Sachertorte

Sachertorte is considered the most classic and famous of all the Viennese cakes, to be served with Viennese Coffee whilst enjoying Mozart’s as background music! :)

There are many stories, arguments and competitively countless recipes about the original Sachertorte. Sachertorte lovers claimed that the Viennese taste of Sachertorte should be very dark and chocolaty, but fairly dry, with a bit sweet, dark icing. The chocolate used should be as bitter as possible, and the bitter almond essence is an essential ingredient which makes all the difference to final taste of the cake.

Well, I wish I had tasted as many Sachertorte as I would love to…No matter how original the recipes, or how good the competition, I know exactly which one is my most favourite taste. In this recipe, I intend to use pure cocoa powder instead of melted dark chocolate for the cake mixture.

My very intimate reason: there’s intense richness of dark chocolate Ganache for the cake’s topping, blending with the taste of densely chocolaty, rich cake of the jam, butter and cocoa mixture, a plus. I can feel that my tongue has already reached to chocolate orgasm!!!  

Ingredients:

• 125 g plain flour
• 32 g good quality pure cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 125 g sugar
• 100 g unsalted butter
• 4 eggs, separated
• 2 tablespoons strawberry or apricot jam
• 2 tablespoons strawberry or apricot jam, extra, melted
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• ¼ teaspoon bitter almond essence
• Pinch of salt

Ganache Topping:

• 150 g dark chocolate, chopped
• ¼ cup cream

with "Sachertorte Signature"...Love it! :)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to moderate 180 °C. Brush a 20 cm round cake tin with melted butter, line the base and side with baking parchment.
• Sift the flour and cocoa into a mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre. 
• Combine sugar, butter and jam in a small sauce pan. Stir over low heat until the butter has melted and sugar has dissolved; remove from heat.
• Add butter mixture to dry ingredients. Using a whisk, stir until just combined; add egg yolks, mix well. Blend in the almond essence.
• Place egg whites in a mixing bowl. Using electric beaters, beat until soft peaks form. Using a metal spoon or spatula, fold egg whites into the cake mixture until thoroughly blended.
• Pour mixture into the prepared tin, smooth surface. Bake 50 minutes or until the cake is firm to touch and has shrunk slightly from the sides of the tin and that skewer comes out clean when inserted in centre of cake. 
• Leave cake in tin 10-15 minutes to cool a little before removing from the tin and turning onto wire rack to cool thoroughly before glazing and topping.

To make the glaze: 

• Heat the jam with lemon juice with low heat and bring just to boil.
• Cut the dome off the top of the cake horizontally. Turn the cake so that the base side is up. Slice the cake in half and sandwich together with most of the glaze. Brush the remaining over the top of the cake. Leave to set.

To make Ganache Topping:

• Combine chocolate and cream in small saucepan. Stir over low heat until chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat.
• Pour Ganache Topping evenly and completely over the top of the cake, allowing the topping to flow down the sides. Smooth sides using a palette knife without touching the top of the cake, or it will lose its sheen. Place remaining mixture in a piping bag and pipe “Sacher Signature” over the top of the cake. Allow to set. 

................................................

Did you know...

that today is Ich Bin Ein Berliner's Day?