Friday, October 15, 2010

Sacher Torte, Gateau Swiss

Chef's Sacher & Swiss: Front Profile

Created in 1832 by Franz Sacher, a then 16 year old apprentice working in the courts of Vienna's Prince Metternich, the Sacher Torte has since left the royal courts and taken over the world, becoming an iconic cake that remains popular to this day.

It's made with 2 dense chocolate sponges, very lightly sweetened, and drenched in a kirsch and sugar syrup solution to keep them moist. A thin layer of apricot jam is sandwiched between the sponges and a rich chocolate ganache is then poured over to completely cover the cake before the name of its famous creator is pipped on its shiny surface.

Side Profile

The versatile sponge can also be baked very thinly and rolled up with fillings of jam, melted chocolate, or in our case today, strawberries and cream. This is the world famous Swiss Roll.

What makes our Swiss Rolls special is having the berries macerated in a sugar and Cointreau solution before being rolled up with whipped cream. ;)

Chef's Classic Sacher

Chef Gert Admiring His Work

Moist & Light Crumb

The different shades of chocolate: sponge, kirsched sponge, apricot jam, repeat, ganache. 

The cake was truly divine. The sponge was light and moist with the aid of kirsch (can you ever go wrong with booze in your cake?) and the apricot jam provided more moisture and a different texture to the sponges. Entirely covered in warm ganache, the cake melted in my mouth and sent me on a chocolaty and boozy high.

My Sacher - Holy Cow! That's A Beauty

I can't believe I did that! Look at how glossy the top is! And the pipping! This is by far the most impressive cake we've made to date, I'm extremely proud of myself today. :)

Monster Rolls: Cream & Chocolate, Icing Sugar

Chef Joel, a new chef from France, said my rolls were way too big. He would have preferred them with less cream and rolled up tighter to produce a more elegant looking log. He is French, after all, and they sure didn't come up with the grotesquely super-upsized value meal that's plaguing the developed worlds with morbid obesity, did they? 

I like how he thinks, and I'll be keen to try keeping my work simple and classy from now on.

Sweet Berries & Cream

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