Sachertorte

What's this?

The baking book says "A superb rich, very densely textured cake,
named after the Sacher hotel in Vienna."

This cake uses ground almond instead of flour.

Y this cake is chosen to be baked today? Cos my mother bought a
pack of almond nuts by mistake and she ground them into 
almond powder. So to use up the almond powder sooner (she say
she bought the pack for a long time already), I chose this recipe.

Lots of mistake made baking this cake.
1. Missed out an egg.
2. Oven temperature too low (temp lower by accident)
3. Top burnt as too busy preparing dinner and the doughnut.
4. Egg whites not beaten thoroughly. Saw liquid egg whites at the
     base of the mixing bowl. Cant be beaten egg white turning bak
     to liquid state after leaving it around for too long?

Anyway, I don't like the cake. It taste so much like the macaroons 
that I bake before I started this blog. Too chewy but my hubby
eats even thou he hates almond, all thanks to the high chocolate
contents.

Here's a picture showing the texture.


So if anyone tries this, please share with me your outcome.

Here's the recipe taken out from "Simple cakes" by Mary Berry.

Sachertorte
Preparation time : 30 minutes
cooking time : 40 - 45 minutes
tin needed : A deep round loose bottomed 23 cm (9 in) cake tin

Ingredients
265g (9 1/2 oz) plain chocolate, broken into pieces
6 eggs, 5 of them separated
215g (7 1/2 oz) caster sugar
150g (5 oz) ground almonds

For topping and icing : ( I left out the icing as usual)
about 4 tbspn apricot jam
150g(5oz) plain chocolate, broken into pieces
150ml (5 fl oz) double cream
25g (1 oz) white chocolate

Method
1. Lightly grease the cake tin and line the base witha circle of non
    stick baking parchment. Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas
    mark 4. Put the chocolate into bowl placed over a pan of hot
    water. The water in the pan must not touch the bowl of the
    chocolate may overheat. Place the pan over a low heat until the
    chocolate has melted, stirring occasionally. Allow to cook a little.

2. Whisk the 5 egg whites in a large mixing bowl until stiff but not
    dry. In a separate large mixing bowl, use a hand held mixer to
    whisk together the 5 egg yolks, whole egg and sugar until thick
    and pale. The mixture should be thick enough to leave a trail on
    the surface when the whisk is lifted from the bowl.

3. Whisk the ground almonds, melted chocolate and 1 tablespoon
    of the whisked egg whites into the egg yolk mixture.

4. Carefully fold in the remaining egg whites using a large metal
    spoon or a straight edged spatula. Turn the mixture into the
    prepared tin and gently tilt the tin to level the surface. Bake
    for 40 - 45 minutes, until the crust that forms on the top is firm
    and the cake has begun to shrink away from the side of the tin.

5. Allow the cake to cook in the tin for about 10 minutes before
    loosening it around the edge with a small palette knife. Turn
    the cake upside down on to a wire rack covered with a tea
    towel, remove the lining paper and leave to cool completely.

6. For the topping, gently heat the apricot jan in a small pan and
     then brush it evenly over the top and sides of the cake (heating
    the jam makes it easier to brush).

7.  For the icing, put the chocolate into a bowl with the double
    cream and melt slowly over a pan of hot water. Stir occasionally
    until smooth and glossy. Allow the icing to cool and thicken
    slightly, then pour it into the centre of the cake. Spread it
    gentlely over the top and down the sides with a palette knife
    and leave to set. To finish, melt the white chocolate slowly in a
    bowl over a pan of hot water. Spoon into a small paper icing
    bag or polythene bag and snip off the corner. Pipe 'Sacher'
    across the cake and leave to set.