Sachertorte

I first made this scrumptious Viennese delicacy with two girlfriends on a dreary November afternoon after a sleepover party. It takes a few hours to prepare, but it makes for a great afternoon activity and the result is oh-so-worth it. We took the recipe from a cookbook with chocolate recipes, and tweaked the original recipe here and there.

Ingredients:

for the cake

• 140g soft butter
• 70g sugar
• 6 eggs
• 140g dark chocolate
• 70g sugar (yes, again, this is no typo)
• a pinch of salt
• 140g flour

for the syrup

• 100g sugar
• 1dl water
• a few drops of vanilla extract (or vanilla pod)
• a teaspoon of amaretto (or two tbsp of rum, like the original recipe said)

for de icing

• 200g raspberry jam
• 200g dark chocolate
• 1 tbsp butter

Beat the butter and sugar to a creamy mass. Separate the yolks from the egg whites and add the yolks, one by one, to the butter and sugar. Melt the chocolate au bain marie (read: put it in the microwave on moderate power for 3-4 mins) and spoon it through carefully.

In another bowl, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt and the sugar until stiff and carefully spoon 1/3 through the chocolate dough. Dust the flour and spoon it in carefully together with the rest of the egg whites.

Butter a tin and add the dough. Bake on a pre-heated oven at 180°C for approximately 45 mins. Leave the cake to cool outside of the oven.

For the syrup, boil the sugar, water and the vanilla essence for a few minutes. Let is cool and add a teaspoon of amaretto.

Peel off the upper crust of the cake (this part is hard and the fluffy cake underneath will absorb the syrup much better). Cut the cake in half horizontally and coat with a royal layer of raspberry jam. Put the upper half of the cake back on the lower half, and soak the top of the upper half with the syrup. Then add a layer of raspberry jam. Melt the chocolate for the icing and add a tablespoon of butter (to keep the chocolate soft and shiny). Coat the entire cake with the chocolate icing. Optionally, decorate the cake with whole walnuts, or something else to your liking.