sacher torte

so im going crazy with that "Kaffehaus" book (see previous entries). i think its the history behind the recipes... vienna, budapest, and prague are steeped in tradtions and it comes through in the baked goods there. i feel the same when i use julia child's "mastering the art of french cooking" with her book you can sense french chefs and american housewives looking over your shoulder, and into your pot.

so i naturally went for a sacher (pronounced kinda like soccer) torte recipe, sacher torte has been around for almost 200 years and it has many unique stories to go with it.

heres one from the Hotel Sacher's Website, i believe its in vienna:

"The story of the world-famous Original Sacher-Torte began in 1832, when the all-mighty "coachman of Europe", Wenzel Clemens Prince Metternich, ordered the creation of a particularly palatable dessert for spoiled high-ranking guests, "take care that you do NOT make me look a fool tonight", he warned. That very day, however, the chef was unavailable! The order was reassigned to a 16-year-old apprentice in his second year, the quick-witted chap Franz Sacher...

One thing was certain; the speciality which was finally presented to the masters and mistresses was a resounding success: a soft and fluffy chocolate cake with the tasty apricot jam under the icing. Franz certainly never forgot the great success of his ingenious idea within this exclusive circle. He spent his apprenticeship working for the Count of Esterhazy, first in Bratislava and then in Budapest. When, as a fully qualified cook, he started to work on his own account, he offered his successful composition once again, this time on a large scale. He was successful and soon the "cake by this man named Sacher" was in great demand, and the victorious career of the probably most famous of all cakes began.

P.S: ... Did you know that the Original Sacher-Torte made it into the Guinness Book of Records? In 1998, the Hotel Sacher Wien made a single cake with a diameter of 2.5 meters!"

taylor