Sachertorte recipe: Vienna’s chocolate cake with apricot jam

This Sachertorte recipe rebuilds Vienna’s best-known cake at home: a dense chocolate sponge lifted only by beaten eggs, split and filled with apricot jam, then covered in a cooked chocolate glaze. The technical key is the jam coat under the glaze, which seals the crumb so the glaze sets hard and glossy instead of soaking in.

According to Hotel Sacher, the cake dates from 1832, when Prince Metternich asked his kitchen for a new dessert and the chef was ill, so the 16-year-old apprentice Franz Sacher made it. His son Eduard opened Hotel Sacher in 1876, and the hotel says it still bakes around 360,000 cakes a year by hand. A family dispute with the confectioner Demel over the name went to court and was settled in 1963: only the hotel sells the “Original Sacher-Torte”. A slice at Café Sacher opens our guide to what to eat in Vienna.

Ingredients

The jam is not only flavour: it seals the sponge so the glaze can set hard and shine.

• 150 g dark chocolate (60-70 % cocoa), for the sponge
• 140 g soft unsalted butter
• 90 g icing sugar
• Seeds of half a vanilla pod
• 6 eggs, separated, at room temperature
• 110 g caster sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 130 g plain flour, sifted
• 300 g smooth apricot jam
• 1 tbsp rum (optional)
• 200 g sugar and 120 ml water, for the glaze
• 150 g dark chocolate (60-70 % cocoa), for the glaze
• 250 ml whipping cream, unsweetened, to serve

Method

1. Heat the oven to 170 °C (160 °C fan). Butter and flour a 24 cm springform tin and line the base. Melt the sponge chocolate over barely simmering water and let it cool to lukewarm, so it does not melt the butter and deflate the batter.
2. Beat the butter, icing sugar and vanilla for 5 minutes until pale, then add the yolks one at a time and stir in the chocolate. The air beaten in here is part of the lift, because the classic cake has no baking powder.
3. Whisk the whites with the salt, adding the caster sugar gradually, to soft, glossy peaks. Sugar stabilises the foam; whites beaten stiff and dry will not fold in smoothly.
4. Fold a third of the whites into the chocolate base to loosen it, then fold in the rest of the whites and the flour in turns, gently, until no streaks remain.
5. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, without opening the oven for the first 30, until a skewer comes out clean. Turn out upside down onto a rack for a flat top and leave to rest, wrapped, overnight: a rested sponge cuts cleanly.
6. Cut the cake horizontally into two layers. Warm the jam with the rum and sieve it. Spread a third between the layers, then brush the rest over the top and sides and leave it to set for an hour: this is the seal.
7. For the glaze, boil the sugar and water for 5 to 6 minutes, cool slightly, then stir it gradually into the melted chocolate until it thickens and coats a spoon. Pour it over the cake in one go and smooth the sides with one or two strokes of a palette knife; every extra pass dulls the surface.
8. Let the glaze set for several hours at cool room temperature, not in the fridge, where condensation clouds it. Cut with a knife dipped in hot water and serve with lightly whipped, unsweetened cream.

Hotel Sacher or Demel: where the jam goes

The quarrel between the two houses was partly about the jam. The hotel’s version has apricot in the middle and under the glaze; Demel’s long had it only under the glaze. For the single-layer style, skip the split and brush all the jam on top; the rest of this Sachertorte recipe stays the same. Either way, the unsweetened cream is not decoration: it balances a cake that is meant to be firm and fairly dry.

Sachertorte recipe FAQ

Why is my Sachertorte dry? It is meant to be firmer than a layer cake, which is why it comes with cream. If it is crumbly, it was probably overbaked: start checking at 50 minutes, and let it rest a day before serving.

Can I make it ahead? Yes. The glaze protects the sponge, so the cake keeps for several days covered at cool room temperature and often tastes better on the second day.

Can I use another jam? You can, but the cake changes character: the sharpness of apricot is what cuts through the chocolate. Choose a tart apricot jam and sieve it so there are no pieces under the glaze.