I've had the Imperial Torte a couple of years ago in Vienna.
It was quite memorable because the room service folks put "Happy Birthday, Debbie" on it.

I know they can ship it to the US... but is it really a good idea in this kind of weather?(it's been quite warm here lately) If anyone has any experience in this, please let me know how the Torte turned out upon delivery in the US.

By the way, I also noticed there's another famous torte called Sacher-Torte. Any comparison between the two?

Thanks for any info!

I wouldn't have them shipped as the ingredients are so perishable.
Make your own Sacher Torte:

http://www.recipelink.com/ch/2001/oc...latecake4.html

Definitely don't. Someone bought me a sacher torte directly from the hotel (maybe 1 week in transit). It was very dry. The resident Austrian thought it was awful. The only nice thing was the wooden box it came in.

As for making your own, the cake is relatively straight forward. The classic coating is a bit trickier (need to cook sugar to the right temp or it may become too hard). The Viennese hausfrau's trick appears to use melted chocolate and butter in a 50/50 proportion.

I would vote for the Imperial Torte --for me, there is no contest. While one can make the Sacher Torte fairly easily, the Imperial Torte is tougher.

If the torte is Fedexed, it should be okay..... but the best way is to go to Vienna and enjoy it there!!!

I'ved had the Sacher Torte at Demel and I found their version to be better than the one served at the Sacher Hotel...

A friend of mine ordered the Imperial Torte from the Imperial. I think they used UPS, not FedEx. Total time in
transit was 52 hours.(from the time UPS picked it up from
the Imperial, to the time it was delivered to my friend's
house in the Chicago suburbs)

Are there any other famous tortes from Austria?

Thnaks!

The Sacher Hotel (which is hte original one) ships the torte world wide. thys have three sizes. It comes in a wooden box, the torte is wraped in paper, and then the box is filled with wood chips ...to keep hte moisture level.

I had the sacher torte shipped to all coutnries and it is worth it. Try making it yourselve and you will hate it (it is not the same).

If oyu have LH miles you can even oreder them for miles ...

I had a Sacher (from the hotel, shipped directly) during the holidays, and, sadly, freshly arrived and unwrapped, it was dry. A lot easier, it would seem, to use a decent local bakery.

A couple of years ago in VIE, I went to the Sacher shop on Kartnerstrasse (around the corner from the hotel entrance) and ordered one shipped to my mother in California. She told me later that it was fresh and not dry (I had been concerned about that).

About the tortes themselves - IIRC the Sacher has an apricot filling, does the Imperial's version (also offered at the Bristol, BTW) have a different filling?

We returned from Vienna on April 18th and brought back a Sacher-Torte and and an Imperial which was the second of two Plat gifts given from two stays at the Bristol ( well, I liked the first one so much I selected that as the gift on the second stay )

We ate the Sacher a week ago and it arrived was in good condition they do recommend that they both be kept in the refrigerator until consumed ( date stamped before May 20 th) and I brought them in my carry on.

It been about 3 weeks between the two but it seems they were both very similar makeup/ingredients and must be so since there was some kind of legal fight by Sacher against other bakers who they claimed had copied the torte.

I would think shipment from Europe especially in the summer would be a iffy proposiion.

mike

Will confirm in few days when we have our Imperial

mike

Imperial torte is made with almond paste instead of apricot filling. It has a very long shelf life (marzipan lasts for years) but limited by the aging of the chocolate and evisceration of the cake.

Of course it's a bad idea to have it shipped. Why would you even ask a question like that here? This is a frequent flyer community, not a UPS store! Drop some miles, get your butt to Vienna and eat your heart out!