Growing up, this was our family's favorite, "special occasion" cake. It was presented upon request at just about any family gathering my Oma attended. The last time we tasted the original Oma Ruthie's version was in 1991 as a tiered wedding cake! Unfortunately, no one remembers helping with the preparation or watching Oma make the cake. No one seems to have the recipe for the rich, not sweet, nutty chocolate delicacy known as "Oma's Sacher Torte"!
This chocolate "miracle" (KB) was a really special treat in our family and it was never served more than a few times a year. Some years it was missing entirely.
So when my son had a seventh grade genealogy project and, while researching his family tree and wanting to earn extra credit by making a family favorite recipe, my Oma's "Sacher Torte" came up. After calling family members (my mom, sister, cousin) several cook books were pulled out of the attics and dusted off. Seems my Oma compiled about 52 recipes for Sacher Torte. There was "Birdie's" and "Flo's" and "Gilda's" and "Trudy's". In the middle of one of the books were recipes for chocolate glaze. I tried to talk my son down but he had heard us chat about this revered chocolate dream cake his whole life and was determined to bring his classmates and all the teachers a piece of his "Oma Ruthie's Sacher Torte".
Now, I have baked a couple things in my lifetime. As a teenager I was successful in making a simple raspberry tart for my father. I was unsuccessful however, when I attended my first ever Thanksgiving with my husband's uncle in Virginia. I remember having been asked to make biscuits. I made them from scratch and they hardened into hockey pucks. I'll never live that down. But, the men in my family could cook and my mother always baked one particular dough which she topped with apples in the fall, plums in the spring and cheesecake for birthdays. Over the years I caught on to many basic skills. So, there was no way I was not going to figure out this Torte recipe because I have tasted it and I have the internet. I studied, investigated, baked, tasted, used my friends and family as testers and repeated. I mailed pieces of Torte Domestically and Internationally. Truly if I can make this, so can you! By the way, two discoveries: 1. It's simple - there are only four ingredients and 2. It's not actually a Sacher Torte! It's a flour-less, gluten free, walnut based, dark chocolate Torte. My son's classmates loved it!!
Try your hand at our favorite and make changes to suit your tastes. Hope you enjoy this not-so-secret, not too sweet, secret recipe as much as we enjoyed nailing it down!
INGREDIENTS:
CAKE
7 eggs
200 gr sugar
140 gr block unsweetened 100% cocoa chocolate (or couverture)
250 gr walnuts (finely chopped)
APRICOT JAM
Apricot preserves (smooth not chunky)
Optional: add 2 T gold rum or Pussers or Stroh or Cognac
CHOCOLATE GLAZE
100 gr powdered sugar, strained
65 gr chocolate (block or Valrhona or Belcolade or Cailler Cremant or 90% Lindt or a mix)
1 T cocoa powder
3 T water
Alternative: Kuchenglasur dunkel from Migros (2x 125g ready-to-go packages)
Spring form baking pan:
7 inch (18cm x 6.5cm high) fill to 75% or it will have a muffin-like top (which can be sliced off and eaten separately ;-) or
8" (21cm) and fill with the entire mix
DIRECTIONS:
Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie or microwave on 50% power.
Separate the eggs. Place the yolks into a large mixing bowl.
Then, add the sugar and mix 3 minutes until you get a creamy texture.
Add warm melted chocolate and the finely chopped walnuts and then,
In another large glass bowl, whip the whites to soft peaks and fold them into the mix.
Line the bottom of your spring-form with parchment paper; butter the pan's sides. Pour the mix into the spring-form pan.
Bake 350ºF (180ºC) for about an hour or when a toothpick comes out clean. Let sit ten minutes, remove the spring-form and parchment and cool on wire rack overnight.
Slice the entire cake horizontally into two equal sections. Remove the top section and set aside. Brush the upper facing side of the cake's lower section with apricot preserves.
Replace the top section of the cake and brush a thin layer of apricot preserves onto the upper facing side of the cake.
THE CHOCOLATE COATING aka GLAZE
The easiest way:
Warm a package of Kuchenglasur in simmering water (70ºC sous vide) then cut an edge to pour over the cake... tilt the cake to spread the glaze.
The less-easy way:
1 strain the powders together in a bowl
2 heat the chocolate and water
3 slowly stir in small amounts of powder to chocolate. The powdered sugar makes the chocolate shine.
COVERING THE CAKE:
You can use a flat bottomed pot or cake form slightly smaller than the cake's diameter and place it upside-down on a sheet of waxed paper. Place the cake on top of this platform so that the edges of the cake are not touching the table, cover the cake with the warm chocolate glaze. Here's an easy way to visualize this step. Or... just use the wire rack the cake is currently sitting on.
Let set at least an hour (preferably more) in a cool, dry place.
Caution: If the room is too cold, the chocolate glaze may discolor.
Done.
MY NOTES:
A dash of almond or vanilla extract whipped into whites and a shot of cognac into the cake mix... just saying.
I use a meat hammer to crush walnuts so they don't get too fine and oily from a chopping machine.
You might also add a bit of strong coffee or cognac to the chocolate glaze.
Ted's comments:
- If you use Madagascar 65% couverture disks, reduce the sugar by 30g- if you chop nuts using food processor, stop the process when the average size is ~3mm
- whipping the whites in a mini chopper works great with the right attachment (in case you used the kitchen aid mixer for the eggs, sugar, choc, & nuts)
- if you use the 18cm Ø springform, the cake will rise above the ring making it harder to get a smooth chocolate glaze but... by adding jam to the top, you might be able to smooth things out enough for the glaze to be evenly distributed. I also considered flipping the cake upside down to get the smooth bottom as my flat cake surface but, that would mean most of the chopped nuts would be on the top of the cake (heavier half) and the lighter, fluffier part of the cake would be the base, and the two halves would be connected with a layer of slippery jam... you see where I'm going with this? So... I wasn't brave enough to attempt it this time.
- btw. I used pecans instead of walnuts (sorry Oma)
Viv's alternative recipe (after watching Oma)
240g walnuts
140g sugar
10 medium eggs
200g chocolate (for cake)
Beat 8 egg yolks with sugar till creamy
Melt chocolate (bain marie) then pour into mixer
In my first attempt, I filled the 18cm springform to approx 85% and got a muffin top. I sliced that off for a snack before entering the glazing phase ;-)
For a heavier cake, fold in the egg whites and stir more.
Viv’s notes taken while watching Oma:
– 240g walnuts (finely ground)
– 140g sugar
– 200g chocolate
– 10 medium eggs
Preheat the oven to 350ºF = 180ºC
In large bowl, beat 8 yolks with the sugar until extremely creamy
Then, use a bain marie to melt the chocolate before adding it to the eggs & sugar
Stir
Add the ground walnuts and stir (it will get thick)
Add a shot of rum or cognac to the mix
Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks then fold them into the mix
Pour into well buttered springform
Bake for 50mins @ 180ºC then check with toothpick (max one hour)
Next day: Spread apricot jam over the top of the cake and follow the instructions on the package of menage chocolate glaze to cover the entire cake (bain marie, and add a teaspoon of butter to add shine) or.. use the glaze described in the recipe above.
hmmm.. 8 yolks and then 10 egg whites?