In the Kingdom of the Sacher Torte

Enjoy Vienna; set off to discover the imperial atmosphere of Schönbrunn Palace, the artistic masterpieces of the Albertina and the atmosphere of a typical Viennese café at Café Schwarzenberg. The Vienna Card lets you travel for 72 hours by underground, bus or tram. The Sacher Torte The origins of the most famous cake in the world, the original Sacher Torte, date back to 1832, when a 16-year-old apprentice pastry chef named Franz Sacher, while standing in for the chef who was on his deathbed at the court of Prince Metternich, created a dessert for some special guests: the Original Sacher Torte. His efforts were fully repaid by the complete success it enjoyed. Thus began the tour de force in the production of this cake, which totals a production of around 270,000 pieces and, just as 160 years ago, they are all filled with apricot jam, coated in chocolate and packed by hand.

The cakes consist of exceptional raw materials; here are some figures: 1.2 million eggs, 80 tonnes of sugar, 70 tonnes of chocolate, 37 tonnes of apricot jam, 25 tonnes of sugar, 30 tonnes of flour.

To this day the recipe of the original Sacher Torte, which uses exclusively purely natural products without preservatives, is a very well-kept secret of the Hotel Sacher.

The Original Sacher Torte is, moreover, protected by a trademark, and to date there are no licences for the resale of this product or anything else anywhere in the world.

To guarantee the optimal preservation of this speciality, storage at a temperature between 16°C and 18°C is recommended. The Original Sacher Torte is served at its best with unsweetened whipped cream and a cup of Original Sacher Coffee or tea.

The recipe: For the sponge: 150 g of flour, 150 g of dark chocolate, 150 g of butter, 150 g of sugar, 5 eggs. For the filling: apricot jam. For the covering glaze: 100 g dark chocolate, 70 g of sugar. First break up the dark chocolate and then melt it in a bain-marie in a small saucepan. Meanwhile cream the butter kept at room temperature, adding half of the sugar. Add the chocolate by spoonfuls and, stirring continuously, the yolks, one at a time. Whisk the egg whites to a very firm peak, adding the remaining sugar, and then add a part of them to the butter mixture, using the whisk. Then, with the help of a wooden spoon, gently fold in the rest of the egg whites, alternating them gradually with the flour. Once the batter is ready, butter and flour a springform tin, pour in the mixture and bake it in the oven for about an hour at a temperature of 180°.

When cooked, remove the cake from the oven, let it cool, then cut it in half horizontally and fill it with apricot jam. Then bring to the boil in a small saucepan a couple of tablespoons of jam together with a tablespoon of water, pass it through a sieve and spread it evenly over the surface of the cake. At this point move on to preparing the glaze: in a small saucepan dissolve the sugar in a glass of water and, keeping it stirred, boil over a low heat for 5 minutes. Then let the syrup obtained cool, add the crumbled chocolate and stir so as to melt it and obtain a smooth, even mixture. Then put it back on the heat over a moderate flame and cook it, always stirring, until it has thickened. At that point pour it over the cake and spread it evenly over the surface.