For the crème-de-la-crème of chocolate cake, you’ll want to try this rich dark chocolate dessert.  Typically served with a dollop of whipped cream, this cake will send your taste buds into delightful decadence overload.

Sacher-Torte was created in 1832 when Franz Sacher first made the dessert for Prince Wenzel von Metternich and his very important guests. Only sixteen years old, the young chef-in-training stepped up when his boss, the Prince’s actual chef, fell ill.

With the help of the cake’s immense popularity, Sacher’s son Eduard built the Hotel Sacher, a luxury hotel with a long list of VIP guests who have stayed there over the years. If you’re in Vienna you can visit the hotel and try their cake, and then compare it to variations of the Sacher-Torte that you’ll find throughout the city.

INGREDIENTS:

FOR THE CAKE:

• 4.5 oz. butter, softened
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate, melted
• 12 tbsp. sugar
• 7 egg yolks
• 7 egg whites, whipped
• 7 oz. flour
• 2 tbsp. apricot Jam

FOR THE GANACHE:

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate
• 1 stick butter

HOW TO MAKE:

• Mix butter, sugar, and egg yolks together until creamy.
• Fold the melted chocolate into the mixture.
• In a separate bowl, fold the whipped egg whites and flour together.
• Combine with the egg yolk and chocolate mixture.
• Pour into a greased 9” round cake pan.
• Bake for approximately 45 min. at 370 F°.
• Let the cake cool and remove from pan.
• When fully cooled, cut the cake in half horizontally. Fill with apricot jam and glaze top of cake with the ganache.

Makes 8 servings.