Sacher Torte by Sebastian Kobelt

The original recipe of the Sacher Torte is a well-kept secret of the eponymous hotel in Vienna.This recipe has been with me for 25 years and over the years, I've been experimenting with it and the result will come as close to the original as one can get.

In my shop in Linlithgow, we serve it in different ways. It can be sandwiched with homemade apricot jam and topped with 70% dark chocolate ganache, or my own signature cake inspired by the original has become milk chocolate mousse with a centre of salted caramel and bitter orange on chocolate Sacher sponge. Today, I’ll show you how to make my signature cake which I sell as 7cm individual sponges.

What makes this recipe even more delicious is that I use a mixture of plain flour and spelt flour. Spelt flour is less glutenous than wheat flour and therefore less able to bind water. The result is a wonderfully moist Sacher sponge.

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Ingredients: Makes 10x7cm individual sponges OR 1x22cm cake tin or ring                                      

150g butter, softened

45g icing sugar

A pinch of salt

Half a vanilla pod, scraped

7 whole eggs, separated

150g good quality dark chocolate, 70%

210g caster sugar

75g plain flour

75g spelt flour

To decorate: 

Apricot jam

Dark chocolate ganache (store bought or homemade)

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to 165°C and line one 22cm cake tin with baking paper.
  2. Sieve the flours together in a bowl and set aside.
  3. Gently melt the dark chocolate and keep warm.
  4. Whisk the egg whites with the caster sugar to form stiff peaks.
  5. Cream the butter, salt, vanilla and icing sugar until it forms a light mixture then gradually add the egg yolks until fully incorporated.
  6. Add the melted chocolate swiftly, until fully combined. 
  7. Carefully fold in the meringue mixture followed by the sieved flour.
  8. Pour mixture into cake tin and bake for about 40 minutes. To test if it’s ready, pierce the cake with a small knife. If nothing sticks to the blade it's cooked.
  9.  Leave the cake to cool, then unmold.
  10.  Sandwich with apricot jam or any other seasonal fruit preserve and top with dark chocolate ganache. 

In association with Taste Communications.

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