Sachertorte, Austria’s most famous Chocolate Cake

Echte österreichische Sachertorte

There hasn’t been enough chocolate on this blog yet. So Sachertorte it is! Ever heard of this delicious chocolate cake? It was invented in Austria and it has all the good stuff, lots of butter, lots of eggs (10 in total!), and chocolate, of course. Don’t bore me with cocoa, no, let’s go straight to chocolate. And with these delicious ingredients you make light and fluffy chocolate sponge cake. And to keep it all together, you use apricot jam as the glue. I just love it.

SachertorteI actually had the chance to eat it in Austria. Originally the cake comes from Vienna, I did have the chance to eat it in Vienna, but, gasp, didn’t like it that much. The one I really enjoyed a lot was in Salzburg, the town Mozart is from. Below picture was one of the first pictures I took with my current camera, the Sony Nex7. If you would like to learn more about food photography, please check these blog posts. I looks great, doesn’t it? Austria is busy exporting its Sachertorte. I can’t blame them for doing that. Because yes, you want to dig into this super rich cake, believe me! What I like best about this rich chocolate cake is that you can actually export it because it gets better over time. The apricot jam seals everything and just to be sure, you pour a thick layer of chocolate ganache on everything, because more chocolate is even better, isn’t it?SachertorteI tried several recipes before settling on this one. It is by an Austrian, maybe that’s why it is so good. It does contain a lot of eggs, but please bear with me, it is so worth it. Below are some pictures of the making and as you can see, this is a rather tall cake. I made it in 23cm/9inch cake pans and boy, is it tall! About 8-9cm! I just love that!

So are you ready for a very rich, spongy chocolate cake that just demands you to eat more than one slice?

SachertorteCredit: Mann backt (in German)

Austria's most famous cake: Sachertorte

Serves: One 24 cm/9inch ∅ springform
Cooking Time: 1hr preparation + 50 min of baking

Austria's most famous cake Sachertorte contains a chocolate sponge cake and is layered and sealed with apricot jam.

Ingredients

  • Cake
  • 200 grams of high quality semi-sweet chocolate
  • 225 grams of butter at room temperature
  • 50 grams of icing sugar
  • 10 egg yolks
  • 10 egg whites
  • 260 grams of regular sugar
  • 200 grams of all-purpose flour

  • Filling
  • 300 grams of apricot jam
  • 30 milliliters of rum (or water plus additional water)

  • Ganache
  • 150 grams of heavy cream
  • 250 grams of high quality semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

Instructions

1

For the cake preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius and line two 23cm/9inch cake pans with parchment paper, grease the sides.

2

Melt the chocolate on low heat on the stove while stirring. Set aside. Then cream the soft butter with the icing sugar in a bowl until fluffy and a bit lighter in color. Slowly add the egg yolks, one at a time until fully combined, add the cooled-off chocolate.

3

In the largest bowl you have beat the ten egg whites. Beat until frothy and white in color, then slowly add the regular sugar. Beat on high until stiff, yet still pale in color, it should not become glossy, so this is different from making meringue. The egg whites should be stiff, silky, but matt in color. Add the egg yolk mixture and sift the flour on top. With a wooden spoon mix everything gently until you have a homogeneous batter, try not to overmix and to not let too much air get out of the beaten egg whites. Tip: instead of a wooden spoon I also recommend using your thoroughly washed hands to fold the batter gently. You will find it much easier to reach to the bottom of the bowl and make sure that everything is mixed thoroughly.

4

Pour into prepared cake pans and bake for 10min, then lower temperature to 160 degrees and bake for an additional 40min. An inserted toothpick should come out clean. Baking time may be longer. Let cool and gently release from cake pans.

5

For the filling measure 50 grams of the jam and bring to boil with 20 milliliters of water and 30 milliliters of rum (or 50 milliliters of water total). Brush both cake layers with this syrup. Then heat up the rest of the apricot jam and brush again both cake layers with it. The jam seals the cake, so be sure to also use some jam for the sides, not only the top. Place the second cake layer on top of the other.

6

For the ganache bring heavy cream to a boil, take off the stove and put in the chopped chocolate. Stir until the chocolate melts. Let sit for about half an hour, then pour on top of the cake and on the sides. Let cool.

Notes

You need to be sure that the eggs are at room temperature. This is really important. If you forgot to take out the eggs on time, place them in warm water for a few minutes while preparing the other ingredients. I have also successfully shipped this cake, it holds up nicely. Be sure to cover tightly in plastic wrap and as a second layer in newspaper. I also used cut-up egg cartons as a protective layer.

Echte österreichische SachertortePS: Are you a chocolate lover like me? I have a category just for chocolate desserts, cake, cookies and the like. Be sure to check out this:

Everything Chocolate all chocolate recipes

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2 Comments

  • Reply
    Uschi
    Wednesday October 12th, 2022 at 01:03 PM

    Liebe Jenny,
    Eine Sachertorte wird mit Sachermasse gemacht, hat nichts mit Bisquit zu tun.
    Das selbe gilt für Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, Sachermasse ist kein Bisquit.
    Bisquit wird ohne Ausnahme fettfrei gebacken.
    Sonst schöne Rezepte und nette Tips. Nur als gelerne Konditorin aus Österreich, blutet mir das Herz wenn ich sowas lese.

    • Reply
      Jenny
      Friday October 14th, 2022 at 09:58 AM

      Liebe Uschi,
      ich kann gut verstehen, wenn es dich stört, wenn etwas aus deinem Fachbereich falsch dargestellt wird. Ich bin Hobbybäckerin und werde wahrscheinlich auch nie Profi werden, ich versuche so gut ich kann für den Laien als Laie Backwissen weiterzugeben.
      Ich habe jedoch jetzt extra nochmal in diversen Werken nachgeschaut und es scheint tatsächlich unterschiedlich bezeichnet zu werden. In meinen Fachbüchern wird Biskuit mit Fettanteil oft Wiener Masse genannt, auch Schwarzwälder wird als Biskuit bezeichnet, deshalb würde ich das so lassen. Sorry. Evtl. gibt es da auch Unterschiede zwischen Deutschland und Österreich?
      Grüße,
      Jenny

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