As Samaki said, I do have a pretty authentic recipe by one of Austria's best-known patissiers from a very traditional Konditorei (Zauner in Bad Ischl, the late Empereor Franz Josef was a regular there). There are no nuts or almonds in Sachertorte, that's for sure. SACHERTORTE (for a 9in pan) 130g Couverture (I would not use anything darker than 55 or 60%) 130g butter 40g powdered sugar 5g vanilla sugar (sub 1 tsp vanilla extract plus 1tsp sugar) 1 pinch salt 6 eggs, separated 180g castor sugar 130g flour Melt the chocolate over a hotwater bath, stirring constantly. Let cool to around 35C. Mix the chocolate with the soft butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt. Cream until light, then add the yolks, one after the other. Whip the whites with the castor sugar. Fold the whites into the chocolate mix, do not overmix. Very gently fold in the sifted flour. Bake at 375F (190C) for about 60 minutes. Immediately turn the pan upside down onto paper covered with castor sugar and let cool competely. Store in the fridge until the next day. Remove from the pan and - if making the "newer" version, slice the cake horizontally. If sticking to the original recipe skip that step. (Legend has it that this was an emergency measure, because the cake had turned out to be too dry.) 350g apricot jam Brush the apricot jam onto the cut surface. Assemble the cake again. Bring the remaining jam to a boil and thinly coat the entire cake, top and sides. Set the cake onto a wire rack and cover with Chocolate Glaze (recipe follows). Let the glaze harden and clean the bottom edges with a small knife, before setting the Sachertorte on a cake plate. Serve with sweetened, whipped cream on the side. CHOCOLATE GLAZE (covers one 9in cake) 250g sugar 120ml water 300g couverture /chocolate (again, 55-60% works best) Bring the sugar and water to a boil. Add the chopped chocolate and boil til it reaches 110C (or 88R). The mixture will bubble heavily. Now comes the fun part: pour the glaze through a sieve into a clean pot, not too large. Tablier 1/3 of the glaze on a marble board until it lightens in color. While doing this it is crucial that you keep stirring the remaining glaze in the pot to avoid the forming of skin. Add the tableed glaze, and repeat the process until the glaze has the right consistency. It should pour thickly, but smoothly. I have translated this recipe from German and hope to have done it all right. Please excuse me for not converting the measurements. Good luck with the recipe, and let me know about the outcome.