The document discusses different types of specialty cakes including Sachertorte, Alhambra, and Opera Torte. It provides background on the origins of Sachertorte, tracing it back to 1832 when it was created by a young apprentice chef for Prince Metternich. It also details the closely guarded secret recipe used by Hotel Sacher in Vienna to produce the "Original Sacher Torte." European cakes are described as thin layers of sponge cake filled and iced, often with fruit fillings, and decorated on top. Opera Torte is a classic chocolate dessert with buttercream filling that stands out for its square or rectangular shape with visible cake layers.

1. Gateaux and Tortes

2. Planning and Assembling Specialty Cakes
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18
Basic Cake Components
• Optional bottom layer.
• Optional cake ring linings.
• Cake layers.
• Additional specialty layers.
• Dessert syrup for moistening and flavoring cake
layers.
• Fillings.
• Icings and coatings.
Specialty Cakes, Gâteaux,
and Torten

3. Planning and Assembling Specialty Cakes
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18
Procedure for Assembling a Basic Layered Sponge Cake
• Trim the edges of the cake as necessary.
• Cut a notch in the edge of the cake so the layers can be line up
again after cutting.
• Split in half horizontally.
Specialty Cakes, Gâteaux,
and Torten

4. Planning and Assembling Specialty Cakes
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18
Procedure for Assembling a Basic Layered Sponge Cake
(continued)
• Place one half on a cake card and moisten with a flavored
syrup.
• Apply the filling with a pastry bag to get a uniform thickness.
• Top with second layer and mask the top.
Specialty Cakes, Gâteaux,
and Torten

5. Planning and Assembling Specialty Cakes
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18
Procedure for Assembling a Basic Layered Sponge Cake
(continued)
• Mask the sides with the desired icing.
• Smooth the sides with a plastic scraper.
• Smooth the top with a palette knife. Glaze and decorate.
Specialty Cakes, Gâteaux,
and Torten

6. Cake/Mixing Method Egg Source Mixing Procedure Panning
Genoise Whole Eggs warmed
with sugar to 105-113
degrees
Whip on medium
until thick ribbons
form. Fold in dry
ingredients
Paper lined pans. No
Grease
Sponge Whole Eggs, separated Whip yolks to thick
ribbons. Whip
whites. Fold these
together. Then fold
in dry ingredients
Butter the sides. Line
the pan with
parchment and butter
the parchment
Angel Food Egg Whites ONLY Whip whites with a
portion of sugar until
firm, not dry peaks.
Fold in dry
ingredients
NO GREASE of any
kind in the pan
Chiffon
Only one with
chemical leavener
Whole Eggs, separated Mix all ingredients
except egg whites.
Whip these to firm
and fold in batter.
Paper lined pan. No
grease
Mixing Overview

7. Sacher Torte
• Recipes similar to that of the Sachertorte
appeared as early as the eighteenth century,
one instance being in the 1718 cookbook of
Conrad Hagger, another individual
represented in Gartler-Hickmann's 1749 Tried
and True Viennese Cookbook (Wienerisches
bewährtes Kochbuch).

8. Classical Cakes, Gâteaux, and Torten
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18
Sachertorte
Specialty Cakes, Gâteaux,
and Torten

9. • In 1832, Prince Wenzel von Metternich charged his
personal chef with creating a special dessert for
several important guests. The head chef, having
taken ill, let the task fall to his sixteen-year-old
apprentice, Franz Sacher, then in his second year of
training in Metternich's kitchen. The Prince is
reported to have declared, "Let there be no shame
on me tonight!" While the torte created by Sacher
on this occasion is said to have delighted
Metternich's guests, the dessert received no
immediate further attention. Sacher completed his
training as a chef and afterward spent time in
Pressburg and Budapest, ultimately settling in his
hometown of Vienna where he opened a specialty
delicatessen and wine shop.

10. • Production and sale of the "Original Sacher Torte"
• Hotel Sacher's "Original Sacher Torte" is sold at the
Vienna and Salzburg locations of the Hotel Sacher, at
Cafe Sacher branches in Innsbruck and Graz, at the
Sacher Shop in Bolzano, in the Duty Free area of Vienna
airport and via the Hotel Sacher's online shop.
• The recipe of the Hotel Sacher's version of the cake is a
closely guarded secret. Those privy to it claim that the
secret to the Sacher Torte's desirability lies not in the
ingredients of the cake itself, but rather those of the
chocolate icing. According to widely available
information, the icing consists of three special types of
chocolate, which are produced exclusively by different
manufacturers for this sole purpose. The hotel obtains
these products from Lübeck in Germany and from
Belgium.

11. • "Original" Sacher Torte has two layers of apricot jam
between the outer layer of chocolate icing and the
sponge base, while Demel's "Eduard-Sacher-Torte"
has only one.

12. Alhambra
• A typical European cake, on the other hand, can
be described as follows: sponge cake, such as
genoise, split into thin layers, moistened with a
flavored syrup, filled and iced, and frequently set
on a base of baked meringue, japonaise, or short
dough. It is sometimes filled with fruit between
the layers, and is almost always decorated on
top. A European-style cake is usually less than 3
inches high, and its broad, flat top provides an
excellent medium for pastry chefs to display
their decorating skills.

13. Classical Cakes, Gâteaux, and Torten
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18
Alhambra
Specialty Cakes, Gâteaux,
and Torten

14. Opera Torte
• This dessert has been a classic for over twenty
years.
• The Opera was created for those who
unabashedly chose chocolate and butter
cream over fruit desserts.
• What makes this low, flat cake more modern
than any of its predecessors is its shape
(usually square or rectangular) and its
undecorated sides that show all its layers