It is not easy to answer your question properly without knowing The detail of your application and the control and system requirements. However, I can say that for many electrical machines the torque is proportional to the current. Hence, control the current and you control the torque. In many applications I have found that, best results are obtained by first closing a current loop (often a simple proportional or proportional + integral) then addinge.g an optimal LQ controller for speed or position. So I’d suggest something like that. Local control of torque with higher level (outer loops) optimal.
For practice application, the cascaded approach also has the benefit that it allows the designer to limit/constrain the current command signals from the outer controller to match the physical limits of the motor/drive.
The comments are based on my experience in design and test of these loops for motors, electric actuators, hydraulics and pneumatics; hope you find it useful.