Imperial Torte vs Sacher Torte: Who reigns supreme?

The Sacher torte is world famous – apparently 350,000 tortes are consumed by Austrians and exported worldwide every year. Created by then-apprentice Franz Sacher when his head chef fell sick, this torte is now 170 years old and the recipe hasn’t changed a single bit. Still handmade and served with unsweetened whipping cream, the best place to eat it is of course, the Hotel Sacher, right beside the Vienna Opera House. Perhaps as a late night dessert, right after attending an opera, which is precisely what I did. At 10:30 pm, I had to wait in line to get a table :). The picture here is The Original Sacher Torte (only they can call theirs 'The Original') with the second most popularly ordered dessert - the Apple Strudel.

A fierce contender (although I think a distant second in popularity) is the Imperial Torte, offered by the Hotel Imperial in Vienna. Interestingly, they taste quite different from each other. The Sacher torte, which is somewhat drier (but moistened by the accompanying whipped cream), is basically a two-layer chocolate gateau cake with a dark chocolate ganache in between the layers and coating the outside of the entire cake. The Imperial torte, on the other hand, is made up of multiple thin cake layers with ground almonds and marzipan, covered by a milk chocolate ganache coating. By the way, the Imperial Hotel also offers a dark orange version.

What’s my favorite? Honestly, I didn’t think the Sacher torte was wow. It is good but I didn’t think it’s great. 170 years ago, it was perhaps fabulous. Amongst the two or three, I actually prefer the Dark Orange Imperial Torte. Shh....don't tell anyone.