Sachertorte

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Sachertorte from Hotel Sacher, Vienna.

Sachertorte is a chocolate cake, invented by Franz Sacher in 1832 for Klemens Wenzel von Metternich in Vienna, Austria. It is one of the most famous Viennese culinary specialties.

[edit] Composition

The cake consists of two layers of dense, not overly sweet chocolate dough with a thin layer of apricot jam in the middle and dark chocolate icing with shreds of chocolate on the top and sides. This is traditionally eaten with whipped cream, as most Viennese consider the Sachertorte too "dry" to be eaten without.

The trademark for the "Original Sachertorte" was registered by the Hotel Sacher, which was built in 1876 by the son of Franz Sacher. The recipe is a well-kept secret. Until 1965, Hotel Sacher was involved in a long legal battle with the pastry shop Demel, who had also produced a cake called the "Original Sachertorte." Numerous tales have circulated to explain how Demel came by the recipe. The cake at Demel is now called "Demels Sachertorte" and differs from the "Original" in that there is no layer of apricot jam in the middle of the cake, but directly underneath the chocolate cover.

There are various recipes attempting to copy the "Original," and some may be found below. For example, at the cultural event "Graz-Kulturhauptstadt 2003", the "Sacher-Masoch-Torte" was presented (its name alluding to Leopold von Sacher-Masoch), a cake unique in that it uses red currant jam and marzipan.

[edit] Famous Sachertorte References

In the recent renowned video, entitled "Hitler is back", Rob Muntz, a Dutch TV personality dresses up in a Hitler uniform and runs around asking for Sachertorte. To be precise, "A piece of Sachertorte and fast, or I'll gas everyone in the cafe!" He also chokes on the Sachertorte, when he is informed that the police force will arrive shortly.

On Sesame Street, The Count refers to Countess as "my little Sachertorte" before singing the "Number of the Day" song.