Name: Sacher torte
Prep time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: makes 1 Sacher torte (20cm / 8 inch)
Ingredients: 160 g dark chocolate (64 - 70% cacao); 130 g butter, softened and cut on small cubes; 50 g icing sugar; 6 egg yolks, free range; 6 egg whites, free range; 100 g sugar; 130 g all-purpose flour, sifted; 150 g apricot jelly or marmelade, good quality; 100 g water; 100 g sugar; 140 g dark chocolate (64 - 70% cacao)

Sacher torte

Tadada *drumrolls*, here it is, finally, Sacher torte. A beautiful Viennese classic that has a nice, soft inside with a generous spread of apricot jelly and a thick dark chocolate glaze. We both adore this cake because it reminds us of all of our trips to Vienna, which were so much fun (the city really has an incredibly good vibe). Jernej actually made this cake around 5 times before he was happy with the result as a whole, so he made 100% sure, that this is the best Sacher cake we have ever made. It's quite hard to reinvent recipes that are so classic and so incredibly well made, but we can at least try and hopefully transfer some of the Viennese good vibe, rich culture and their tradition to your plates. The cake is relatively simple to make, it's important to follow the step by step process though, to get a nice, soft inside of the cake. Love it.

Ingredients

Sacher torte

160 g dark chocolate (64 - 70% cacao)

130 g butter, softened and cut on small cubes

50 g icing sugar

6 egg yolks, free range

6 egg whites, free range

100 g sugar

130 g all-purpose flour, sifted

150 g apricot jelly or marmelade, good quality

Chocolate glaze

100 g water

100 g sugar

140 g dark chocolate (64 - 70% cacao)

Tools and equipment

20 cm (8-inch) cake tin

saucepan

bowl

electric mixer

spatula

wire rack

METHOD

Sacher torte batter

Preheat the oven to 180 ºC / 355 ºF. Butter a 20 cm cake tin. Bring all your ingredients out of the fridge, because it's very important that they're at room temperature. Make the Sacher torte batter. Melt the chocolate in a bowl, over a saucepan of boiling water. When the chocolate has melted, remove it from the heat and let it cool slightly. In a large bowl, beat the butter with the icing sugar for about 3 minutes, using an electric mixer. Add the cooled, melted chocolate and mix for another 3 minutes. Add the egg yolks one by one and beat to incorporate.
Incorporate

In another clean bowl, beat the egg whites and a pinch of salt with caster sugar into soft peaks, using an electric mixer. Incorporate the sifted flour with the butter - sugar - chocolate mixture, using a spatula. Make sure there are no lumps of flour in the better. Mix 1/3 of the egg whites with the flour-butter-sugar-chocolate mixture. Then gently fold in the rest of the egg whites, using a spatula.

Tip

It's really important to fold the egg whites gently into the batter to assure a soft inside of Sacher torte.
Bake

Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake the cake for 40 - 45 minutes at 175 ºC / 350 ºF. Transfer the baked Sacher torte to a wire rack to cool.
Spread a layer of jelly

Put the apricot jelly to a saucepan and bring to a boil, remove from the heat. Cut the baked cake on half and spread a thin layer of apricot jelly over the half, than cover with another half and spread a thin layer of apricot jelly over and around the rest of the cake.
Chocolate glaze and serve

Make the glaze. Place the water and caster sugar in a saucepan and bring to a temperature of 108 ºC / 225 ºF. Lower the heat, add the chocolate and stir constantly until it melts. Pour the glaze over the cake immediately. Set the cake aside to cool for at least 30 minutes. Serve with Chantilly cream.