Recipe of the week: Sacher cake

The chocolatey-apricot jammy cake is a classic dessert, which will crown any meal for sure. We are well aware that the Sacher cake/torte was created by an Austrian confectioner, but it is still a very popular dessert in Hungary, which recalls the era of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the peacetime along with specialties like the Dobos cake and the Eszterházy cake.

According to mindmegette.hu, there used to be a popular saying in Vienna, according to which the emperor ruled “Austria’s house”, but Sacher ruled “Austria’s hotel”. It referred to Hotel Sacher, which was built by Eduard Sacher, who was the son of Franz Sacher, the creator of the Sacher cake. He made it for Archduke Metternich in 1832 at the age of 16. Little did the young confectioner know that his cake would conquer the whole monarchy.

In that time, inventions and novelties flowed from one part of the empire to the other, so it’s no surprise that Hungarians quickly took a liking in the cake. This is also why it is frequently mentioned among traditional peacetime dishes and desserts.

Getting back to the Sacher story, Eduard Sacher and his wife, Anna Sacher worked tirelessly to get across the concept of their hotel, which also spread the fame of the Sacher cake. The restaurant of the hotel was famous all over the country. There were days when 400 Sacher cakes were baked in the confectionery, because they had to be delivered to Berlin, London and Paris. In fact, the famously picky Empress Elizabeth was also among the lovers of the dessert.

After the death of Eduard Sacher, his wife went on with managing the hotel for almost forty years. Legend has it that she surprised many guest who asked for the director by saying “I am the boss in this shanty”. She was an excellent host, who loved her job passionately. She frequently visited her father-in-law, the creator of the Sacher cake, and always borrowed a new recipe from him.