Sachertorte (Sacher Cake)

In 1832, Prince Metternich asked his court kitchen to create a special dessert for a reception. Due to the illness of the chef, it fell to the 16-year-old apprentice Franz Sacher (1816-1907) to dream something up: and thus the Original Sachertorte, now famous all over the world, was born ...

Ingredients:

For a cake form 22-24 cm Ø:

140 g butter (room temperature)
110 g icing sugar
1/2 pod vanilla (pulp)
6 egg yolks
6 egg whites
130 g eating chocolate
110 g sugar
140 g flour (fine)
200 g apricot jam
butter and flour (for the cake form)
cream (whipped)

For the frosting:

200 g sugar
125 ml water
150 g chocolate

Preparation:

In a bowl, whip the butter, icing sugar and vanilla pulp until creamy. Gradually add the egg yolks, and continue beating until the mixture is thick and creamy. Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie (double boiler). When completely melted, fold into the mass. Beat the egg white until stiff, sprinkling in the sugar and continue to beat until the mass is stiff and glossy. Heap the beaten egg white onto the egg yolk mixture, sift over the flour and carefully fold with a cooking spoon.

Line the bottom of a spring-clip cake form with baking paper and grease the sides of the form with butter. Sift over some flour. Fill the spring form with the mixture and spread evenly. Bake in a preheated oven at 170 °C for 55–60 minutes, leaving the door slightly ajar during the first 10–15 minutes. (You can test the cake to see if it’s done by pressing lightly on it with your finger. There should be slight resistance).

Still in the cake form, turn the cake upside down on a cake rack and allow to cool for about 20 minutes. Open up the spring form and peel off the paper. Put the form back on the cake, then turn the cake over, and allow to fully cool in the form so that all the unevenness can settle and smooth out on the surface.
Remove the cake form and cut the cake in half horizontally with a sharp knife.

Warm up the jam, stir until smooth and spread on to both cake halves, then put back together again. Spread the jam all over the cake and allow to dry a little.
For the frosting, bring the water and sugar to boil so that it bubbles for about 5–6 minutes. Allow to cool slightly. Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie and, stirring, gradually add the sugar until it becomes a thick glaze. (See ‘Tip’). Quickly pour the slightly warm frosting over the cake and, with a spatula, spread the frosting smoothly over the surface of the cake. Allow to dry for a few hours, until the icing is hard. Serve with whipped cream.

Baking time: 55-60 minutes
Oven temperature: 170° C
Suggested decoration: Usually the Sacher Torte isn't decorated. Only in the house of Sacher does it get a 'cake stamp'.

Tip:
To test the correct consistency of the frosting, pour some over a wooden cooking spoon. A layer of icing about 4 mm thick should stick to the spoon. Should the icing be too thick, it can be thinned by adding a few drops of sugarwater (use what is left from the water-sugar mix and dissolve with a little water). Also, make sure that the icing doesn’t get too hot, otherwise it will be matt when it dries, and not glossy.