Sachertorte

I love La Madeleine. I don't always have a craving for it, but it seems like a good default place to eat at. You can never go wrong with their soups, chicken ceasar salad, and their sachertorte. This sacher that they make just blows my mind. The cake melts in your mouth and the chocolate covering on the outside is just to die for. So. I'm going to make it.

I couldn't find a recipe for the La Madeleine sachertorte, but I decided to go with this one from www.globalgourmet.com.

Ingredients:
4 oz couverture (high quality chocolate that has 32-39% cocoa butter content)
1/2 cup soft butter
1/4 cup + 2 teaspoons confectioners' sugar
6 eggs, separated
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup flour, sifted

Frosting included with this recipe I didn't use. Please read below to find out why:

I couldn't find that percentage of cocoa butter (either too high or too low) and decided to purchase their 31% (this was at All in One Bake Shop). This place is awesome. I told them what I was making and they were actually able to help me figure out one major component of the cake that I was kind of dreading: the frosting. This sacher cake does not go with buttercream. In fact, buttercream would destroy it (not that I really know this, but I can't imagine eating it with buttercream). They showed me to chocolate chips that contained about 52% cocoa butter (really goodness). The saleswoman explained to me the most awesome way to make a chocolate frosting. Heat one pint of heavy cream to every 16 oz bag that I purchased (I purchased one), then add that heavy cream to the chocolate chips and mix, then pour over sachertorte. After hearing that I couldn't wait to make it! So easy!

Side note: How do I measure an ounce? This doesn't seem possible. Oh but it is. Thanks to this lovely website I can do anything:
http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/convert/measurements.html

Back to the cake making (concentrate):
1. To make the batter, melt the couverture in a double boiler over hot water.

2. Cream the soft butter and confectioners' sugar with the couverture tempered at 89F. (I did not do this. I heated the coverture in a double boiler until everything melted. I touched the melted chocolate and if it didn't burn my hand, then I thought it was good.)
3. Stir in the egg yolks one at a time. (This was really fun. I did it in my electric mixer. As I added the yolks the chocolate with sugar started to get fluffier.)
4. In a clean bowl, whip the egg whites and sugar until stiff. (There was no way I was going to do this by hand with my kitchenaid by my side. I put it on speed 10 and let it whip - literally. Well, at first I worried because the whip wasn't developing stiff peaks. So I googled it (of course). I decided after reading one website that I should add a pinch of cream of tartar. It became the most beautiful whipped egg whites ever.)
5. Combine the two mixtures and fold in the sifted flour.

6. Line the base of a springform pan with parchment paper.

7. Spoon in the batter (I dumped it in there) and smooth the top.
8. Bake for 55 minutes at 350 degrees. (I think this totally up to your oven. I think my cake took about 30 minutes to produce a clean knife. Good thing I checked or else I would of had crunchy torte. I love crunch. Don't get me wrong. Cake is the ONLY exception to this. I HATE crunchy cake. It's just wrong.)
9. Spread apricot jam all over cake (suppose to keep the cake moist and the chocolate cover glossy)... make sure you eat the apricot pieces away or else you'll have a really really bumpy cake.
10. Make the chocolate covering as per "all in one" baker directions and pour over generously... then contain yourself from eating it all at once - and put it in the fridge to set and look really pretty.



Beth. This is your cake. With ice cream in the middle.

Enjoy!


Read more: Recipe: Sachertorte http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/egg/egg0298/sacher.html#ixzz0xqXafOb2