Sacher-Torte

Couple of year ago, my husband brought a Sacher Torte from Vienna as a Valentine’s day gift for me.  This year, I want to treat my Hubby with the same. (Of course made by me)

Sacher Torte is a very special chocolate torte, invented in Vienna by the chef Franz Sacher in 1832. The layered cakes are generally known as torte. So, with the Inventor name is known as Sacher Torte.  I try to post few more interesting Torte’s this year.

Though the Sacher Hotel in Vienna claims they only have the original recipe, I think it’s an open secret now. It’s basically a chocolate cake, coated with apricot jam and chocolate icing on top of it. However, I adopted the recipe from here. 

Making the Sacher Torte is not an easy task. Its time consuming but, at the end it’s worth it. – Trust me.

Here the ingredients list: 

For Chocolate sponge cake:   60gms of bittersweet chocolate     ;             60gms of soft butter          ;        1/2 cup of confectioner sugar         ;        3 eggs  (yolks & whites separated)      ;         1/2 cup of all purpose flour   ;  1 tsp of Vanilla

For Apricot Glaze :   5/8 cup of apricot jam or preserves      ;         2 tbsp of rum or water

For Chocolate Glaze   :    ½ cup of granulated sugar         ;          1/4 cup water         ;             60 gms bittersweet chocolate

For Piping :  50gms of semi sweet chocolate     ;      1 tsp of Olive oil

Procedure to make Cake:  Melt the chocolate using double boiler and allow it to cool.

Using the kitchen aid or standing mixer beat the butter at medium speed with paddle blade attachment for about a minute and add ¼ cup of confectioners’ sugar and continue to beat at high speed until light in color and texture, may take about 2 minutes.

While running the mixer, add the egg yolks one by one. Also add melted chocolate and Vanilla.

Beat (at high speed) the egg whites and ¼ cup of confectioners’ sugar in a separate bowl using the hand mixer until to form soft, shiny peaks.

Stir about one fourth of the beaten whites into the chocolate mixture and fold gently.  then fold in the remaining whites in to the choco-mixture.

Sift half of the flour over the chocolate mixture, and fold in with a large rubber spatula. Repeat with the remaining flour.

Transfer the cake batter into a pre-greased pan and spread evenly. Transfer the pan into a 200°C pre-heated oven for about 45 minutes or until it’s done.

Allow the cake to cool completely.  Meanwhile, in bowl mix the apricot jam with 2 tbsp of rum and combine well.

Once, the cake cooled, using serrated knife, trim the top of the cake to make it level. (While baking the center of cake must have bulged slightly) and cut the cake horizontally into two equal layers.

On the bottom layer, spread little apricot jam and glaze (very thin layer) thoroughly.  Place the second cake layer on top of the glaze and again glaze the top and sides with apricot jam. Allow the glaze to set.

Meanwhile, let’s prepare the chocolate glaze. This step is important and needs to be prepared freshly and need to be glazed on the cake, when it’s warm.

In heavy bottom pan, add ¼ cup of water and ½ cup of granulated sugar, bring to boil. Stir to dissolve the sugar completely. Once the mixture reaches 112°C (using the candy thermometer***) remove the pan from heat.

*** If you do not have one, don’t worry. Check the other procedure below in a video link.

Add the 60 gms bittersweet chocolate (chopped) in hot sugar mixture and whisk the pan. If it thickens up quite a bit, return it to low heat and add a few drops of water to thin it out to a runny, pourable consistency. 

 VIDEO LINK

Pour the entire warm chocolate glaze on top of the cake. Using a metal offset spatula, gently glaze the cake all over. Allow it to cool to room temperature and then transfer the cake to Refrigerator for about an hour. Remove the cake from the refrigerator about 1 hour before serving.

You may leave it at this point. But, to give credits to the Inventor Mr. Franz Sacher, it’s a tradition to put his name on the cake.

To do this, Add the 50gms of semi sweet chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and melt the same. Add 1

tsp of Olive oil to the melted chocolate and stir well to get the piping consistency. Transfer to the piping bag and go on. (I know, I am not good at piping)

The Sacher-Torte is served with Cream (unsweetened) traditionally. But, I treated my Valentine with hot Black coffee.  Imm……..it’s Divine.