This is a luscious dark chocolate gateau filled with apricot jam. It was first created in the famous Hotel Sacher in Vienna, who guard the original recipe, so the following is just a guess. If you liked it please travel to Vienna, try the original, and let me know what is missing!

• 180g chocolate, ideally grated (a messy job so I often skip this step)
• 140 g soft unsalted butter
• 160g caster sugar
• 8 eggs, separated
• 30g icing sugar
• 140g plain flour
• 1 tbs baking powder
• 200g smooth apricot jam
• 200g dark chocolate couverture

Melt the grated chocolate in a bain-marie (I use a glass bowl in a cooking pot, half filled with water; make sure the water only simmers – don’t let it spill into the chocolate). Preheat the oven to 175C and line a 10in cake tin with baking paper. If you use a smaller tin don’t forget to prepare a jam jar or two for a minicake!

Beat the egg whites with the icing sugar till stiff. (Always start with the whites as you need a clean bowl and mixer; you can reuse the mixer for the yolks without having to wash it…)

Mix the butter and sugar until they have a smooth and creamy texture, then add the melted chocolate and stir until the mix is thick and creamy. Add the egg yolks, one after another, stirring vigorously. (Don’t wash the bain-marie – you need to melt the couverture in it, too!)

Add the egg whites and sieve the flour and baking powder on top of the mix. Using a spatula, carefully fold the egg whites and flour into the chocolate mix: you want it to be mixed without completely removing all the air you beat into the whites.

Fill the mixture into your lined tin and bake for one hour on the second shelf from the bottom.

Let the cake cool down completely before cutting it horizontally into two. Bring the jam to boil and spread half of the now very runny jam on the bottom slice; put the second slice on the top and cover the whole cake with the rest of the jam.

Once the jam has hardened again, melt the chocolate couverture in the bain-marie and cover the cake.

I decorated the cake on the picture with a mix of icing sugar and lemon juice, which I applied with a piping bag for a birthday; it looks more stylish if you use chocolate to decorate it. I’ll be using it as a base for a wedding cake soon, so watch this space…