Sachertorte

One legend tells that Sachertorte was invented by Frau Anna Sacher, who married the founder of the Sacher hotel, Eduard Sacher. The formidable, cigar-smoking Anna Sacher took control of the hotel in 1892 when Eduard died, and was known to irritate Emperor Franz Joseph I by encouraging "goings-on" between youthful archdukes and members of the Vienna Opera ballet. However, Sachertorte was in fact invented by Eduard Sacher's father, Franz.

In 1832, 16-year-old Franz Sacher was working as an apprentice chef to the court of Prince Metternich. One evening, the head chef was ill in bed, and Franz was asked to create a torte for some special guests of the Prince. Franz is quoted as saying "He bothered me all the time to invent something new, as though my pastries were not good enough. So I just threw some ingredients together and that's it." His creation became known as Sachertorte.

Franz's grandson sold the right to Demel to fix the "Genuine Sachertorte" seal to their torten, but the Sacher hotel continued to trade on their family connection. The courts were kept busy in Vienna for seven years over the question of who had the right to call his torte the "genuine" Sachertorte. The court case became known as the "Sweet Seven Years' War." Eventually, Austria's highest court decided that the Hotel Sacher had the right to make and sell the "Genuine Sachertorte."

Sachertorte is a composition of the very finest ingredients: pure chocolate, butter, eggs, sugar, flour and apricot jam. It is made by the quality of the individual ingredients and the way they harmonise with each other, otherwise it would simply become just another chocolate torte. Sachertorte should be served with Schlagobers (lightly sweetened whipped cream).

175g bitter chocolate
125g unsalted butter
125g sugar
4 egg yolks
1/4 tsp. bitter almond essence
125g plain flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
5 egg whites
pinch of salt

For the Glaze:
2 tbsp. apricot jam
1 tbsp. water
good squeeze lemon juice

For the Icing:
75g sugar
4 tbsp. water
100g bitter chocolate

1. Preheat the oven to 160oC.
2. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of boiling water.
3. Cream the butter with the sugar until very light and fluffy, then add the egg yolks one by one and continue to beat until the mixture is light and smooth. Blend in the melted chocolate and the almond essence.

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