Why This Unique Cake Is A Birthday Must-Have In New Orleans

You might think that people generally eat the same kind of cakes all over the country, but New Orleans is known for a unique take on the popular dessert. It's customary for New Orleanians to celebrate their birthdays with a doberge, which consists of several layers of cake with custard in between. Chef and New Orleans native David Guas noted in a January 2024 piece for Southern Living that it was common when he was growing up to hear someone remark, "Oh, he didn't have a doberge," when a classmate's birthday party was missing the beloved confection. 

The cake's history in New Orleans dates back to 1933 when a woman named Beulah Ledner opened a bakery in The Big Easy. Ledner created her own spin on the dobos torte, which is a Hungarian layered cake, and dubbed it the doberge to appeal to New Orleanians' affinity for all things French. She replaced the dobos' buttercream layers with custard and pared the traditional eleven layers down to a more manageable eight, but still used buttercream for the decadent frosting.

Ledner sold her bakery and recipes to a man named Joe Gambino in 1946, and the doberge tradition continued on at Joe Gambino's Bakery, as it was renamed in 1949. Despite facing setbacks after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the bakery still has several store locations in Louisiana. To this day, you can only find Ledner's original doberge recipe at Joe Gambino's.

From the very beginning, doberge cakes, often pronounced "DOH-bash," were made in a variety of flavors including chocolate and caramel. One popular variation was made with two different flavors of custard filling, chocolate and lemon. Rather than alternating between the different custard flavors for each layer, Ledner split the cakes right down the middle with one side filled with lemon custard and the other chocolate. This gave the "half and half" doberges a unique appearance.

Joe Gambino's still sells the chocolate and lemon doberge cake today in addition to a caramel/lemon and a caramel/chocolate variation. For those who want uniformity, the bakery also offers whole lemon, chocolate, and caramel cakes. While Joe Gambino's is the only bakery with Ledner's official recipe, you can find doberge cakes at Louisiana establishments including Debbie Does Doberge and Rouses Markets. If you find yourself in the New Orleans area with something to celebrate, consider trying the Crescent City's unique and beloved doberge cake.