My attempt at the Sacher Torte

This was a challenge for sure. For some reason it did not come out at cakey as I wanted, or as it should have been. It was more like a brownie texture and it was way thinner than it should been.
Something went wrong with how it looked. Maybe I missed a step or mixed the flour too much and made it go flat? I did make an error when doing the egg yolks, mixing sugar in first before the salt, it could have been that. As an amateur baker, I don't know.

It did taste great and was so smooth and choclately.

I was so upset but somehow made the best of it. Made it look so nice here too. :)


Wolfgang's Sachertorte

Ingredients
Cake:

* 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, cut into small pieces (I used Nestle semi-sweet chocolate chips)
* 3 ounces butter
* 4 egg yolks
* 1 ounce sugar, plus 3 ounces
* 5 egg whites
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/3 cup flour, sifted

Apricot Filling:

* 1 1/2 cups apricot preserves
* 1 tablespoon Rum

Glaze:

* 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, cut into small pieces
* 1 ounce butter
* 2 ounces heavy cream

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9 by 2-inch cake pan.

In a bowl, combine the chocolate and butter and melt over a double boiler. Set aside to cool. In a mixer, using a wire whisk, whip the egg yolks with 1 ounce sugar until light and ribbony. Beat in the chocolate mixture.

In another bowl, beat the egg whites and salt until soft peaks. Slowly add the remaining 3 ounces of sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks. Fold in the flour and then fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it. Fold in the remaining egg whites, gently but thoroughly. Pour into prepared cake pan.

Bake for 40 minutes or until done. To check for doneness, insert a paring knife in center of cake. It should come out dry. Remove from the oven and cool on a rack.

To make the apricot filling: puree the apricot preserves. Stir in brandy.

Slice the cake into 3 equal layers. Spread half of the apricot filling on the bottom layer. Top with a second layer of cake. Spread the remaining apricot filling and top with the last layer of cake. Chill for at least 30 minutes.

To make the glaze: in a bowl, combine the chocolate and butter. Melt over a double-boiler. Bring the cream to a boil. Stir into the melted chocolate. Cool until it reaches glazing consistency. Spread over and around the cake. Chill for another 30 minutes before serving.



pre-dated as 9/28/09

Wow with the chocolate!

Yay!! I didn't have a blizzard in my kitchen this month! :)

I used the recipe from epicurious. Jeezus! What a faff!!!!! I did everything in stages, or I wouldn't have had enough bowls in my kitchen, or room on my counters!

I think the recipes for the apricot glaze and the chocolate glaze don't exactly synch up. There wasn't nearly enough apricot, and I threw out a TON of chocolate! None of this was helped by the fact that my favorite cooking measurement conversion site was accidentally wiped from my favorites, so I used a different (random google find) one and very nearly put in about 1/3 the required butter because everything here is sold in grams so I have to figure out the conversions! eek!

I'm pretty sure I screwed up the egg bit as well. In Mokismom's post on her torte, she uses the word meringue to describe the egg mixture. Um... yeah. Mine was never even close to a meringue texture - more just very very wet sugar that spun around for ages with the assistance of my hand mixer.


Here it is being mixed into the chocolate yumminess.

I'm going to have to ask my neighbor, Arielle, how it tastes. She just had a baby and could use the sweetness - and I've just lost a bunch of weight and there's no chance I'm putting this chocolately heavenlyness in my mouth - or I'll eat the entire thing in one sitting. :)

The finished product, all shiny and pretty! Hurrah!

Sacher Torte - September challenge

September's been a really busy month - family birthdays, 10 days of puppy-sitting, two book groups, blah, blah. All of this to explain why I've just gotten around to making the sacher torte.
I found my recipe on Cooks.com and it was almost exactly like the one from Epicurious, except that my recipe used semi-sweet chocolate instead of bittersweet, and the syrup in mine contained 2 TBS. of dark rum. I had a lot of fun making it, but I did find it pretty labor intensive. And my kitchen was a disaster from all the bowls, pans and equipment I had to use. One bowl for melting chocolate in the microwave, 2 for the separated eggs, one for the creamed butter and sugar, and another to whip the egg whites. Yikes! Add to that my mixer and my blender for pureeing the apricot jam. I think you get the picture.
My most AHA moment came when I was incorporating the egg yolks into the melted chocolate. I don't remember ever doing this before, and it was amazing to see the chocolate get shinier and thicker with the addition of each yolk. My hardest times were incorporating the beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture and again, adding the flour. My biggest problem was that I used a silicone spatula to do the folding of both meringue and flour; I would have been better off using a metal spoon, thereby not deflating the meringue. And adding the flour a little at a time would have made it much easier.
The finished torte was a little dry. I may have baked it a little too long, and I ended up not using all of the syrup, because I was afraid it would be soggy. I should have followed directions! Over all, the taste was good, but not great. I doubt I'd inflict it on company without some serious tweaking.

A Race and A Recipe - Sachertorte

I have a pretty regular blogging schedule. And I am usually pretty good about keeping to it. But sometimes life gets in the way. Sometimes you have to wake up at 5AM to run a half marathon in Queens. Sometimes your parents, your current roommate, your roommate from college who is visiting for the week from San Francisco, and one of your best friends get up with you and come cheer you on. Sometimes you beat your personal record by 6 minutes and come in 20th out of 220 in your age bracket. And when all of these things occur, I think it makes for a pretty good excuse to "miss" blogging. So yes. I ran the Queens Half Marathon yesterday and finished with a time of 1:42:50 according to my watch (longer according to theirs but my GPS also shows that I ran more mileage probably due to the way I took turns, etc.). That is an average pace of 7:47 minute miles, which is crazy even for me. I was so ecstatically happy.

It really is a shame, though, that I had to postpone showing you guys this recipe for the Sachertorte, which is perhaps my most daring baking undertaking yet. See, I'm part of this group called Have The Cake. As part of this group, a new recipe is posted every month that we have to bake. This month's recipe was the Sachertorte, which is a Viennese chocolate cake that is shrouded in mystery. It traditionally consists of two layers of dense, not-so-sweet chocolate cake with a thin layer of apricot-rum jam in the middle and a chocolate icing on top. The original Sachertorte was made at the Hotel Sacher in 1876 and the recipe is still a well-kept and highly coveted secret.

Having never had a real Sachertorte before, I cannot attest to the authenticity of this recipe. I invited a bunch of friends over to eat it with me, however, one of whom, upon sitting down said, "You know. This looks a lot like a Soccer-torte." Though not quite spot-on with his pronunciation (according to Wikipedia), I took that as an affirmation that I had actually done something right. After a bite, he followed up his remark by saying, "All the soccertorte's I've ever had have not been very good. But this is delicious." Apparently, something very right.

As I said before, making this cake was a pretty intense, multi-step process. But it was a lot of fun and made me realize that I love baking and I love the challenge of trying something so ridiculous and new. I am really excited for the baked goods that Have the Cake will challenge me with in the future.

Sachertorte
Makes 1 double-layer, 9-inch round cake, adapted from Epicurious.com

For the cake:
4 1/2 oz high-quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped
8 tbsp butter, at RT
1 cup confectioner's sugar
6 eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup flour

For the apricot filling:
1 1/4 cup apricot preserves (I used peach-apricot preserves from whole foods)
2 tbsp rum

For the chocolate icing:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
4 oz bittersweet chocolate

1. Make the cake. Preheat the oven to 400. Grease a 9-inch springform pan. Microwave the chocolate to melt it. Remove from the heat and let stand until cool, stirring often. Beat the butter in a large bowl until smooth, about 1 minute. On low speed, beat in the confectioner's sugar. Return the speed to medium-high and beat until light in color and texture, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time. Beat in the vanilla and chocolate. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites and granulated sugar on high speed until soft peaks form. Stir 1/4 of the egg white mixture into the chocolate mixture to lighten it and then fold in the rest. Sift half of the flour over the mixture and then fold in. Repeat with the second half. Spread evenly in the springform pan and then bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely.

2. Make the apricot filling. Bring the preserves and rum to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring often, until the last drops that stick to the spoon are very stick, about 2-3 minutes. Strain through a wire sieve into a small bowl, pressing hard on the solids. Use while warm.

3. Using a serrated knife, cut the cake horizontally into two equal layers. Brush the top of the cake layer with the apricot glaze. Place the second cake layer on top. Transfer the cake to a wire rack and let cool until glaze is set.

4. Make the chocolate glaze. In a heavy-bottomed small saucepan over high heat, bring the water, sugar, and chocolate to a boil. Attach a candy thermometer to the pan. Reduce the heat to medium and, stirring often, cook uncovered until the temeprature reaches 235 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove from the heat and stir to cool and thicken slightly, about 1 minute. Immediately pour this over the cake and use a metal offset spatula to spoon it over the top and sides. Cool until the glaze is barely set, then transfer to a serving plate and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Remove from the refrigerator at least one hour before serving.

Mini Sacher Torte

September’s Have the Cake challenge was to make a Sacher Torte. I’d never heard of this cake but it looked good. The most common version is two layers of dense chocolate cake with a layer of fruit jam and covered with a chocolate ganache. As I started to search for a recipe online, I noticed that each one used anywhere from 4 to 8 eggs per cake. This didn’t appeal to me very much as I’m really baking for one, so I decided to use a recipe for chocolate cake that I’ve made before. I also wanted to make a mini version to stop myself from devouring an entire cake. I had a few mini loaf pans around so I used those. Baking didn’t take very long since they were very flat cakes.

I’m not at all a fan of fruit and chocolate so I decided to make the filling a layer of chocolate flavored with hazelnut rum that my friend brought me a few months ago. I once put the rum into a glass of coke thinking it would be tasty and it wasn’t. That rum definitely belongs in coffee or hot chocolate.

Check out my funky 70’s double boiler! I love that thing and I’m so excited I got to use it again. The ganache I made was not scientific. I just added heavy cream to melted chocolate until it got to a pourable consistency.

As you can see, the layers aren’t exactly even but they are close enough.

As an ode to the original version of the torte, I added a spoonful of raspberry jam to the whipped cream. The cake was mighty delicious and rich. Thanks Dorrie for the challenge this month!

Scroll down for the recipe I used.

Easy Chocolate Cake

recipe adapted to make 2 mini flat cakes

1/4 cup cocoa
milk (read below)
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 egg yolk
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a 1/2 cup measure, put cocoa powder; add a small amount of hot water and stir until cocoa dissolves. Fill remainder of measuring cup with milk to bring the measurement up to 1/2 cup total.

Combine flour, salt and baking soda, mixing well. Set aside.

Beat butter and sugar, add egg yolk, beating for one minute. Stir in vanilla and remaining ingredients.

Mix for one minute. Turn batter into 2 buttered mini loaf pans.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until cake tests done.

September Challenge - Sacher Torte

My apologies to anyone who does not like chocolate or who is trying to lose weight that are participating in this challenge. September is not going to be a month that will make you happy.

Chocolate lovers, on the other hand, rejoice!

This month I would like everyone to make a version of the Austrian classic, Sacher Torte. Sacher Torte was invented in 1832 by Franz Sacher, a young apprentice chef for an Austrian royal. The history of the torte can be found here at the official Sacher Torte website.

The basics of Sacher Torte are that it is a rich chocolate cake, with a layer of apricot jam in between two halves, with a chocolate glaze on the whole of the cake. Having searched for recipes for Sacher Torte on the Internet, I found a plethora of different recipes, some with apricot jam, some with raspberry jam, some with chocolate ganache, some with a chocolate glaze. Basically, recipes abound and I leave you to choose which one you would like to make.

Legend has it that my Austrian great grandmother was a pastry chef in the Austrian Alps before she immigrated to America. I assume I get my love of baking from her and my mother. Perhaps my grandmother made Sacher Torte - I'm not sure, but I have always wanted to make this decadent dessert.

Good luck and happy chocolate to you!

August Roundup

Thanks so much to everyone that participated in our first challenge! I'm looking forward to September.

August Challenge: Ina Garten's Carrot Cake Cupcakes

I'm playing a little bit of catch up since I've just joined and am starting with the August challenge, which is Carrot cake.

While looking at foodnetwork.com for recipes for another challenge that I am participating in, I found this recipe by Ina Garten, whom I generally trust for recipes. The recipe is for her Carrot Cake Cupcakes.

First I grated the carrots and chopped the walnuts:

Then in a bowl mix together sugar, oil and vanilla. I used half oil and half applesauce because a cup and a half of oil seemed excessively bad for me. Then mix in eggs, one at a time until you get this soup:

Then sift in flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Mix well to incorporate.

Then add in the carrots, walnuts and raisins:

Line muffin pan with liners then fill them about 3/4 full. I filled mine a little more because I like them to overflow a bit..I'm glad now that I did.

The directions say to bake these at 400 degrees for 10 minutes then to reduce heat to 350 and bake for 35 minutes. I did the first part, but they smelled done so I checked 10 minutes into the 35 minute bake and they were done! So I checked the comments to the recipe and they pretty much all warn that the timing is wrong. I baked the second batch at 375 for 20 minutes and they came out perfect.

For the frosting, beat 12 oz of cream cheese, 2 sticks of butter (1/2 lb) and 1 tsp of vanilla. Since my mixers sparked, smoked, then died I did this by hand. It's a great upper body toner!

Then mix in the confectioner's sugar:

Mix until light and fluffy. Keep tasting the whisk or beater to make sure it's good as you go because you just never know ;-)

Enjoy!

These were entirely TOO delicious and not effected at all by a switch from oil to applesauce.

Recipe is at: Ina Garten Carrot Cake Cupcakes. Next up this week: September Challenge: Sachertorte...

A blizzard hits in London (my carrot cake tale)

Sorry this took so long to post! I did actually make the cake in the month of August, I'm just crap at posting lately.

Anyway, as mentioned, I used Joanne's recipe. And then I needed to buy muffin baking tins. Which, of course, on the 2 days I went to bake, I couldn't find!! So I wandered the streets of London for a bit in the rain then decided, screw it - I'll just make it as a cake.

I have to say, it took me almost 20 minutes to grate that entire bag of carrots (see 1st photo below). Is there an easier way to do this, ladies?? My arm nearly fell off, and my grater almost ate my fingertips at least 4 times!

Anyway, the rest of the baking was uneventful and fine. I popped the lovely cake rounds in the oven and commenced on my fave bit - the frosting! I was feeling all proud of myself because I decided to use the whisk attachment on my hand blender (that I use every morning for my protein smoothie), and because up to this point, my little kitchen was all nice and tidy and clean and filled with the yummy smell of baking cake.

Then all hell broke loose. One of the wires in the whisk attachment came unstuck/unsprung [??] and it took me a second to realize what happened. In that second, cream cheese frosting flew in a thick white BLIZZARD aaaaalllll over my lovely clean kitchen: Floor, walls, ceiling, me, and splattering just about every appliance on the countertop.

I was cussing too hard to remember to take a picture. But imagine a lawn sprinkler shooting out thick white blobs of powdery marshmallow-like goo all over the lawn. Then imagine that moves inside.

That's what my kitchen looked like. I was ... less than impressed.

Anyway, I took the cake into work the next day, and the girls in the office LOVED it. I had a piece, and I loved it.

I'm not saying it was worth the 30 mins of blizzard cleaning or toting the heavy thing on 3 trains and in a taxi to work... but it was a nice going away gift for my office mates.

A few pics:

The carrot grating marathon begins:



The frosting - before the Blizzard of 09:



Finished Product: :) YUM

Behind the Date-ball!

Ok, so I am a huge procrastinator, apparently. It's not something I would have said about myself. But, moving on.

I put off this recipe not because I didn't think I'd like it. I love carrot cake. It's actually one of my favorite cakes. I think I was afraid of the dates. I've never actually eaten a date and well, I was a great big chicken. But after some moral support from Rena and a date donation, I dove in.

I guess I hadn't read the recipe all the way through or I was hypnotized by facebook but I didn't realize there wasn't any sugar in this recipe until it was in the oven. And they say television will rot your brain. I used a little less butter and it was a little too melted but it worked.

I baked it in a bread pan without parchment paper since I failed to get any. It took about 45 minutes in the oven. Man, did it smell good when I opened that door. I tasted it when it was warm and it was definitely more bread-like than cakey which was okay with me. I would have liked it a little sweeter. I treated it like a bread and chose not to frost it since I hate storing a cake with frosting under tinfoil. I slathered cream cheese across a thick slice and had it with tea. It was delish. Vin, my fiancee, liked it very much.

Good choice Rena. I promise I won't put it off this month. Although with a wedding in 53 days, who knows.