Vienna and the Sachertorte
Forget Wiener Schnitzel, for anyone with a sweet tooth the 'must have' culinary delicacy of Vienna is the Sachertorte.
This rich, dark chocolate sponge cake with apricot jam and a thin layer of bitter sweet chocolate icing can be found in practically every coffee and cake shop in the city (in the country for that matter), but if you like to know you're having the real thing then head for the Cafe Sacher in Vienna just behind the Opera.
Here at the Cafe Sacher you can enjoy the original Sachertorte in its original setting during your visit to the city.
The closely guarded secret recipe dates back to 1832 when the young Franz Sacher was working at the court of Prince Metternich, the State Chancellor. The story goes that Franz jumped to the rescue one evening when the chef was off sick and he was given the task of creating a dessert for guests of the court – the Sachertorte was born.
The cake was a hit and after finishing his apprenticeship, Franz Sacher started to work for himself and the family business took another upward turn when his son Eduard opened the Hotel Sacher in 1876.
Like most success stories however, it wasn't all plain sailing and the family Sacher had to contend with many confectioners producing imitations of their cake, none more so than Demel's, one of Vienna's finest, long-standing pastry shops, which eventually prompted the current owners to gain a court order in the 1960's giving them – and only them – copyright to advertise and sell the Original Sachertorte.
Although the original family may be long gone, the quality and style that they introduced live on with the name Sacher – and that cake!
Almost 1,000 cakes are produced each day, many to be sold as gifts in the attractive Sacher wooden presentation boxes complete with original seal.
Map
With the map of Vienna and the Café Sacher below, you can zoom in or out or move in all directions by using the controls to the left. And the buttons on the top right switch between a traditional map view, a satellite view and a mixture of the two.
