Ingredients
- 7 egg yolks
- 5.3 oz softened butter
- 4.5 oz confectioners sugar
- 7 oz dark chocolate
- 1 packet (8g) vanilla sugar
- 7 egg whites
- 4.5 oz crystal sugar
- a pinch of salt
- 5.3 oz flour
- butter and flour for the mould
- 5 - 7 oz apricot jam, for spreading
- rum, if desired
- whipped cream to garnish
- 7 oz dark chocolate coating or cooking chocolate
- 5.8 oz sugar
- 10 about 10 tbsp water
Preparation
Step 1
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Don’t trust any old confectioner who wants you to believe that his Sachertorte is the real deal. The cake might taste amazing and the chocolate glaze could have the signature silky sheen, but family Sacher keeps its secret recipe under lock and key. Even the official Sacher cookbooks don’t disclose the precise instructions, but offer a similar recipe.
It’s no surprise that the Sachers became so protective of their cake. One Viennese pastry maker in particular posed a serious threat to their dessert monopoly.
Created at the court
Franz Sacher was in his second year as an apprentice in the kitchen of Prince Metternich, when he unwittingly made culinary history. One night in 1832, the court’s head chef fell ill, and it was up to 16 year old Sacher to create a dessert for Metternich and his guests. He baked flour, butter, sugar, eggs, and chocolate into a fluffy cake, spread warm jam on top, and covered the whole thing in a rich chocolate glaze.
It took another generation of Sachers for this creation to make waves: Franz Sacher’s oldest son Eduard followed in his father’s footsteps and became an apprentice with the imperial k. u. k. Hofzuckerbäcker Demel. At the courtly patisserie on Vienna’s Kohlmarkt, Eduard perfected his father’s Sachertorte, and created the dessert as we know it. As a result, the pastry shop felt entitled to brand their cakes as the “original Sachertorte” and - for a while - Demel got away with it.