December 5th is National Sacher Torte Day in the United States.
Sacher torte, which is also known as sachertorte, is named after its inventor. Said inventor was the Austrian, Franz Sacher, who created the first torte in Vienna in 1832. It was created by Prince Wenzel von Metternich, and Sacher was, at that time, only sixteen years old and an assistant to the Prince's personal chef, in his second year of training. Today, the sachertorte is one of the most famous Viennese dishes.
The sacher torte was not a truly original creation, as there were recipes for similar dishes dating back to the beginning of the 18th century. The torte was received well, but nothing further really happened with the recipe. After David Sacher, the son of Franz, perfected the recipe and started serving it at a
pastry shop called the Demel, and later at his own Hotel Sacher, the dessert started becoming much more well known.
A controversy erupted between the Demel and the Hotel Sacher in 1938 over the use of the label "The Original Sacher Torte." The Demel was where Eduard's son, also called Eduard, found employment at the Demel following the bankruptcy of the Hotel Sacher, brought the distribution right for a
cake to the shop. The legal fight continued until 1963, and resulted in the Hotel Sacher being able to use "The Original Sachertorte" and the Demel the right to decorate their tortes with a triangular seal reading "Eduard-Sacher-Torte."
The torte itself is, as its base, a
chocolate cake. It is made from two layers of dense chocolate
sponge cake, between which is sandwiched a thin layer of
apricot jam. The cake is then covered in a
dark chocolate icing.
