one of the ‘house mothers’/careers and did some teaching roles for the Headteacher: Maria Plichta.
I’ve just spoken with my mother who tells me that “special family days were celebrated at ‘home’ when Janina would make Jadwiga, if she could get the ingredients. She bought ingredients in Jerusalem & made Jadwiga for name’s-days etc; Never used a recipe or allowed us to watch it being made.”
Apparently, there is a baked version (like yours) and a ‘compiled’ version from bakery items with the sponge fingers. I’m now nagging my Mother to send me the recipe so I can have a go myself.
I wonder if there was a connection between your Mother and my Grandmother at the Polish School? I haven’t heard of this cake anywhere else, and for my taste it beats Tiramisu every time.
Special occasions only!
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My mother was Krystyna Sobierajska.
She came from near Grodno
My father’s sister Maria Kasperowicz was also at the school.
Both born in 1926 (my aunty is still alive).
My mum met my dad in England in Herefordshire. He had been with general Anders at Monte Cassino.
They came from what was then the Polish borderlands with Russia, now in Bialorus.
My father always thought of Wilno as his big town.
Another friend of my mother’s from the school was Stasia(Stanislawa)Mrozek.
She had other friends, many went to Argentina! I do not have their names.
What a small world if your Grandmother knew any of them.
Anyway – it does not seem to be a well known recipe but it is delicious!
So glad you wrote to me.
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