Hotel Sacher and the Sachertorte
Why is it significant?
Stand by the red awnings of the Hotel Sacher, behind the Opera, and watch the queue for its café. Every one of those people is waiting for the same thing: a slice of dark chocolate cake, with a spoonful of unsweetened whipped cream on the side.
Key Facts
| Place | Hotel Sacher and the Sachertorte |
|---|---|
| Address | Philharmonikerstraße 4, 1010 Wien, Austria |
| Geo Coordinates | 48.20400, 16.36980 |
| Part of Walk | Melange, Torte and Schnitzel: Vienna's Coffee Houses and the Naschmarkt |
| Generated | Generated |
Stand by the red awnings of the Hotel Sacher, behind the Opera, and watch the queue for its café. Every one of those people is waiting for the same thing: a slice of dark chocolate cake, with a spoonful of unsweetened whipped cream on the side.
The story goes that in 1832 Prince Metternich asked his kitchen for a new dessert. The head chef was ill, and the job fell to a sixteen-year-old apprentice called Franz Sacher. He produced a chocolate sponge with apricot jam under a glossy chocolate glaze. Whether the anecdote is exactly true or not, the cake carried his family name into history.
His son Eduard Sacher trained at Demel, refined the recipe, and in 1876 opened this hotel. After Eduard's death his widow Anna Sacher ran it for decades, famously smoking cigars and surrounded by her French bulldogs, and archdukes and diplomats dined in its private rooms.
Then came the war of the cakes. After the Second World War, Demel sold an Eduard-Sacher-Torte, and the hotel went to court over the right to the word Original. The case dragged on until 1963, when the two sides reached a settlement. The hotel sells the Original Sacher-Torte, with a round chocolate seal and a layer of apricot jam through the middle as well. Demel sells the Eduard-Sacher-Torte, with a triangular seal and the jam only under the glaze. Taste both, and you will have your own opinion... every Viennese does.
On the corner opposite is Café Mozart, which inspired a zither melody in The Third Man, and nearby, by the Albertina, a Würstelstand serves sausages to opera-goers in evening dress after midnight. A Käsekrainer, a sausage filled with cheese, with mustard and a slice of bread, is the city's great leveller. Now cross the Opernring towards the Operngasse, where a café once shocked Vienna by having almost no decoration at all.