The first sachertorte was created on-the-fly by Franz Sacher when he was just 16 years old.

It was 1832, and Sacher was a second-year apprentice in the Viennese court of Prince von Metternich, Austria's then-minister of foreign affairs.

One night, Metternich requested an original cake for his party of special guests. Unfortunately, the head chef had fallen ill and the task fell to Sacher, who rose to the challenge.

He baked flour, butter, sugar, eggs and chocolate into a fluffy cake; spread warm jam on top; then draped it all in a rich, voluptuous, chocolaty glaze.

Bake and indulge in this royal recipe of chocolaty goodness with your sweetie... whether your sweetie is your bae, your kiddies, or me-myself-and-I!

Cake Ingredients

• 7 egg yolks

• 5.3 ounces, softened butter

• 4.5 ounces, confectioners sugar

• 7 ounces, dark chocolate

• 1 packet (8g) vanilla sugar

• 7 egg whites

• 4.5 ounces, crystal sugar

• 1 pinch of salt

• 5.3 ounces, flour

• Butter and flour for the mould

• 5 - 7 ounces, apricot jam

• rum (optional)

• whipped cream 

Glaze Ingredients

• 7 ounces, chocolate coating or cooking chocolate

• 5.8 ounces, sugar

• 10 tbsp, water

Directions

1) Melt the chocolate slowly (ideally in a bain-marie).

2) Meanwhile, mix the butter with the confectioners sugar and vanilla sugar until creamed. Gradually stir in the egg yolks.

3) Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Grease a cake form with butter and sprinkle with flour.

4) Whip up the egg whites with a pinch of salt, add the crystal sugar and beat to a stiff peak. Stir the melted chocolate into the paste with the egg yolks and fold in the whipped egg whites alternately with the flour.

5) Scoop the dough into the tin and bake for around 1 hour.

6) Remove the cake and leave to cool off (to achieve a flat surface turn the cake out on to a work surface immediately after baking and turn it again after 25 minutes).

7) If the apricot jam is too solid, heat it briefly and stir until smooth, before flavoring with a shot of rum.

8) Cut the cake in half, crosswise. Cover the base with jam, set the other half on top, and coat the upper surface and around the edges with apricot jam.

9) For the glaze, break the chocolate into small pieces. Heat up the water with the sugar for a few minutes. Pour into a bowl and leave to cool down until just warm to the taste (if the glaze is too hot it will become dull in appearance, but if too cold it will become too viscous). Add the chocolate and dissolve in the sugar solution .

10) Pour the glaze quickly in a single action, over the cake and immediately spread it out and smooth it over the surface, using a palate knife or other broad-bladed knife.

11) Leave the cake to dry at room temperature

12) Serve with a garnish of whipped cream. Yum!