• Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Snapchat
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

MsMarmiteLover

  • Food
    • Recipes
    • Vegetarian
    • Vegan
  • Travel
    • France
    • Italy
    • Spain
    • UK
  • Wine
  • Gardens
  • Supperclubs/Events
  • About
    • Published Articles
    • Books
  • Shop
    • Cart

An Austrian Christmas

December 21, 2022 Leave a Comment Filed Under: Austria, Baking, chocolate, Christmas, Christmas Gifts, Desserts and sweets, Food, Travel

Austria knows how to do Christmas. In winter the whole country looks like a snowy Christmas card with wooden chalets, sleighs and bells.
On a recent visit I met the Von Trapp family, of Sound of Music fame, at their castle ,Schloss Friedberg, listened to yodelling, and drank mulled wine while enjoying typically Christmassy recipes such as Linzer cookies. The classic Christmas carol ‘Silent Night’ was written in Salzburg, Austria.
Austrians, even the younger generation, still wear on a daily basis, traditional picture-book outfits such as dirndls and lederhosen.
‘We never wash our lederhosen’ declared one cheerful local. He possesses ten pairs of the suede shorts.
Elisabeth Gürtler, whose family runs the Sacher Hotel in Vienna, home of the celebrated Sacher Torte, a chocolate and apricot jam cake, always wears a dirndl.
I stayed at Elisabeth’s magical pine-scented Alpine hotel in Seefeld, part of the Tyrol region, which boasts mountain views, stags heads and painted furniture. It’s like living in a fairy tale, populated by adult versions of Hansel and Gretel.
Austrians celebrate Christmas on the eve. Why not bake a Sacher Torte as a perfect alternative to a Christmas fruit cake and some Linzer cookies?

sachertorte pic- Kerstin Rodgers - 10
sachertorte pic- Kerstin Rodgers - 4
Print

Ilse's Sachertorte

My guide to Vienna gave me this foul-proof recipe for this delicious chocolate cake.
There are two ways to melt chocolate:
1) Chopped up in a 'bain-marie', which is a basin set over a pan of boiling water, the bottom of which should not touch the water.
2) In a microwave, in short 30 second blasts. Do not be tempted to go longer than 30 seconds at a time. Chocolate is expensive and you do not want to seize it.
Course Afternoon Tea, Cake, Dessert
Cuisine Austrian
Keyword Austrian cakes, Austrian desserts, Chocolate cake, Indian pancakes, Sachertorte
Serves 10

Ingredients

For the cake:

  • 150 g butter, room temperature
  • 230 g caster sugar
  • 5 eggs separated
  • 150 g dark chocolate, melted
  • 230 g flour
  • 12 g baking powder
  • Pinch salt
  • 180 ml whole milk
  • 300 g of apricot jam, no bits

For the mirror glaze:

  • 40 g caster sugar
  • 40 ml water
  • 170 ml double cream
  • 200 g dark chocolate
  • 25 g butter

Instructions

For the cake:

  • Beat the butter with the sugar and egg yolks in the mixer until creamy
  • Add the melted chocolate and beat again till creamy. Grease a cake tin (26cm) with butter and sprinkle with flour.
  • Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until very stiff.
  • Then add the flour (mixed with baking powder) to the butter-chocolate cream alternating with the milk.
  • Finally fold in the whipped egg whites gently with a whisk.
  • Pour into cake tin and bake for about 45 minutes.
  • After removing the cake from the oven, leave to cool in the tin for about 5mins, then turn around onto a flat plate and remove the tin.
  • Heat the apricot jam gently until smooth.
  • Cut the cake in half crosswise, cover the base with jam and set the other half gently on top. Coat the top and around the edges with the rest of the jam.
  • When cool, cover with chocolate frosting (ideal is dark couverture melted with butter in a bain-marie).
  • Serve with whipped cream!

For the glaze:

  • In a small saucepan over a medium heat, dissolve the sugar in the water. Remove from the heat.
  • Add 2 tablespoons of the double cream to the sugar syrup
  • Melt the chocolate, adding the butter.
  • Add the rest of the double cream
  • Mix the syrup and chocolate mix together
  • Place the sandwiched cake on a grill placed over a plate to catch the drips
  • Pour over the cake, tipping it this way and that, to cover the top and sides. Do not smooth over, you want an unblemished shiny glaze.
  • Any extra can be scraped off the plate and kept in the fridge for other treats
linzer cookies pic- Kerstin Rodgers - 2
linzer cookies pic- Kerstin Rodgers - 3
Print

Linzer cookies with quince jelly

Course Afternoon Tea, Biscuits
Cuisine Austrian
Keyword Austrian biscuits, Biscuits, Linzer Cookies, Linzercookies
Serves 10

Ingredients

  • 150 g plain flour
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 90 g butter, room temperature
  • 60 g ground almonds
  • 100 g caster sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 150 g jam (I used quince jelly)
  • icing sugar to dust

Instructions

  • Stir together the flour, cinnamon and rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs
  • Add the ground almonds and sugar then gradually stir in the egg, kneading slightly until you have a firm dough.
  • Flour a clean surface and roll out the biscuit dough to 3mm thick.
  • Cut out 20 biscuits and then using the smaller cutter, cut out the centres of 10.
  • Preheat the oven to 180C.
  • Lay on the parchment or silat on a flat baking tray and chill in the fridge for half an hour.
  • Bake the biscuits for 30 minutes or until slightly golden. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.
  • Spread the jam on half of the biscuits then sandwich them. Dust with icing sugar.

Recent posts

Discovering fairytale Saxony in Germany

January 25, 2023

Fake meat taste test for Veganuary

January 8, 2023

A round-up of my favourite travel destinations of 2022

January 1, 2023

Previous Post: « Christmas in Naples
Next Post: Pasta in cedro recipe for Christmas Eve »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

MsMarmiteLover aka Kerstin Rodgers.

Chef, photographer, author, journalist, blogger. Pioneer of the supperclub movement.

This is my food and travel blog, with recipes, reviews and travel stories. I also stray into politics, feminism, gardening.

Subscribe to my mailing list

msmarmitelover

Kerstin Rodgers/MsMarmiteLover
Naples at Christmas- discovering piennolo di vesuv Naples at Christmas- discovering piennolo di vesuvio,the Christmas 🍅, which lasts up to a year fresh. It’s given boxed as gifts around Christmas being the only local fresh tomato available. It dresses all the Christmas pizzas and pastas. It’s grown on volcanic Vesuvius soil and sparsely watered. As a result it has thick skins, and a sweet intense flavour. #tomatoes #italy #naples
Not cooking much at the moment due to a thick laye Not cooking much at the moment due to a thick layer of dust over my kitchen. This will be my dining room/photography studio. Done on a whim.#unplanneddemolition
Another picture of my granddaughter Ophelia in a n Another picture of my granddaughter Ophelia in a nest of apricot tulle (found at portobello market). Isn’t she lovely? #granfluencer
Broccoli Stilton soup. This freezing week is defin Broccoli Stilton soup. This freezing week is definitely a week for soups. My friend @jimfrommanc is staying & needs his hot lunch.
Cheese on toast with crushed chilli 🌶️ in Ven Cheese on toast with crushed chilli 🌶️ in Venice the fresh food market sells bouquets of colourful chillies. I’ve still got mine, drying in an enamel jug. #travelandfood
The Christmas tomato or piennolo di vesuvio. Read The Christmas tomato or piennolo di vesuvio. Read all about it: https://msmarmitelover.com/2022/12/christmas-in-naples.html  Got a couple of bunches hanging in my kitchen. #naples #campania #tomatoes🍅 #travelphotography
Opheliagram. This morning I photographed her in an Opheliagram. This morning I photographed her in an Italian outfit I bought in Naples on a William Morris playmat which looks great and is practical for tummy time. So many things are different about parenting now. Parents use apps to track feeding, pooing, weeing etc. You don’t bathe them anymore for the first few weeks because you want to leave the vernix ( the white waxy stuff they are covered in at birth) on their skin as long as possible. Nappies now have a line on them that turns blue if they’ve done a pee. White noise apps to help them sleep. New technology guides new parents. As well as ancient probably prehistoric customs being rediscovered. #granfluencer #grandaughter I’ve tagged in @siennamarla and @jamescalmus as the authors of this baby.
I made two dishes from one pack of white beans las I made two dishes from one pack of white beans last night. Soak, then cook with 2 stock cubes, water & a fan of bay leaves. When soft & cooked, scoop some into a soup bowl with plenty of stock, add white wine, fresh basil and or a scoop of pesto and a squeeze of lemon for soupe au pistou. Garnish with Parmesan. Today I cooked the pot until the liquid had almost disappeared and added a block of feta. I baked this in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes, added @pomoragoodfood new olive oil, salt and pepper for a gigantes plaki (but with smaller beans). Eat more beans!
What to make when you have lots of leftover egg yo What to make when you have lots of leftover egg yolks after making a pavlova? Zabaglione, that classic Italian trattoria dessert made from egg yolks, sugar & tons of masala sweet wine. Whisk it up over a bain-marie or be a bit cheaty & add a teaspoon of cornflour. Strong wrists needed. #italianfood #christmasdesserts #leftovers #cooksmart
The unpackaged vegan meats. My panel of 4 ( from c The unpackaged vegan meats. My panel of 4 ( from carnivore, to recent vegetarian, to long-time vegetarian to never eaten meat (my daughter)) tasted 18. It was quite a bushtucker trial. Carnivores & vegetarians liked very different things. Full report in next weeks @hamandhigh #veganuary #vegan #vegetarian #tastetest #fakemeat #plantbasedmeat
Fake meatathon tasting taking place as my veganuar Fake meatathon tasting taking place as my veganuary column for @hamandhigh So many companies doing this now. As a longtime vegetarian I don’t want anything that tastes too much like meat. But new vegetarians and vegans may want something that tastes close as damnit to meat in order to stave off cravings? Which category are you in? Have you any favourites or dislikes? Is this just another example of ultra-processed food? Let me know in the comments #vegan #vegetarian #meatfree #veganuary
Pasta buselli al cedro. Cedro or citron is a fragr Pasta buselli al cedro. Cedro or citron is a fragrant citrus & one of the founding citrus (along with pomelo and mandarin) that created all the other citrus fruits you know about. Usually candied, it is also used in this unusual neopolitan recipe in which you soak the zest in the pasta water overnight before cooking. Post up on the blog later today. Board a Xmas present from @siennamarla #pasta #naples #cedro #citrus
My london garden ce matin My london garden ce matin
My Sacher Torte (1 word or 2?) with a difference- My Sacher Torte (1 word or 2?) with a difference- bergamot marmalade in the middle. In the @hamandhigh this week. It’s bloody delicious. #chocolatecake #feelaustria #untoldstories #vienna #sachertorte
These are Mela Annurca apples, ‘mel’anurca’ These are Mela Annurca apples, ‘mel’anurca’ in Neapolitan dialect. They are a Christmas apple, in season now. I bought this little model basket of apples in San Gregorio di Armenia street in Naples where every year neopolitans buy something to add to their ‘presepe’ or nativity scene. Often scenes from markets to add to the expensive, anything from 500 euros to 5000 euros nativity crèches. Around Christmas this street is packed (watch out for pickpockets) with locals and tourist picking out their addition to the scene. Melanurca apples are picked in September then laid on the ground to ripen, turning them every day by hand, to ensure all sides transform from a yellow green into a Wicked Witch red. They are very healthy, particularly for your hair, according to scientists at the university of Naples. #naples #neopolitanchristmas #melanurca  #food #travel #sangregorioarmeno #presepenapoletano #nativityscenes
The Christmas tomato 🍅 or piennolo di vesuvio, The Christmas tomato 🍅 or piennolo di vesuvio, a local tomato that is sold around Christmas in Naples. It is grown with very little irrigation and lasts fresh up to a year. Hence it is used for tomato based Christmas dishes. This tomato has a thick skin and is really intense in flavour. It hangs outside grocers, on balconies, in kitchens, having been braided by ladies into bunches of 1.5 kilos. Each costs 15 euros. I went to visit the farmers and the ladies skilfully tying the tomatoes into clusters, using the vines to fasten them, like cherries. Boxed, these are given as gifts. Reel on the way! #naples #christmas #tomatoes #travel #food
Travel: how I pack. I choose one colour as well as Travel: how I pack. I choose one colour as well as black and white and stick to that palette. For Sicily & Naples I’m doing red, white & black. I’ve bought @coti_vision red glasses chain, a red beret & a black one, a pair of red @snagtights & a black pair, a red hair clasp, a red & white pair of shoes (25 euros, leather from Naples), a red & white dress, a black & white striped dress, and so on. Do you roll? Do you flatten & spread? Do you fold? How do you pack? A few days before I leave I leave my suitcase open in my bedroom and every time I think of something I need to take I sling it in there. ( like adaptors) Last thing is wash bag ( I have a hanging one which is useful) and coat (red for this trip). Basically I colour code my life. When I did the Camino everything was blue & yellow, the colours of the Camino. When I went to Ireland I took all my green clothes ( I don’t have many). If I go on a boat trip I pack blue and white. #packing #colourcoding #travel #mysuitcase
Ruota di pesce spada. A glorious oven baked Sicili Ruota di pesce spada. A glorious oven baked Sicilian fish dish, baked on onions, studded with garlic cloves wrapped in mint leaves, then more onions, capers, olives, oregano & rosemary. Use a thick central slice of swordfish (where can I get that in london?). I’m tasting grillo & Nero d’avola wines @tenutorapitala about an hour inland from Palermo. The owner is the last count Bernard de La gatinais. He has 3 daughters. He’s French (Brittany) and Sicilian. He spoke about how difficult it has been for wine growers since lockdown- so many restaurants closed. Now they are grappling with high energy & fuel costs. ##winesofsicilia #siciliaDOC #wine #travel #sicily
I love Venice. I love Maneskin. I love Italy. I lo I love Venice. I love Maneskin. I love Italy. I love boats and water. #biennalearte2022
London cure smoked salmon from @formanandfield wit London cure smoked salmon from @formanandfield with mikawa citrus (cross between mandarin & pomelo) and home pickled green peppercorns on a plate I bought in minori Italy. #londonfood #citrus #sundaylunch
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Archives

Copyright © 2023 msmarmitelover