On this Day: December 5 is Sacher Torte Day
Created in 1832, the Sacher Torte must be the most famous chocolate cake in the world today.
WHEN 16-year-old apprentice chef Franz Sacher created the Sacher Torte at the court of Prince Metternich in 1832, little did he know the impact his cake would have on chocolate lovers worldwide.
The recipe for the original Sacher-Torte is a well-kept secret, known only to confectioners at Hotel Sacher in Vienna, but austria.info.uk has the following recipe to offer.
Ingredients
For the Sacher Torte
7 egg yolks
150g softened butter
125g icing sugar
200g dark chocolate
1 packet (8g) vanilla sugar
7 egg whites
125g castor sugar
A pinch of salt
150g flour
Butter and flour for the mould
150 – 200g apricot jam, for spreading
Rum, if desired
Whipped cream to garnish
For the glaze
200g dark chocolate coating or cooking chocolate
250g sugar
150-170 ml water
Method
Melt the chocolate slowly (ideally in a bain-marie). Meanwhile, mix the butter with the icing sugar and vanilla sugar until creamed. Gradually stir in the egg yolks. Pre-heat the oven to 180 °C. Grease a cake tin with butter and sprinkle with flour. Whip up the egg whites with a pinch of salt, add the castor sugar and beat to a stiff peak. Stir the melted chocolate into the paste with the egg yolks and fold in the whipped egg whites alternately with the flour. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for around 1 hour.
Remove the cake and leave to cool (to achieve a flat surface turn the cake out on to a work surface immediately after baking and turn it again after 25 minutes).
If the apricot jam is too solid, heat it briefly and stir until smooth, before flavouring with a shot of rum. Cut the cake in half crosswise. Cover the base with jam, set the other half on top, and coat the upper surface and around the edges with apricot jam.
For the glaze, break the chocolate into small pieces. Heat up the water with the sugar for a few minutes. Pour into a bowl and leave to cool down until just warm to the taste (if the glaze is too hot it will become dull in appearance, but if too cold it will become too viscous). Add the chocolate and dissolve in the sugar solution.
Pour the glaze quickly, i.e. in a single action, over the cake and immediately spread it out and smooth it over the surface, using a palate knife or other broad-bladed knife. Leave the cake to dry at room temperature.
Serve with a garnish of whipped cream. If possible, do not store the Sacher Torte in the fridge, as it will ‘sweat’.
Guten Appetit!
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