Low-Carb Sacher Torte
Low-Carb Sacher Torte is a special December project that had to happen in the Greek Goes Keto kitchen. Not only because December is the best time to visit Vienna, but also to make a dream come true! Yes, the famous and glorious Sacher torte (please pronounce it correctly, Za-Her) is now low-carb. Well, to make it as close as possible to the original, it will have to remain in the low-carb universe. However, I am 100% sure that if I excluded apricot jam and used just the sea buckthorn jello the cake would have Keto macros. And if you wonder what sea buckthorn is and how is it Keto-friendly, this LINK will give you all the info.
The Keto world debate and why low-carb Sacher torte
If you are following the low-carb or keto universe on social media, then you know there are two big groups of people standing for two different philosophies. There are those who claim you must never ever even think about cake or desserts. Are these people afraid of their emotions? Is it perhaps the fear of the way sugar controls our brains? Maybe. They think nobody should ever eat a cake and this is quite extreme. On the other side, there are those of us who think that with healthy ingredients, on a special occasion, you can make a beautiful Keto or Low-Carb cake.
Not only it has fewer carbs, but it also tastes equally good. In some cases. like in the case of this particular low-carb Sacher torte, the result can be outstanding. So, I ask you here, why not? At least once per year, at least during the winter festivities! After all, those chocolate cakes we ketonised taste so much better without sugar and wheat flour. So I ask you here again – why not? 😉
The legend and myth of Sacher torte
Since its successful gastronomic debut at Prince Metternich’s banquet in Vienna some 180 years ago, the Sacher cake has become the most recognizable offshoot of the Habsburg confectionary tradition. Not only that, it’s the most famous cake in the world. That delicious creation of chocolate sponge cake, with apricot jam and dark chocolate glaze, is still the sweet pride of the Austrian metropolis and the gastronomic ambassador of the once powerful Danube monarchy. The old saying that the greatest works of art are at the same time the simplest says it all about Sacher torte. With its perfect simplicity entered the book of the world’s most famous delicacies.
Continuing by accident like all legendary dishes, Sacher torte quickly became the alphabet of every confectionary apprentice. And the story behind it is quite romantic.
The Zacher history and variants
A recipe similar to the Sacher torte exists in a cookbook from the beginning of the 18th century. However, this “cake of all cakes” was born in Vienna in 1832. Preparing a banquet for distinguished guests, the then Chancellor of the Austrian Empire, Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, ordered the kitchen staff to prepare a feast to remember. As with anything in Austria, he requested a special emphasis on dessert.
Due to the sudden illness of the head chef, a great responsibility fell on the 16-year-old kitchen apprentice Franz Sacher, who skillfully faced the challenge. He used simple ingredients to make a chocolate sponge cake with apricot jam. He then used chocolate frosting and served it with some whipped cream. In the sea of the usual cream cakes full of ostentatious marzipan sculptures, a different dessert was born. And everyone fell in love with it.
The skyrocketing popularity
In the city of Vienna, where the famous cake originates, the Prince’s banquet was an unprecedented success. The young apprentice and his sweet invention are the urban myth of Vienna. After completing his apprenticeship, Sacher continues to work independently in Vienna for the highest classes. His son Eduard perfected the recipe for the famous family cake, and in 1876 he opened the Hotel Sacher right next to the Vienna opera house. This hotel over time became a favourite meeting place of the aristocracy and the elite who gladly came to enjoy the famous chocolate cake.
Eduard Zacher story
After the hotel’s owner changed before the Second World War, the son of its founder, also Eduard, found employment in the Demel pastry shop, to which he sold the rights to make the Sacher cake. Soon there was a conflict between the two institutions, which culminated in a court case initiated in 1954 by the Hotel Sacher claiming the right to the original recipe. The long-term “cake war” ended in 1963 with an out-of-court settlement. The Hotel Sacher has the right to call its cake “Original – Sacher – Torte”. It comes with a round chocolate stamp. The Demel offers it under the name “Eduard Sacher Torte” or ” Ur – Sachertorte”, i.e. the first version. It comes with a triangular chocolate stamp.
The basic difference between them is in the so-called Apricoting. The layer of apricot jam in the hotel’s original version is in the middle of the cake and under the chocolate glaze (on the surface and on the sides), and in Demel’s version only under the glaze. Despite the numerous variants of the Sacher cake, only the one from the hotel of the same name is authentic. The recipe is a secret so no one has yet succeeded in recreating the unique taste and texture of the original glaze. Sachertorte Day is on December 5. Although popular throughout the year, it’s actually the most popular gift during the Christmas and New Years’ seasons.
Urban legend, movies, nostalgia, tradition…
In the movie “The Sound of Music“, the first joint dinner of the von Trapp family and the governess Maria ended with a Sacher cake. A version of Sacher cake exists in every pastry shop in Vienna and around the world. With a little effort, it is possible to at least approximately reconstruct the taste of the famous delicacy. Its base is a soft and fluffy chocolate biscuit. Then the cake wears a coat of apricot jam in order to preserve freshness.
The biggest challenge, both for confectioners and amateurs, is precisely the chocolate glaze. According to a secret recipe, the original glaze features three special types of chocolate. This makes it perfectly velvety. The cake is best at temperatures between 16 and 18 degrees Celsius. Ideally, you will serve it with unsweetened whipped cream, which is the ideal counterbalance to the rich chocolate aroma. In Vienna, they will offer it with coffee or tea. The Sacher cake leaves almost no one indifferent. Therefore, it is not surprising that it has become and remains the “queen of cakes”. Finally, this Low-Carb version is something even a diabetic can enjoy to its full potential, once a year!
Low-Carb Sacher Torte
20
servings40
minutes45
minutes202
kcalIngredients
8 large 8 eggs
200 g 7 oz softened butter
2 tbsp 2 tbsp pure monk fruit powder
2/3 tsp 1 tsp sea salt
4 tbsp 4 tbsp lemon juice
200 g 7 oz Greek yoghurt
100 g 3 1/2 oz hazelnut flour
1 tbsp 1 tbsp psyllium powder
4 tbsp 4 tbsp raw cacao powder
2/3 tsp 2/3 baking soda
100 g 100 dark chocolate with 100% cacao
1 tbsp 1 tbsp flavouring of your choice (see the notes)
- Apricot coating
100 g 3 1/2 oz apricot jam with no added sugar
150 ml 5 fl oz unsweetened sea buckthorn juice (or cranberry juice)
2 tbsp 2 tbsp granulated or powdered grass-fed beef gelatine
- Chocolate icing
200 g 200 dark chocolate with 100% cacao
200 g 7 oz mascarpone
4 tbsp 4 tbsp raw cacao powder
1/2 tsp 1/2 tsp sea salt
70 ml 70 goat milk (or water)
2 tsp 2/3 tbsp pure monk fruit powder
70 g 70 butter
Directions
- Separate the yolks from the egg whites. Beat the softened butter with pure monk fruit powder for at least 10 minutes at high speed using a hand mixer. While you are doing this, add sea salt and lemon juice to the egg whites and beat them in a self-standing mixer. If you don’t have one, wash the beaters of your hand mixer which you used to beat the butter and beat the egg whites into a firm meringue.
- Melt the chocolate in a saucepan that you immersed into a pot with boiling water. Add this mixture to the whipped butter and keep mixing. Now add yolks, one by one. At this point you can add the flavouring of your choice, we used apricot schnaps but you can use vanilla extract, bourbon or dark rum.
- Mix hazelnut flour (or almond flour) with the psyllium powder, baking soda and cacao powder. Start adding this mixture to the butter, yolks and chocolate mixture spoon-by-spoon.
- In a large mixing bowl, gently combine firm egg-white meringue with the dark mixture using a silicone spatula.
- Preheat the oven to 120ºC (250ºF). Grease a 20 cm diameter cake mould with the removable bottom with some butter or coconut oil. Sprinkle some hazelnut flour over it. This will prevent the sticking. Pour in the cake mixture and place in the oven. Bake for exactly 45 minutes. When the cake is baked, remove it from the oven and let it cool down completely. You can remove the sides of the pan after 10 minutes.
- Place the granulated gelatine in a saucepan and add 150 ml of sea buckthorn juice. If you can’t find this you can use unsweetened juice of some other berries. Add 100g of unsweetened apricot jam. Slowly bring this mixture to a boil and constantly stir so that the gelatine dissolves. Set it aside.
- Chop the chocolate for the icing and place it into a saucepan. Add powdered monk fruit, sea salt, cacao powder, goat milk (or simply water) and mascarpone. Gently heat this mixture while constantly whisking. When it reaches boiling point, add the butter and keep stirring until it dissolves. Remove it from the heat.
- When the cake is totally cooled down, cut it in half like in the photo. Place 1/3 of the jam mixture on the lower part of the cake and spread it with a spoon. Cover with the other part of the cake and then spread the rest of the jam all over the cake. Place it in the freezer for 10 minutes.Loading gallery media…
- Remove the cake from the freezer and cover it with the chocolate coating. Using a wide knife, try to coat the cake with the chocolate icing equally from all sides. Now, place some of the chocolate icing into a piping bag and write the word Sacher on top of the cake. You can serve it after at least 1 hour.
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Equipment
Self-standing mixer- Hand Mixer
- spatulas and piping bag
Notes
- We used locally produced apricot schnaps which gave this cake so much aroma. If you can’t find that, you can use vanilla extract, bourbon or dark rum.
