Sacher Torte

OK, you can't live in central Europe and not know about this iconic Vienese dessert. There are stupid weirdos who, however, have their right to state opinions (no matter how wrong those are) and say it's a dry sponge so why bother. But even dry deserts can be delicious when served right. So, bear in mind that you need a cup of your favourite hot beverage with this and if you are into whipped cream, you should get some, too.

Ingredients:

• 6 eggs (divided)
• a pinch of salt
• 80g powdered sugar (if you like it more sweet, add another 80g)
• 160g room-temperature butter
• 200g dark chocolate (I used 70%)
• 160g flour

• topping: two spoons of butter and 80g of chocolate
• middle: your favourite preserve (cherry is the most common but any will do)

1)  Use the egg whites and a pinch of salt (and 80g sugar if you want the sweeter version) to make stiff peaks.

2) Melt the chocolate and set it aside to cool a little so that you don't boil the eggs when mixing it together.

3) Beat the sugar and butter till light and fluffy, then start adding the egg yolks, flour and melted chocolate.

4) Carefully fold in the egg whites so that you still have kinda fluffy mixture (as you can see, there is no baking powder in here so that means all the spongy structure is created by the egg whites).

5) Bake for about 40 minutes at 180°C.

6) When it's cooled down, cut it in half and spread the marmalade on it. Some people cut the top of the cake because it always rises in the middle and they want flat surface for the final step (but that's wasteful if you ask me - honestly, if you are not going to present your cakes to some posh people but to your family, who cares?!). Put the halves back together and pour chocolate on the top. Serve with whipped cream (if you like it - I don't so I skip this part).