Saturday, April 4. 2009
I was just watching how to make the Viennese Sachertorte on Epicurious' Around the World in 80 Dishes. First of all, I may regret even more not trying the Sachertorte while I was in Austria. My impression of Sachertorte has been a dense, rich, and fairly sweet and chocolately cake; but this was based on what I've encountered in the US. Seeing what is apparently the authetic recipe, it doesn't seem quite as dense and rich. As I've learned, exported recipes are usually never as good.
But what piqued my interest was the chocolate glaze the recipe used. I've always thought any chocolate glazing or filling would be a ganache, a rich mixture typically composed of chocolate and cream. Most might know it as the basic filling for chocolate truffles. The chocolate glaze used for the sachertorte is only composed of chocolate, sugar, and water. I'd venture to say it's chocolate flavoured fondant??
It's probably better without the cream--cuts down on the richness--although it'd be quite sweet? I'm now curious how the two differ in taste. I think I might know as I'm recalling some of the glazings I may have mis-identified as ganache. The next question is then when do you use either. Of course, that probably depends on what you want: creamier (ganache) or sweeter (sugar glaze); or dietary requirements (non-dairy), available ingredients, etc... Anyone have any input??
