Sacher Torte is a decadent chocolate cake with a touch of apricot jam coated in pure chocolate from the capital of desserts. It’s The Chocolate Cake.
Sacher torte was first made by Austrian Franz Sacher in 1832 for Prince Wenzel von Metternich’s dinner guests in Vienna, Austria. It was a lovely cake to finish off the dinner but it wasn’t an immediate hit that throw Franz into culinary stardom.
In fact, the cake didn’t even make it out from his recipe book as he opened a deli and wine shop in Vienna and lived happily ever after. After all, selling delicious behind a counter isn’t as stressing as running a kitchen full of chefs.
Luckily for us, though Franz didn’t bring the recipe to his grave. He had an admiring son who felt, he needed to follow his dad footsteps and carry on his legacy. Eduard Sacher trained in Vienna with the Royal and Imperial Pastry Chef at the Demel bakery and chocolatier.
Demel was a perfect place to hone his skills and promote his father’s since perfected Sacher torte for the hungry public. This wasn’t enough to reach the stars though, but the great cake-through was close.
In 1876 Eduard started to sell Sacher Torte in his newly established Hotel Sacher that levitated the cake to a level where it has a national Sacher Torte Day in the US on the 5th of December. Not many desserts can achieve that.
Of course, when a cake is getting bigger, more and more people would like to have a piece from it without sharing it. Following the death of Eduard Sacher his son, also Eduard Sacher carried on his late father legacy into bankrupt in 1934.
Following his dad’s footsteps young Eduard went to work for Demel and brought the sole distribution rights of Eduard-Sacher-Torte to the bakery. In terms of cakes a pretty boring time followed as World War II. Pretty much thwarted any innovation that didn’t include someone else’s death.
At the end of the war when Europe started to recover and lawyers were in abundance, the new owners of Hotel Sacher thought to trademark the term “The Original Sacher Torte” and sued Demel who also was selling the original ones.
After seven years of legal battle, in 1963 both parties settled out of court with Hotel Sacher walking away with “The Original Sacher Torte” prize and Demel getting “Eduard Sacher Torte” phrase.
It may do not even worth mentioning that the recipes are carefully guarded secrets even though the ingredients are well known. The secret of The Original Sacher Torte dwells not in the pastry though, rather in the chocolate that is custom made by three different factories for this sole purpose only.
Quite a hassle for a piece of cake that can be done in the coziness of our home too. It isn’t a huge challenge to prepare and we can substitute the sugar with whatever sweetener we like, in this case it’s honey.
The making of this cake worth every second slaved in the kitchen for those who love chocolate and cakes. It’s not a fruity firework like we can get from a black forest cake or a fun summer dessert like the light lemon cream pie. It is a full-bodied chocolate cake wrapped into strong chartered dark chocolate that is bond together with the sweet but faintly tangy apricot jam. A real dessert for a real coffee.
Ingredients
Base
- 5oz / 140g Chocolate
- 6 medium / 300g Eggs (separated)
- 10 tablespoons / 140g Butter
- 1 tablespoon / 15g Vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons / 40g Honey or sweetener of choice
- 1¼ cup / 140g Flour
Filling
- 7 oz / 200g Apricot jam (See how to make Low Sugar Apricot Jam at the Low Carb Condiments)
Coating
- 5 oz / 140g Chocolate
- ½ cup / 100g Heavy Cream
- 2 tablespoons / 25g Butter
- 1 teaspoon / 4g Rum aroma
Kitchen equipment
- Ø6.5″ / 16.5cm Baking form
How to make Sacher torte
Base
- Melt chocolate in a small bowl, placing it onto a slightly bigger bowl of steaming water. Stir it gradually. When it’s melted take it off the heat and let it cool a bit before mixing it with the other ingredients.
- Separate eggs.
- Beat egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks form.
- Beat egg yolks until fluffy and yellow.
- Beat butter, honey and vanilla extract in a different mixing bowl until evenly mixed together.
- Beat in flour, beaten egg yolks and the room temperature melted chocolate. Add the ingredients in smaller batches alternating one after the other if mixing done by hand.
- Finally carefully fold in the egg whites.
- Pour batter into the cake form.
- Put onto the middle rack of a 350°F / 180°C preheated oven for 30-40 minutes to bake. Place cake base onto a rack and leave it there to cool down.
Filling
- Whilst the cake is cooling, place the jam into a saucepan to warm it up to get a slightly runny consistency so when it is spread on the cake it’s easier to work with.
Assembly
- Cut off the top of the cake to make it level and shape it to circle if necessary. Cut the base into half horizontally.
- Spread half of the apricot jam on the bottom half.
- Place the other half of the cake on top. Spread the rest of the jam on the top half. Prepare the frosting station.
Coating
- Melt the chocolate, butter and the optional rum aroma.
- Once melted mix cream in until evenly distributed.
- Set it aside and let it cool to 86°F / 30°C. This part is important as too cold coating will not spread as easily creating bumps and uneven surface while too hot coating will run off the cake, not leaving thick enough layer to cover the cake.
- Pour chocolate coating on top of the cake.
- Spread it evenly on top and the side. Place it in a cool place until the chocolate sets.
Serve it with whipped cream on the side. Enjoy!
There are few more gracious than the Sacher torte but there are some:
Sacher Torte Recipe – Sacher Cake Recipe
Equipment
- Ø6.5" / 16.5cm Baking form
Ingredients
Base
- 5 oz Baking chocolate
- 6 medium Eggs separated
- 10 tablespoons Butter
- 1 tablespoon Vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoon Honey or sweetener of choice
- 1¼ cup Flour
Filling
- 7 oz Apricot jam
Coating
- 5 oz Baking chocolate
- ½ cup Heavy Cream
- 2 tablespoons Butter
- 1 teaspoon Rum aroma
Instructions
Base
- Melt chocolate in a small bowl, placing it onto a slightly bigger bowl of steaming water. Stir it gradually. When it’s melted take it off the heat and let it cool a bit before mixing it with the other ingredients.
- Separate eggs.
- Beat egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks form.
- Beat egg yolks until fluffy and yellow.
- Beat butter, honey and vanilla extract in a different mixing bowl until evenly mixed together.
- Beat in flour, beaten egg yolks and the room temperature melted chocolate. Add the ingredients in smaller batches alternating one after the other if mixing done by hand.
- Finally carefully fold in the egg whites.
- Pour batter into the cake form.
- Put onto the middle rack of a 350°F / 180°C preheated oven for 30-40 minutes to bake. Place cake base onto a rack and leave it there to cool down.
Filling
- Whilst the cake is cooling, place the jam into a saucepan to warm it up to get a slightly runny consistency so when it is spread on the cake it’s easier to work with.
Assembly
- Cut off the top of the cake to make it level and shape it to circle if necessary. Cut the base into half horizontally.
- Spread half of the apricot jam on the bottom half.
- Place the other half of the cake on top. Spread the rest of the jam on the top half. Prepare the frosting station.
Coating
- Melt the chocolate, butter and the optional rum aroma.
- Once melted mix cream in until evenly distributed.
- Set it aside and let it cool to 86°F / 30°C. This part is important as too cold coating will not spread as easily creating bumps and uneven surface while too hot coating will run off the cake, not leaving thick enough layer to cover the cake.
- Pour chocolate coating on top of the cake.
- Spread it evenly on top and the side. Place it in a cool place until the chocolate sets.
Nutrition
Pin now, Enjoy later!
It’s the best chocolate cake ever!
I’ve never thought this can be done at home and without sugar. This was my favorite when visited Vienna last year.