Haha it was my 4th attempt at the Sachertorte. Since I'm from the 4th of the 4th (apparently a bad luck day in Asia) 4 is my lucky number and
with me it's usually 4 times a charm rather than 3.
Sachertorte is not an easy cake but it involves my 3 favourite things in the kitchen - sieved flour, molten chocolate and stiff egg-whites.
I began by greasing the tin and gathering the ingredients. For the dough I melted the chocolate au bain marie, beat the butter with some of the sugar,
added sieved flour and then chocolate to the mix, and beat it thoroughly. Then came the tough part of the mix - the egg whites. I made sure my bowl
and the beaters were clean and grease free, split 6 eggs (which took 7 eggs, I baked the 7th) and then beat the whites stiff, and added sugar. They
went stiff beautifully and all sparkly.
The difficulty is in Sachertorte that the rise comes from the egg-whites, there is no other rising agent. So you have to mix the whites stiff, then
fold them in with the dough carefully - if you're too rough, you'll break all the air bubbles in the egg and you get a very dense and
chocolate-y pancake. I was ever so careful - using the tip to first mix in a third of the egg whites firmly to get the mix loose, then slowly fold in
the rest of the egg.
And as I was one, I looked to my right - and saw the six egg yolks in their little bowl. That had to be added at a much earlier state and needed to be
beaten in vigorously.
Drat. I added the yolks and some baking powder.
The rest of the cake was moderatey successful in that I got a rise, I asked Dad to cut it through the middle so I could put the apricot jelly into it,
and the glazing went well for a first time.
Result was sweet and the coffee taste of the glaze is really powerful, but it wasn't too bad. |
I'll keep you
posted!
