For those passionate about patisserie, Vienna is somewhat of a food heaven. Vienna is, amongst other things, the birthplace of the Sachertorte. The original recipe for this 'torte' was developed by Franz Sacher in 1832 for a dinner party hosted by Prince Wenzel von Metternich. It was Franz' son, however, who succeeded in perfecting the recipe and introducing it at the famous Demel bakery and later at Hotel Sacher, where you can still enjoy it today. Needless to say that I would love to have a cup of tea with a genuine slice of Sachertorte at some point! For now, however, other recipes and my own baking will have to suffice.
I baked this torte for my birthday last sunday. I left it in the fridge, already filled with jam, overnight so that the flavors could intensify. The next day I made the ganache and chocolate curls because I didn't want to risk the ganache going dull, no-one likes matte ganache now do they? The recipe calls for the torte to be sliced in five layers, but I only managed three - the flavor was pretty awesome anyway!
Sachertorte (adapter from De Banketbakker by Cees Holtkamp)
Ingredients torte:
110 gr softened unsalted butter
35 gr icing sugar
pinch of salt
5 egg yolks
90 gr dark chocolate, melted
5 egg whites
150 gr castor sugar
110 gr plain flour, sifted
apricot jam
raspberry jam
Ingredients ganache (you can do with about half of this recipe but you can store leftover ganache in the fridge for a few months):
300 ml whipping cream
120 gr sugar
60 ml milk
420 gr dark chocolate, cut into small pieces or grated
120 gr unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Ingredients decoration:
chocolate curls (optional)
milk chocolate (optional)
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.
2. Whip the butter, icing sugar, egg yolks and salt until fluffy. Scrape the bowl, then add the melted chocolate and mix until combined.
3. At this point, you'll want to whip up the egg whites with the sugar until you have stiff peaks, but not dry. Make sure the bowl and the mixer are fat-free or you won't get the desired volume. I always clean my bowls with a bit of lemon juice, usually does the trick!
4. Mix a couple of spoonfuls of whipped egg white into the chocolate batter to slacken it. Then fold the rest of the egg white in, making sure not to overmix. I leave in a couple of white specks because you still have to fold in the flour, which is the next step. Again, don't overmix, but don't leave any unmixed flour. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl well.
5. Spoon the batter into a greased and floured 25cm/10" and 5cm/2" high round cake tin. Smooth the batter over and place in the middle of the preheated oven. Bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out of the middle clean.
6. When baked, leave cake to cool on a wire rack until completely cold. Then slice the cake in 5 layers, or alternatively in 3 layers. Fill the layers, alternating apricot and raspberry jam.
7. Now you can leave the cake overnight, or if you're in a hurry, just leave it in the fridge while you make your ganache.
8. To make the ganache, bring the milk, sugar and cream to a boil in a large sauce pan. Remove the pan from the heat and stir the chocolate in. Slowly stir in the butter until completely dissolved.
9. Place the torte on a wire rack, preferably with a cakeboard underneath. Pour the warm ganache over the top of the torte, spreading it with a (palette) knife so that the sides are covered properly.
10. Optionally, leave the torte for about 15 minutes, then decorate the sides with some (homemade) chocolate curls. You can choose to decorate the top with some milk chocolate, traditionally "Sacher" is written on the cake. My chocolate was still too hot to pipe, but I was in a hurry, so I went with a more modern interpretation.
Labels: Austrian, Birthday, Cake, Chocolate, Torte
