Ever Heard of Sacher Torte?

Written by Joy Simmons

Joy is a Yumday Fall 2021 Food Education Fund intern. She's a Senior at Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School, specializing in Economics & Finance. On this National Sacher Torte Day, Joy is here to help us learn more about the origin of this famous dessert.

Photo by Leqi Wang on Unsplash

What is Sacher Torte and where did it come from?

Sacher Torte is a delicious chocolate cake with melodies of flavors that are very popular in Viennese cuisine. According to Wikipedia, the Sacher Torte "is a chocolate cake, or torte of Austrian origin, invented by Franz Sacher, supposedly in 1832 for Prince Metternich in Vienna. It is one of the most famous Viennese culinary specialties."

Historians say this torte was sort of "improvised" by Sacher. Apparently, Prince Metternich wanted to have a special dessert made for a honored guest; however, the official court pastry chef was ill, so Sacher had to step in and ended up creating his own recipe — which became very popular!

Also, did you know that Sacher was just 16 years old when he came up with this recipe? Learn more about the history here. 

So, what's in a Sacher Torte?

King Arthur Baking Company offers up a great recipe for Sacher Torte, which you can find here.

The cake is made with chocolate wafers and apricot jam, which is "light and airy" at the same time. The chocolate glaze is very decadent, and according to bakers, the traditional way to decorate a Sacher Torte is to pipe the word "Sacher" on top with melted chocolate. Or you can keep it simple with swirls, or just leave it plain. Either way, it's sure to be delicious!

I have never tried Sacher Torte before, however after reading this, Sacher Torte is most definitely a must have. I already love chocolate cake, However this Sacher Torte is giving very much a new dimension to chocolate cake. Which I adore extremely! :)

What are some interesting facts about Sacher Torte?

According to the JustFunFacts: 

The Original Sacher Torte is still made almost entirely by hand using Franz Sacher’s recipe and the exact composition is a closely guarded secret. More than 360,000 cakes a year are made in Vienna by its 41 employees, many of which are shipped all over the world allowing a "taste of Vienna" to be delivered to many far away places. The most popular destinations for its cakes are Germany, Italy, France, the US, and many countries in Asia. Today, Sachertorte stands as one of Vienna’s best-known symbols.

And we get to celebrate National Sacher Torte Day here in American on December 5th. Yay!

The fact above interests me! Sacher Torte is a highly demanded cake (and for good enough reason); and for the bakers to make the cake by hand instead of using a processing machine to make the process faster to meet the high demands of the customers amazes me. Not only do these bakers give the customers the real satisfaction of Sacher Torte, furthermore they do it with integrity.

You can read even more about this cake (and the Vienna cake war!) here. And check out this photo of the Hotel Sacher, which was opened by Eduard Sacher, the son of Franz, who made the cake the "hallmark of the house":

Image: JustFunFacts

Have you every had Sacher Torte before? If so, let us know in the comments!