King Sachertorte

From Austria, with love! The famous Sachertorte cake has been around since 1832 when a young confectioner - Frans Sacher - made it for prince Metternich.

Clever pastry chefs figured out the ingredients of the secret recipe and everybody had their try ever since.

Will it be the same? The only way to be sure is to order the real Sachertorte for comparison.

This is more of a "grown up" type of pastry with a good dose of bitter chocolate. The aroma alone would tempt anyone to have a taste.

 Batter:

1. Take a spring form of 23 cm, layer the bottom with baking paper after greasing the whole inside.
2. Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie. Let it cool. The chocolate must be liquid but should not be warm.
3. Mix the butter and icing sugar with a hand mixer until creamy and fluffy. Keep mixing and gradually add the melted chocolate. Mix 5 to 10 minutes.
4. Add the egg yolks one by one. Stop when the cream is smooth and airy.
5. In another bowl, beat the egg white with a pinch of salt. Gradually add the fine sugar and the vanilla extract. 
6. Preheat oven at 180°.
7. Take some beaten egg white and add to the chocolate paste. Fold it from under to over (toward center) with a spatula. Add the rest of the egg whites, flour (with a sieve) making the same moves, until the batter is homogeneous. 
8. Spread batter evenly in spring form and bake for 25-30 minutes at 180°C.
9. Let the cake cool some inside the pan on a cooling rack. Open cake pan, turn upside down and let cool until cold.

 For the chocolate glaze:

1. Break chocolate into small pieces if you're not using chocolate chips.
2. Using a sauce pan, pour in the cream, milk, vanilla extract. Bring it to a boil and take it off the stove. 
3. Add sugar, make sure it is dissolved.
4. Add the chocolate pieces and stir until completely melted. You should have a shiny, smooth chocolate cream.
5. Add the butter in small chunks, stir with a whisk until completely melted.

 The Sachertorte:

1. With the bottom up, slice the sacher cake horizontally in half, about half way the height.
2. If any, pick the apricot chunks out of the jam (use sieve if necessary), mix it with some water (its consistency should be runny like a heavy maple syrup), spread it on the lower half of the cake. Put the other half on it. Spread another layer of apricot jam on the top (which used to be the bottom) and sides. Make sure the whole cake is covered except the bottom face.
3. Put the cake on a rack and a recipient underneath the rack, something that is wider than the cake's diameter. The glaze is going to pour over so you need the recipient to collect it.
4. Measure the temperature of the chocolate glaze! Around 35°C is ideal to pour it over the cake. You won't even need a spatula. Start from the center moving in circles, gradually work your way to the sides. Since the glaze is liquid enough it will also cover the sides. If you want a thicker chocolate layer, wait for temperature to drop to 25° and then start pouring. 
5. Store the sachertorte in the refrigerator for 3 hours, until the glaze is mat. Cut into 10 to 12 pieces.

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