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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
Servings: 10

Equipment

  • 24 to 26 cm springform cake tin

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