recipe: sachertorte

I really wanted to make the most of the long Easter weekend and use some of the time to do some baking. As I left work on the Thursday I asked The Husband to have a rummage through the recipe books to find something he would enjoy as part of our Easter dinner.

I drove home with visions of a fresh lemon cake, or perhaps a classic victoria sponge with strawberry jam. Something appropriate for celebrating the start of spring. The Husband bolted for the bookshelf as I walked through the door, his guilty glances through the recipe books giving away the fact that he had forgotten to look until I got home.

When I rejected his request for a vanilla cheesecake because I wanted to actually bake something, he picked out this rich, dark, sweet sachertorte. Whilst it didn't exactly epitomise spring, the excess of chocolate somehow felt fitting for Easter weekend, and so the decision was made. It was a recipe I had made before and it was a great success so I looked forward to trying it again.

The cake wasn't the neatest ever, a few of the edges broke off after I removed it from the baking tin, but the glossy ganache meant it still looked fairly appetising. It is a rich, fudgy cake, almost brownie-like in texture, and keeps well for up to a week in an air-tight tin, actually getting better after a few days. 

Other than the fact that it requires a few different bowls when making the recipe, it is straightfoward, and as it doesn't contain flour it's also a good gluten free cake. Apart from the butter in the ganache, the recipe is dairy free too, so it could easily be adapted if needed.

Sachertorte

(Recipe adapted from Green and Black's Unwrapped)

Ingredients

TORTE

200g dark chocolate 

6 eggs

310g caster sugar

150g ground almonds

1 tablespoon freshly ground coffee

6 tablespoons apricot jam

melted butter (for greasing)

ICING

100g dark chocolate

40g unsalted butter

Recipe

• Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 23cm cake tin with the butter and line with greaseproof paper.
• Melt the 200g of dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water.
• Separate 5 eggs into two separate bowls. Whisk the 5 egg yolks with the remaining whole egg and the caster sugar until it has a thick and creamy texture.
• Add the ground almonds, coffee and melted chocolate into the egg yolk mixture and combine thoroughly.
• Whisk the 5 egg whites until they form stiff peaks.
• Gently fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture until well mixed and pour into the prepared tin.
• Bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. After the cake has been baking for 40 minutes, cover the top of the cake with a layer of foil to ensure the top doesn't burn.
• Release the cake from the tin and leave to cool on a wire rack.
• Melt the apricot jam in a small pan and brush over the top and sides of the cake.
• Melt the remaining 100g of dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. When it has melted add the butter to the bowl and stir until combined. The icing should have a thick, pouring consistency.
• Pour the icing over the cake, smoothing over the top and sides. Use the back of a teaspoon to make a pattern of rings over the top of the cake and then leave the icing to set. If you are feeling particularly creative you can dig out the icing bag and pipe sachertorte over the top too!
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