The Sachertorte is a cake that owes its fame in France to the technical test of Mercotte in The Best Pastry Chef. I find that rather poorly justified because it's not a very difficult cake to make technically speaking (well except for the icing that I kind of messed up...). But before making the LMP contestants drool, the Sachertorte earned its letters of nobility in Vienna when an apprentice pastry chef (Franz Sacher) had to replace his boss at short notice for an important private dinner in the presence of Prince Metternich. The prince briefed his pastry chefs by telling them: "Don't disappoint me and don't embarrass me..." atmosphere... The young pastry chef proposes a chocolate cake sliced in two, covered with apricot jam and chocolate icing. The Sachertorte was born!

If I wanted to make this recipe, it's because I went to Vienna this summer and had the opportunity to eat a real one there. However, it should be known that the versions differ depending on the establishments and each claims to be "original". The Sacher Hotel and the Demel pastry shop even went to court to decide which of the two had the right to describe their recipe as "authentic": one putting the jam in the middle and the other on top (if you ask me it's like left Twix and right Twix.... But anyway, given the marketing stakes behind it, we can understand their ambitions...).

The Sacher Hotel asserted its links with Franz Sacher while the Demel establishment argued that it had bought the official recipe from Edouard Sacher (Franz's son) and therefore had the right to call their recipe "authentic". The trial divided Vienna for years and even entered the annals of Vienna under the name "Sweet Seven Years War". Finally in 1962, a ruling by the supreme court ruled in favor of the Sacher Hotel. The "original" recipe has been well hidden in a safe ever since. In response, Demel now offers a recipe "of origin".

A little nose-thumbing of history, the best recipe that was recommended to me by 2 Viennese women (one by birth and the other by adoption so I trust their judgment) is the one from Aïda: a local pastry shop chain.

As I am a super involved food blogger, I also tried the frozen cup version! It's as huge as it looks and I got full before the end. It was good but I still preferred the original version.

I wanted to try a recipe as authentic as possible by sourcing it from the tourism office website but that wasn't a great idea. The cake was good but I struggled a bit with the icing which is far from being perfectly even (on the other hand I'm rather happy with my writing. I should have trusted my fellow blogger friends more).

I therefore recommend that you be very careful to ensure there are no pieces in your apricot jam and to put your cake in the fridge for at least an hour before applying the icing.

For the technique, it's the same as for entremets: you put the cake on a rack above a dish (to catch the excess that will drip) and spread all the icing on the cake. Two techniques then: some give a spatula stroke (personally I always leave marks) and others shake the rack to spread the icing without touching the cake. My icing wasn't liquid enough but that's what I should have done. If your icing isn't even enough, you can remelt the excess and apply another coat (that's also what I should have done).

Anyway, you now have all the keys to do better than me and delight your eyes and taste buds!

For the cone, it's a bit technical so I'll do a separate article as part of the CAP preparation to detail all the steps for you.

Sachertorte