Sachertorte

1. Beat the butter and the icing sugar together until fluffy.
2. Add the egg yolks slowly. Don’t add all of the egg yolks at the same time, since butter has no good water holding capacity. By adding the egg yolks slowly, the fat absorbs the liquid much better.
3. Melt the chocolate on the side. Do take care that the chocolate does not get too hot and crystalises. Never heat chocolate beyond 50°C, because its structure modifies in such a way that it can’t be used any more.
4. Slowly add the melted chocolate and fold it through the butter/egg yolk mixture. Take care that no light batter remains at the bottom of the mixing bowl, but that you mix the batter thoroughly.
5. Whisk the egg whites with the second part of the sugar until stiff.
6. Fold the flour and the whisked egg whites into the butter batter in turns.
7. Pour the mixture into the baking tin and bake the Sachertorte chocolate cake base for about 45 minutes at 160°C fan. Before you take it out of the oven, check the cake by inserting a thin skewer or toothpick into the centre of the cake to be sure that it is baked through. You need to insert it in the centre of the cake, since a cake always bakes from the outside to the inside. If wet batter or batter lumps stick to the skewer or toothpick, then you need to continue baking until it is fully baked through.
8. After baking, allow to cool in the baking tin so that it is easier to cut. When the base is cooled, remove the tin from the cake, turn it upside down, and cut it in half vertically with a long serrated knife. If you do not trust your hand to do this, you can leave the cake as it is, in one piece, and spread preserves only on the outside of the cake.
9. Now, take off the top and spread the preserves on the base.
10. You must beat the strained preserves until smooth with an egg whisk to avoid any lumps on the cake.
11. Now, spread the preserves around the sides of the cake and set aside for cooling in the fridge.
12. In the meantime, prepare the icing. Pour the water in a pot and add the sugar. This way, the sugar immediately gets moist and so it cannot caramelise or burn on the bottom of the pot.
13. After the sugar has boiled for about 10 minutes and the water-sugar mixture has clarified, pour this water-sugar mixture over the chocolate chopped in small pieces and let it cool until it has reached body temperature.
14. When the icing is thick and does not run down the spatula too quickly, you can ice the cake. Place the cake on an icing grid, and pour the icing on the top until the surface is covered. Now take the grid with the cake on top carefully in both hands and tilt in in every direction to let the icing run down all sides. If there are still areas at the rim without icing, dip a brush in the icing and cover these spots.
15. As soon as the icing stops dropping down the grid, you can place the cake on a serving dish.
16. Let the icing set, only serve once the icing is solid.

Icing

1. Pour water in a pot, add the sugar.
2. Let it boil and then simmer for about 5 minutes.
3. Turn off the stove and stir in the chocolate chopped in small pieces, and allow to cool for 20 minutes.

Special characteristics

Sachertorte chocolate cake is a celebrity among cakes

Granny’s baking tip

If you want to, you can substitute ground nuts for part of the flour amount. This creates a very chocolatey-nutty taste. Additionally, you can also use any other preserves instead of apricot preserves

Level of difficulty

Medium

Oven settings/baking time and temperature

Bake for about 50 minutes at 160°C fan in the oven. If you’re not sure whether the base is thoroughly baked or not, insert a thin skewer or toothpick into the centre of the cake. You can also lightly press a finger on the base top; when it gives way and bounces back, this is the sign that it’s done

Tools you’ll need

Scale, hand mixer (+mixing bowl) or kitchen machine, egg whisk, dough scraper, pot with water bath, spatula, short angular cake palette knife, baking tin, cooling grid, pie knife, icing grid, long straight palette, brush