I promise. These questions came in recently from reader Joseph H.: – I saw no mention of raspberry jam. I keep hearing that you can use raspberry or apricot. Personally, I prefer apricot, and was glad to see it prominently featured in your posts. What gives with raspberry? – The recipe that I was given […]
READ ONYes, yes Gerhard, I know: Sacher-style torte. No one outside the Sacher and/or Demel enterprises knows the actual recipe. However I believe this formula to be quite close. It’s certainly close to what I remember. In fact in some ways I think this is closer to what I ate in Vienna twenty five years ago […]
READ ONOne thing that I tend not to like about those big, professional pastry manuals is how formulaic they are. To make product 1, combine components A and B. To make product 2, combine components B and C. To make product 3, combine components A, B and C…and so on. It’s not that the people who […]
READ ONA good Sacher torte, I admit, can be a bit of a beast to mix. I can’t do much to simplify that. However you’ll be relieved to know that I’ve simplified the assembly somewhat with a streamlined cook-and-pour glaze, which should help. Is it completely authentic? Maybe not, but the end result is excellent. For […]
READ ONHow many Sacher Tortes does the Sacher Hotel sell each year? Through the Sacher hotel, the various Sacher shops and via their online store, some quarter million “original” Sacher tortes are sold each year.
READ ONI can’t tell you how many requests I’ve received for this classic, but it seems only fitting that it should come up right around the Christmas holiday, when most home bakers are thinking about whipping up something special. Sacher torte is an excellent holiday pastry for several reasons. It’s challenging without being overly so, it’s […]
READ ONNot a whole heck of a lot to debrief after this week’s Sacher Torte-making escapade. The nice thing about making a “glaze” instead of a simple chocolate coating is that the candy component of the glaze (i.e. the syrup) makes it shiny regardless of how well you temper it. So you get all the fun […]
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Why, Vienna. That city has been the cultural capital of Europe for more years than perhaps any other, however it attained probably its greatest prominence as the seat of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (which lasted from 1867 until the end of the First World War in 1918). In those days Vienna was not only the home to nobility it was an economic powerhouse as well. Of course lots of economic activity means a thriving middle class, and a thriving middle class means lots of demand for luxury goods with which the not-so-well-born can achieve a living standard comparable to the well-born twits who think they’re too good to hang out with them.
READ ONThis is the time of year when I start to receive emails from readers asking for ideas for fancy holiday meal pastries. My response is almost always the same: keep it simple. A well-executed simple sweet beats a hastily-prepared complex pastry any day of the week. That’s especially true during a holiday dinner where guests are already loading up on appetizers, main courses and fixin’s. An opulent dessert on top of a multi-course banquet generally puts diners over the edge.
So my advice is to think about the flow of your meal and come up with a nice, understated capper. True fancy pastries, it’s important to remember, weren’t created for dessert. Napoleons, Sacher torte and Marjolaine slices are supposed to be consumed in the afternoon, as a between meal treat…
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Reader Mari wrote in wanting to know how cannelés compare to other pastries I’ve made in terms of difficulty. What I like about that question is that it got me thinking about the various kinds of difficulty involved in making pastry, and how each one can drive you crazy in a different way. Mixing, baking, shaping, building, preparing and managing components, decorating, keeping, slicing and serving…a pastry can give you a workout in any area. Or worse, multiple areas. But why get all academic about it? Which of the recipes on the blog rank in my all-time tearing-my-hair-out, stomp-on-the-floor, cursing-the-gods-who-made-me top five? Here they are:
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