The Sachertorte Forte II

I had no idea what Vanilla Sugar was tonight when putting together the ingredients of the torte. So I just put some sugar in, which of course is not good; to put “some” sugar in, that is. Cakes need exact amounts....or so I have always understood. But once in a while I bend that rule and its all OK, I say!
Anyway, I forgot to put any vanilla flavour what so ever.. but my mother right now tells me that the cake is smelling quite nice. I have lost my sense of smell, yet again. In thirty minutes, I shall see how the torte comes out.
The recipe or recipes I followed did not include any baking powder. 6 egg whites meringue are the only rising agents in this recipe. I wonder if the reason is because the recipe was created in 1832 and baking soda was not yet used as a rising agent?
Now, the cake is done quite beautifully. I am very happy with the result. Not too light and fluffy, not too dense. Perhaps it was good that no baking powder or any thing of the sorts was used. The 130 gm of cake margarine(yes! Margarine, not butter!!! go ahead, use butter, if you have the courage!!!) has hopefully made it moist. I cut into half and spread some of the apricot sauce I made by mixing apricot preserve, sugar and orange juice. Placed the other half, spread and smeared more of the sauce. I am going to let it cool now a bit and let the sauce dry up a bit, then spread a second layer of the apricot sauce.
In the meanwhile, should I make the glaze..? 1 cup of granulated sugar cooked in just enough water to cover the sugar till the “thread” stage and 1 cup of dark chocolate.
The glaze took time to cook! The chocolate would not melt!!! But it came out good. The glazing is not as easy as I thought. The coating remains thin. All the excess is collected in a plastic wrap underneath. I hope I can use it to coat the cake further....because there is hardly any left in the pan.


...to be continued...

The Sachertorte Forte

My feeling is that it is not the most brilliant cake in the world. Perhaps more of a suspicion, actually. I have had it a couple of times during my short sojourn in Vienna (July 2010), always served with a big dollop of whipped cream. But, the Viennese do like their whipped cream on anything. The other reason for the cream with Sachertorte I read (wikipedia) is that the Viennese find the cake a bit dry to eat on its own. That is quite understandable to me.

So why is it the national cake of Austria?

Another suspicion of mine. Lots of drama and intrigue and some brilliant marketing based on the wonderful tale. So the parents had an ugly battle. Every one cried foul. One parent came out victorious. The child in question was stuck in the middle of all this chaos and mayhem, till some one said, “It's not even a pretty child...” But there are gentle people amongst us, “Come, come! What matters? It's still a sweet child.”

Yes, I suspect that is the story of Sachertorte. One can find out about it from a lot of sources. I shall not get into it. I would rather enjoy my own sense of imagination over what might have actually occurred!

And now, I have been influenced by this drama (more so from my own head). Apparently, the recipe is a secret, kept safely amongst the chosen few working at the Sacher Hotel. But there are so many people who claim to have made it and have shared the recipes on the internet. Again, its a simple cake, that probably isn't that mysterious. I am going to attempt it too with all this hue and cry! Yes, the Sachertorte does that doesn't it?

...to be continued...