Well, well, well. I’ve done it. I’ve achieved cake nirvana. I am prepared for The Great Beyond, now, thanks. There is nothing left in this world for me to experience, because I’ve already eaten the best cake attainable. Hasta luego mis amigos, Sacher Torte is all I need for the rest of my life.
I’m being dramatic, but actually, this cake is amazing. Each component is perfectly balanced to support and heighten each new taste, and the Austrians knew what they were doing when they invented this cake. Let me rewind just a little….Sacher Torte is an Austrian cake. The flavor profile is chocolate, apricot, rum, and cream. The Austrians, who, for quite a long time, made their wealth in sugar plantations, know their way around a good sweet. Seriously, these people ruled in sweets.
And Yamato knew what she was doing when she made this treat for Takeo. Dang guys, this girl has skillz. She seems so innocent and sweet, but clearly she is a master temptress with this dessert. Seriously, if someone made me delicious cakes I would be theirs forever, no questions asked.
The Cake Ingredients
The original recipe for these cakes can be found here. I made a few changes for portion control and convenience.
2 and 1/4 oz. high quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped
4.5 tbs melted butter, at room temp.
1/2 cup confectioner’s (powdered) sugar
3 eggs, separated
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup flour
Apricot Glaze Ingredients
3/4 cup Apricot Preserves
1 tbs dark rum
Chocolate Glaze Ingredients*
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup water
6 oz high quality bittersweet chocolate
*I totally messed up when I made my little cakes. I cut the chocolate glaze recipe in half, since I was only making half of the recipe, but I actually still had the same amount of surface area to cover with the glaze. Therefore, the amounts above are the amounts for the full recipe, but you’ll still need that much to cover all the little cakes.
Garnish
Whipped cream
Other Equipment:
A silicone pan for little cake rounds (something like this)*
A candy thermometer, if you have one
*I’ve adjusted the recipe for this kind of pan, but if you don’t feel like buying this, see the original recipe for the full amounts and instructions for a regular cake round.
How to Make Sacher Torte
First, set oven temp to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, grease and flour-dust your silicone molds. Do not do as I did and assume that nothing sticks to silicone. It will stick a little, unless you prepare your molds.
Second, melt the cake-chocolate in the microwave at 30 second bursts. So, microwave for 30 seconds, stir, then 20 seconds, stir, then 10 seconds, stir, 10 seconds, stir, until it is completely melted. You have to stir continuously, because microwaves heat unevenly, and you don’t want to burn your chocolate.
Third, cream the butter for 1 minute at medium speed until smooth.
Fourth, add the confectioner’s sugar, and beat on low speed until incorporated with the butter. Then, raise the speed and beat on high until light and fluffy.
Fifth, Beat in the egg yolks one at a time, scraping down the bowl at each addition. Then, beat in the cooled chocolate and the vanilla.
Sixth, in a clean bowl with clean beaters, beat the sugar and egg whites on high until the form soft, shiny peaks. Do not overbeat.
Seventh, gently stir 1/4th of the egg whites into the chocolate batter to lighten it. Then, plop the rest of the whites in and fold them in gently. Leave a few traces of white behind (2nd photo), you don’t need to fully incorporate it.
Eighth, SIFT the flour over the top of the mixture and fold in. I say sift because you really should sift. It will be hard to work out any lumps at this point without crushing the whites you just folded in.
Ninth, divide your batter between molds. Also, learn from my mistakes. I filled them almost to the top, foolishly. You should fill yours 3/4th full, because they will rise. Also, I had more batter than fit in my 12 set of molds, so you will have enough for perhaps 14 or 15 total.
Tenth, place those puppies in the oven for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick to the center comes out clean. As you can see, mine rose over the mold, and I ended up just cutting away the overhang.
As you let those little heavenly cakes of perfection cool, let’s get started on the Apricot Glaze and the Chocolate Glaze.
For the Apricot Glaze:
First, take all the ingredients for the glaze, and pop them in a small pan over medium heat. Simmer until the glaze is sticky and reluctant to leave the spoon. What that means is, when you hold the spoon up, a drop should linger on the spoon without dripping off right away. This took about 5 minutes for me.
As soon as it’s ready, turn out your cakes onto a rack, and go ahead and place some glaze on the top.
And then spread it all out.
Making the Chocolate Glaze
Pop all the glaze ingredients in a clean pot over medium high heat, and attach a candy thermometer if you have one. We want this mess to get up to 234 degrees Fahrenheit, but if you don’t have a candy thermometer you can just let everything bubble away for a good 5 minutes. Stir everything to combine and stir periodically throughout the process.
Once it is ready, it’s time to assemble. Place a cookie sheet underneath your cooling rack, and spoon glaze over the top of each cake liberally. Let it fall over the sides naturally until everything is covered. DO NOT scrape the bottom of the pan as you pour, or you will dredge up any little pieces of chocolate that got burned to the bottom, which you don’t want on your cake. As you can see, I didn’t have enough glaze, as I mentioned earlier, but they still turned out really cute and delicious.
Plate your cake with some whipped cream. This is actually a really important part, as the cake is naturally a little dry, and the whipped cream helps to moisten the cake while adding a sweet finish to contrast against the bitter chocolate.
And now it’s done! Thanks so much for reading, I really hope you get the chance to try out this recipe and love it as much as I now do.
If you have any suggestions of recipes I should try, or questions about this recipe, please let me know in the comments below! Have a great day, and happy baking 🙂
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