Sachertorte is an Austrian chocolate cake with a thin apricot jam filling and a rich chocolate glaze on the top and sides. It is Vienna’s signature cake, with Hotel Sacher keeping the original recipe a tight secret. But all recipes can be replicated, right? So let’s make this Viennese classic at home then!

Sacher is definitely an unmissable Old World chocolate cake recipe. If you haven’t tried Sachertorte yet, you are missing out. But don’t worry – this Viennese cake can be replicated in your kitchen. If you want to serve your guests a special cake for dessert or just want to indulge on a rich chocolate cake with a hint of apricot, Sacher cake is what you need.

Sachertorte was originally created for a Viennese prince. It was 1832, the times of the Austrian Empire, and this rich chocolate cake with its light jam flavour and decadent chocolate frosting prefectly represents the splendour and elegance of the times.

About the original Sachertorte recipe

Hotel Sacher in Vienna proudly owns the original Sachertorte recipe from 1832 and keeps it like a state secret. Being the original recipe strictly confidential, all other recipes out there (including mine) are imitations. Quite interestingly, an “approximate recipe” appears even on the Hotel Sacher website.

My mom used to make Sachertorte after a recipe she had in her recipe notebook that looked pretty much like the “approximate” one Hotel Sacher offers. But when we visited Vienna and Hotel Sacher in 2012 we noticed that the cake we tasted there was richer and somewhat more moist. We came to the conclusion that the secret ingredient must have been almond meal.

Now, I’m pretty sure that an ingredient like almond meal, being almonds a common allergen, could not go undeclared, so I still wonder whether my mom and I guessed it right. But when we came back from our trip and tried subbing part of the flour in her recipe with almond meal the cake tasted just like the one in Vienna.

All Sachertorte recipes are approximates and unofficial, so here’s mine. To this day I find it the closest I could get to replicating the original. I’m not claiming this is the real Sacher, but it surely is closely inspired by the Viennese classic and it is a delicious chocolate cake with apricot filling. Let’s get baking!

The ingredients

For detailed quantities please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post. Read on for recipe method with step by step photos.

How to make Sacher torte

• Melt the chocolate and let cool to room temperature. See notes below.
• Separate yolks from egg whites and beat the whites until firm, then add about 1/4 of the sugar and keep mixing until dissolved. Set the fluffy meringue aside.
• In another bowl combine the butter and rest of the sugar and mix at medium speed until creamy. Always mixing, incorporate the yolks one at a time, followed by the melted chocolate. Set the mixer aside.

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• In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients: almond meal, flour and baking powder.
• With a rubber spatula fold half of the egg whites in to the butter mixture. Next, incorporate the flour mixture. Lastly, fold in the rest of the egg whites.
• Divide cake batter among two 20-cm (8 inches) cake pans and bake them in the preheated oven at 175°C (350°F) for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

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As the cakes bake, warm up the heavy cream and remove from the heat just before it reaches boiling temperature. Add the chocolate in pieces and stir until melted. Set aside and let cool – the ganache will thicken as it cools. To try if the ganache is ready to use dip a spoon in it: it should coat the spoon quite thick but still be runny enough to pour so don’t let it harden too much.

Filling and glazing

• The top of the baked cakes might turn out a little crusty, brownie-like. When the cakes have cooled down, slice a thin layer off from the top of both cakes to level them and remove the crunchier outer part. Spread some apricot jam over of one of the cakes, then stack the next one on top.
• Spread apricot jam over the top layer as well as the sides. Keep adding more jam as it gets sucked into the sponge cake and use it all up. Let rest until the ganache has reached the right texture (see notes below).
• Place the cake over a rack and set over a large plate. Pour the ganache in one continuous stream over the cake, starting from the centre and moving outwards as it expands. Make sure to let the ganache drizzle down the sides to coat the whole cake evenly, and pour some more to make a properly thick coating everywhere.

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For the classic lettering finish, save a small quantity of the ganache in a piping bag and put it in the fridge for about 15 minutes. When firm enough so that it does not drizzle out of the piping bag, cut a small circular opening in the piping bag and write the word Sacher (the name of the person who invented the cake) across the top of the cake.

Sachertorte recipe tips

Sachertorte is made with dark chocolate, so aim for a minimum of 55% cocoa. Supposedly the secret ingredient that makes original Sachertorte special is the chocolate. For best results I recommend a 55% cocoa chocolate in the cake batter and a darker bitter 70% chocolate in the ganache.

Using the microwave for melting chocolate can be tricky so for best results melt the chocolate over a double boiler. If melting the chocolate in the microwave, work in 30-second intervals and stir between each go. This applies to the chocolate that needs to be used in the batter. As for the ganache, it melts by contact with the hot cream, so you can go ahead and warm the cream in the microwave.

The perfect glazing ganache should be runny enough to pour in a continuous stream, but thick enough to coat the cake. If you are working in a cold environment, room temperature ganache could be too firm to pour, so you may want to use it before it cools down completely. In a hot environment you may instead need to place it in the fridge but stir from time to time to make the cooling homogeneous.

The ganache recipe is generous to allow for a good coating, so keep pouring over more ganache until you have used it all up. You will have a lot of ganache leftovers, hence the need to place the cake over a rack over a large plate, rather than just on its serving plate.

If your apricot jam has fruit bits, pour it through a mesh sieve before use so you will be spreading a smooth jam without fruit bits onto the cake. If it’s more jelly-like and quite solid, microwave a few seconds for easier spreading.

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You may also like

• Polish honey semolina cake
• Swedish chocolate cake kladdkaka
• Black forest crepe cake
• Dark chocolate cheesecake (no-bake)
• Italian almond carrot cake

How do you think my Sachertorte recipe compares to the Viennese original? Let me know in the comments. Pin the recipe to Pinterest if you want to save this recipe for later!

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This recipe was originally published in August 2016 and has been updated in January 2022 with new photos, better wording and a recipe card.