Sachertorte is a chocolate sponge cake covered with chocolate glaze and filled with apricot jam. The apricot jam is either under the glaze or between two sponge layers. The cake was invented by the Austrian confectioner Franz Sacher, either in 1832 for the Austrian chancellor Klemens von Metternich, or in the 1840s.

The Hotel Sacher and Demel pastry shop in Vienna serve the cake, while it is also popular in other parts of Austria and in other German-speaking countries. In the 20th century, they battled over the cake's ownership, trademark, and whether the original cake had one or two layers of sponge. Both of their cakes were made with butter, chocolate, eggs, flour, and sugar, but their exact recipes were kept secret. Hotel Sacher serves the cake with whipped cream, ships the cake worldwide, and makes approximately 360,000 Sachertorte cakes a year. The cake is well-acclaimed, though some critics have complained about the cake being dry.

History

thumb|upright=0.7|[[Franz Sacher invented the cake in the 19th century.]]

thumb|Hotel Sacher in the late 19th century

Sachertorte was invented by Franz Sacher, though it is unclear exactly when he invented it. Sacher was trained under the chef of Prince Metternich of the Austrian Empire, Chambellier. He then worked as a chef in Vienna and Pressburg (modern-day Bratislava, Slovakia). One story says he made the cake in 1832 for Metternich and his friends. However, according to an interview Sacher gave in 1906, he created the cake in the 1840s at his restaurant in Pressburg. Several food writers have indicated that the cake was created in 1832, with his son, Eduard, also claiming in 1888 that Sacher created the cake for Metternich. The historian Ingrid Haslinger, however, writes that in the 1906 interview, it says that the cake was created around 1849 or 1850, saying that Franz was only able to return back to Vienna, where he created the cake, after the Revolutions of 1848. Eduard claimed that Metternich liked the cake.

Regardless of the exact origin, after Eduard opened Hotel Sacher in 1876, the cake made its way to the hotel's menu. It became widely popular in Vienna, surpassing the popularity of Linzer torte. It also became popular in other cities in Europe, such as Paris, Berlin, and London, and was even shipped over the ocean, such as to the United States, India, and Japan. Spelling variations include Sacher-Torte and Sacher Torte, with being a German word for a multi-layered cake with a filling. The cake was introduced to the Austrian food codex () in 1894. It first appeared in the English vocabulary in the early 20th century.

Eduard was most likely inspired by several cakes when introducing Sachertorte to the hotel's menu, such as Cioccolate-Torten, first published in 1719 in the New Salzburg Cookbook. The recipe of this cake was also published and changed by several other cookbook writers during the 18th and 19th centuries. The cookbook writer Katharina Prato was one of the first to promote Sachertorte, having published it in Die Süddeutsche Kirche (1858), calling it "A Chocolate Cake. A La Sacher". She mentioned that the cake is made out of chocolate, butter, eggs, sugar, and flour. Once the cake is baked, apricot sauce and chocolate glaze are spread over the cake. She helped popularise the cake in her other books. Writers, such as Louise Seleskowitz, Klara Fuchs, Anna Bauer, and Anna Fink, also featured the cake in their cookbooks. Leopold Rosner and Robert Habs featured the cake in the Appetit-Lexikons (1894), while Olga and Adolf Hess featured a similar recipe in Viennese Cuisine (1913), claiming that their recipe was provided by Anna Sacher, Eduard's spouse. By the 1930s, the cake had become globally known and there were many versions of it.

In the 1930s, Hotel Sacher entered a legal battle with the pastry shop Demel over the cake's ownership and trademark. The shop introduced the cake as "Eduard Sacher-Torte" in 1934, while the hotel had the cake under the name "Original Sacher-Torte". Demel's argument was based on the fact that they had obtained the right to produce the cake from Eduard, while Hotel Sacher based their argument on the family connection. Hans Gürtler, one of the hotel's investors, took the shop to court and won in 1938. After World War II, the dispute resurfaced in the Austrian Supreme Court. This time, there was also a dispute on whether the original cake had one layer of sponge, preferred by Demel, or two layers, preferred by the hotel. The dispute over the ownership remained complicated as Eduard had connections to both Hotel Sacher and Demel. The case ended in 1963,

Description

The cake is modelled after a chocolate biscuit. The Austrian food codex describes the cake's ingredients and preparation in detail. Sachertorte has to be a chocolate sponge cake and covered with apricot jam, chocolate glaze, and sugar. The primary ingredients must be butter, chocolate, eggs, flour, and sugar. The recipe calls for whipping the butter and melting the chocolate. The chocolate and sugar are then combined and mixed. The mixture is then thickened with egg yolks and flour before being folded with egg whites. The batter should be baked for an hour. After baking, apricot jam is placed on top of the cake, which is then coated with chocolate glaze. Nuts can be added if the name of the cake reflects their inclusion. The butter content is unusually high for a cake, raising the temperature at which the chocolate-content melts. This has made Sachertorte a rare cake that bakeries can hold without refrigeration.

Demel's version has one layer, and puts the apricot jam below the chocolate glaze, while Hotel Sacher puts the jam in the middle of two layers. Both keep their exact recipes secret. Hotel Sacher serves the cake with whipped cream,

thumb|Sachertorte served in [[Innsbruck, Austria]]

Sachertorte is a popular dish in Vienna and other regions of Austria, as well as other German-speaking countries, particularly during festive periods. The author Franz Maier-Bruck also claimed that the cake is routinely served at Buckingham Palace and the Élysée Palace. In Japan, McDonald's offered the cake for in 2015 and again from 2018 to at least until 2021. The food writer Michael Krondl described it as "easily [the] city's most storied confection". Hotel Sacher ships its cakes worldwide and makes approximately 360,000 Sachertorte cakes a year.

The authors Alexandra Gürtler and Christoph Wagner note that many unverified legends have emerged about the cake, such as the one about Franz seeking advice from his sister when creating the cake.

Reception

Roland Mischek of Die Welt described the cake as "sweet, delicate, and with a flawless surface" ().

Notes

References

Sources

Further reading

  • Franz Sacher's 1906 interview in Neues Wiener Tagblatt: page 8, page 9 (in German)
  • The Original Sacher Torte website