My grandma is pure chaos. Not only is she a bit messy. But she is the personification of chaos. She writes her shopping list on the back of the bank statement, she stores her glasses somewhere in the microwave and in improvisation she is world champion. But when she bakes her famous Viennese Sacher Cake, she gets totally calm and focused.
For this recipe she even keeps exactly to the amounts stated. When applying the icing, deeply lost in her work, she speaks almost no word. I've never seen her like that! There is only the cake and her, nothing else is important during these moments... 😉
I was allowed to look over her shoulder when she made a Sachertorte recently.
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Attention - this recipe might contain work!
I must warn you at the beginning. This recipe is none of these "5 minutes - 2 ingredients - No Bake Cakes" circulating on the net. For this Viennese Sacher Cake you need to bake at leisure.
And love. You definitely need love for it. You will not try this recipe for the graduation ceremony of the daughter of a distant acquaintance. (Although my Grandma probably would, if you asked her to.)
This cake is some work, you cannot "sugarcoat" this.
When you have finished the baking, you have to glaze with jam and allow to dry for several hours, best overnight. Then comes the chocolate frosting, and you have to leave the cake to dry for another few hours. Only then can you (if you want to) add some icing decorating.
Why would you still want to do this recipe?
This cake is to make for a special occasion and for fellas you really like.
And who has ever eaten the famous Viennese Sachertorte at the Hotel Sacher and then tried this one from my granny, will know why it's worth it. The cake is quite similar to the original Sachertorte, but it has a much more juicy and fluffy texture.
To make this Sachertorte, you might need to practice a bit, if you have no experience with baking cakes. Depending on which stove you use, which flour, how big the eggs are, etc., the results can be different. But my grandmother has got a few tricks up her sleeve, if something goes wrong:
The cake has become too dry!
In this case, my grandma sometimes even makes a new dough. When this no longer is possible, instead of once, she cuts the cake through in the middle a second time. So she gets a cake with multiple layers. In between she adds lots of apricot jam. The extra jam makes the dough juicier.
The cake has not risen in the oven!
The cake works out better when, NO salt is added to the eggsnow when you beat it. Don't ask me why, but to mention this was very important for my grandmother...
The cake is crooked!
Let's do something crafty! With this cake, my grandmother just took a knife and cut off the part that was wrong. The snippets she then "hid" in the center of the cake. (See picture below)
The decorating with sugar icing failed!
Here you must improvise again, so instead of writing "Congratulations" with your icing, you can change it to flowers or some random creative patterns... it's all been there...
Granny's Viennese Sacher Cake Recipe
Zutaten
For the dough
- 130 g Chocolate half dark, half milk chokolate {4.6 oz}
- 130 g Butter {take ⅔ US cup, remove 2 tbsp.}
- 110 g icing sugar {1 cup + 2 tbsp.}
- 120 g flour white cake flour {1 US Cup}
- 7 egg yolk when small eggs, could take 8
- 7 egg white when small eggs, could take 8
- 110 g granulated sugar {½ US cup + 1 tbsp.}
- ~300 g apricot jam {about ¾ cup}
- ~150-200 g red currant jelly {½ to ⅝ US cup} without currant seeds
For the chocolate glazing
- ~250-300 g Chocolate half dark, half milk chokolate {9-10 oz}
- 1-2 tbsp. Butter
- 1-2 tbsp. Margarine
For the white sugar icing
- ~100 g icing sugar {~1 US cup}
- 2-3 drops lemon juice
- 1 little bit of egg white about 1 tsp.
Equipment needed
- spring form pan 8-10'' diameter {20-25 cm}
- baking parchment or icing bag for sugar icing
- long knife to cut the cake through in the middle
- kitchen balance If you don't use cups for measurements
- sieve for sifting icing sugar (for icing decoration)
Anleitung
- Get the butter out of the fridge a few hours befre starting. It should be soft allready (but not liquid). Weigh all ingredients for the dough with a kitchen scale (or cups) and place aside in separate plates/bowls. The ingredients should be weighed as accurately as possible.
- Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites. When the eggs are quite small, you can take an additional egg. Beat the egg whites with the granulated sugar until very stiff. (In Austria, we call this "snow".)
- Heat the chocolate (the 130 g for the dough) until it is soft (but not completely liquid). Add a part of the butter (30g/1-2 tbsp.) to the chocolate and mix the whole thing.
- Preheat the oven to 180 ° C circulating air.
- Put the egg yolks, the remaining butter and the icing sugar in a large bowl and mix them well. Then add the melted, cooled chocolate and mix further. (That's why we add the butter, so the chocolate can cool down but remains soft.)Now gradually add the flour while continue to mix.Very carefully, fold in the beaten egg white (do not mix with an electric mixer).
- Butter the cake pan and sprinkle with flour. Add all of the dough and bake in preheated oven for 45-60 minutes.
- When ready baked, remove from oven, turn around the cake pan and allow to cool for 50-60 minutes. (Watch telenovela meanwhile) Then cut through horizontally with a long knife. On top of the lower half, add all of the apricot jam. While in many other Sachertorte recipes, the jam is only applied very thinly, my granny's jam layer is about 0.5 cm thick, which makes the cake much juicier.
- Now the top half has to get on top again. Glaze the entire cake with red curant jelly (top and sides). The currant jelly adds a pleasant, slightly sour contrast and prevents the cake from drying out.
- Now let the jelly dry, which takes a few hours. My grandma lets the cake dry overnight. The cake does not have to be put in the fridge, but should dry in a cool place.
- When the jelly is dried, you can start with the chocolate icing. Heat about 250g chocolate (half dark, half milk chocolate) on a plate/pot, placed on top of a pot of boiling water. Add some margarine and butter. First start with less butter / margarine (about 1 tbsp. each) and then gradually add more until the right consistency is achieved.The glaze should be liquid but still thick enough so that it can be poured on the cake more easily.More butter makes the glaze slightly firmer, more Margarine makes it more fluid (according to my grandma) .
- My grandmother now takes the whole pie in the left hand (on baking paper) and with the right hand she pours the chocolate. She then turns the cake in all directions, so that the glaze is spread out evenly on the cake. But maybe you have some other methods for glazing? The professional ones among you may place the cake on a cake grid, so that the excess glaze runs off. My grandmother distributes the excess glaze with a spoon on the cake edges and allows me to eat the rest ;). The glaze must now dry (for about 2 hours).
- When the chocolate is dried, the sugar icing can be prepared. First, my grandma sifts 100g icing sugar. Then she mixes the icing sugar with a few drops of lemon juice and very little egg white. (Approximately 1 teaspoon).
- Then she forms an icing bag with baking paper, pours in the sugar icing and decorates the cake.
(c) by Angelika Kreitner-Beretits / Vienna Sunday Kitchen
Juni 3, 2016 Hast du das Rezept ausprobiert? Dann freue ich mich über deine Bewertung!! / Rate this Recipe!
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