ABOUT THE ORIGINAL SACHER-TORTE
The History Behind Austria’s Most Famous Cake
Sweet Secret
The world’s most famous cake, the Original Sacher-Torte, is the consequence of several lucky twists of fate. The first was in 1832, when the Austrian State Chancellor, Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, tasked his kitchen staff with concocting an extraordinary dessert to impress his special guests. As fortune had it, the chef had fallen ill that evening, leaving the apprentice chef, the then-16-year-old Franz Sacher, to perform this culinary magic trick. Metternich’s parting words to the talented teenager: “I hope you won’t disgrace me tonight.” Franz Sacher seized the moment and conjured up the confection of a lifetime, the chocolate cake that would go down in history as the ne plus ultra of desserts: the Original Sacher-Torte. Disgrace, in any case, was not on the menu that evening. The Viennese cake soon gained a cult following, and was deemed “presentable at court”. From then on, it was a favourite at the imperial court and soon went on to win the hearts (and palates) of the world.
The Austrian Cake with a Cult Following: The Original Sacher-Torte
There will always be critics, of course, and some found the Original Sacher-Torte rather plain. After all, more lavish creations existed.
The simple truth, however, is that simplicity is the heart of greatness in our modern world. Compared to other cultural classics, the
Original Sacher-Torte has more of an affinity to the Bauhaus than to the Baroque. “Elegance is refusal,” Coco Chanel famously remarked,
and Franz Sacher certainly refused all but the essentials when creating the Original Sacher-Torte recipe. He composed his luxury chocolate
cake chef-d’oeuvre with clever minimalism: butter, sugar, eggs, chocolate, flour, and apricot jam. The perfect harmony of these combined
ingredients, in fact, is what makes the Original Sacher-Torte cake an extraordinary dessert.
Sacher’s Original Sacher-Torte Artists' Collection
The Sacher Artists’ Collection 2026, created in collaboration with the internationally renowned contemporary artist KAWS, combines the tradition of the Original Sacher-Torte with contemporary art. Each year, a distinguished artist designs the iconic wooden box for our Sacher-Torte, creating a limited collector’s item for a charitable cause. In his works, he frequently draws on motifs from pop culture, animation, and iconography, developing a distinctive artistic visual language from them. Known for his larger-than-life sculptures and precise, angular paintings, KAWS’ hybrid cartoon figures are among the most striking examples of his exploration of the human condition, and KAWS remarkable artwork can now be found paired with our iconic Original Sacher-Torte.
The work SPOKE TOO SOON (2021) depicts the “COMPANION”, presumably his most iconic figure, climbing out of a pile of rubble. Limited to 1,000 pieces, the edition also stands for social commitment. All proceeds will benefit the association NF Kinder, which supports children with neurofibromatosis and promotes research as well as awareness of this rare disease.
