Sachertorte

My darling husband has expressly forbidden me to post the Austrian dessert recipe I promised you last week. Something about the integrity of my blog being compromised if I post a recipe I haven't actually made, blah blah blah. Seriously though, those were the exact words he used, "I forbid you." To which my reply is, of course, "Wilst thou cut off mine hand shouldst I disobey thee?" Anyway since I'm not actually a medieval wife, I'm going to post the recipe anyway, though I will promise poor dear Martin that I'll make it and report back here in the next couple of weeks, since really his only reason for "forbidding" the posting of the recipe had nothing to do with the integrity of my blog and everything to do with the fact that he wanted to eat sachertorte.

So first I want to thank Ted Field, who has a great blog called "A Year of Wine" and has graciously allowed me to use his photo for this entry, since I haven't (yet) made a sachertorte and have no photo of my own. I admit I only stumbled on his blog because I was searching for said sachertorte photo, but I'm putting it on my Google reader because a girl can always use help pairing food and wine, since all I personally really know is that red wine goes with beef and white wine goes with fish. At least I think it does.

This is Ted's photo:

Photo courtesy Ted Field, "A Year of Wine"

Now after seeing that, can you really blame Martin for wanting me to make a sachertorte? Though you know, I still think his choice of words was a little unfortunate.

Here is the recipe (from Epicurious):

For the Cake:

• 6 eggs, separated
• 5 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 9 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup apricot preserves

For the Glaze:

• 4 oz bittersweet chocolate
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 2 tsp light corn syrup

(Note: this recipe came from Epicurious.com, and originally appeared in a book called "Kaffeehaus: The Best Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague." Except for the chocolate glaze recipe, also borrowed from Ted's blog, because it just sounded better than the one they had on Epicurious.)

Start by preheating the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly butter a 9-inch springform pan.

Melt the chocolate over medium heat, stirring frequently. Let cool slightly.

With an electric mixer, beat the butter until smooth, then add the powdered sugar and continue to beat until fluffy. Add the egg yolks one at a time, then the melted chocolate and vanilla.

Beat the egg whites with the granulated sugar until they form soft peaks, but don't overdo it. Add about 25% of the egg white mixture to the chocolate mixture (just enough to lighten the color and texture), then fold in the rest. Sift one half of the flour over the batter and fold in gently. Repeat.

Spread the batter into the pan and bake about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for about 10 minutes, then remove the cake from the pan and allow it to cool completely.

Cut the cake into two equal layers (carefully!) Heat the apricot preserves over a low heat until melted. Top of one of the cake layers with a generous amount of preserves, then add the second layer and top with the rest of the preserves. Let cool.

Now melt the chocolate and the butter over low heat, until just melted. In a separate saucepan, combine the whipping cream and corn syrup and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 2 minutes, then stir in the melted chocolate and butter. Cool slightly, so that the glaze is no longer hot but can still be poured.

Pour the glaze over the cake and smooth it with a spatula on the top and sides. Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour before serving.

Can you see why I haven't made this yet? I'm exhausted just from typing all of that.