{"id":5838,"date":"2018-09-12T06:29:34","date_gmt":"2018-09-12T05:29:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/?p=5838"},"modified":"2025-02-04T10:45:55","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T09:45:55","slug":"imperial-torte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/eatingdrinking\/food\/imperial-torte\/","title":{"rendered":"The Imperial Torte"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/imperialthumb.jpg\" alt=\"Imperial Hotel sign\" class=\"wp-image-5840\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/imperialthumb.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/imperialthumb-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The Sachertorte is not the only cake in Vienna rich in tradition. Nor is it the only one with a secret recipe. We have the Imperial Torte, for example, which&nbsp;is made at the luxury hotel of the same name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>See also:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/traditional-food-drink\/\">Vienna food &amp; drink<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/eatingdrinking\/food\/the-sachertorte\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"2049\">Sachertorte<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/eatingdrinking\/food\/vienna-cakes\/\">Cake glossary<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"a-cake-with-history\">A cake with history<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image wp-image-5841 size-full\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/imperialtorte.jpg\" alt=\"The Imperial Torte in its box\" class=\"wp-image-5841\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/imperialtorte.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/imperialtorte-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(Press photo by Kirchgasser Photography)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to legend, the cake &#8211; which includes layers of whipped chocolate cream and sliced almonds, surrounded by marzipan and coated in chocolate glazing &#8211; owes its existence to the attention to duty of the Imperial Hotel&#8217;s young kitchen servant, Xaver Loibner, way back in 1873.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Picture the scene: you&#8217;ve turned the former town palais of Duke Philipp Alexander von W\u00fcrttemberg into a rather fine hotel with expectations of suitably upper class guests. Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia &#8211; son of Tsar Nicholas I &#8211; popped in soon after, for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Your big opening takes place on April 28th, and it&#8217;s not just some local dignitary dropping in to do the honours with a pair of scissors and a smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Actually, it <strong>is<\/strong> a local dignitary, if you can describe Emperor Franz Joseph as such.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You don&#8217;t want the Emperor going hungry on such an occasion. To pay due respect to the Imperial palate, Xaver came up with the Imperial Torte: unique in both composition and shape (it&#8217;s square).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Given the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/eatingdrinking\/food\/the-sachertorte\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"2049\">origins of the Sachertorte<\/a>, it seems diplomacy and nobility combined more than once to give us fine cakes in Vienna.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/hotelimperialentrance.jpg\" alt=\"Entrance to Hotel Imperial\" class=\"wp-image-48767\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/hotelimperialentrance.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/hotelimperialentrance-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(The entrance to the Imperial hotel, one of Vienna top <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/accommodation\/fivestarhotels\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"18\">luxury establishments<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, once you have a cake which an Emperor enjoyed, you don&#8217;t want just anyone producing it. So the recipe remains a secret to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Imperial Hotel&#8217;s own in-house p\u00e2tisserie continues to make the Torte by hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the time of writing, they offer three permanent variations: the original cake as described above plus <em>Schwarze Orange<\/em> (&#8220;Dark Orange&#8221;) and <em>Feine Himbeer<\/em> (&#8220;Delicate Raspberry&#8221;) versions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Torte comes in various sizes in elegant boxes that respect the name and tradition behind their contents.&nbsp;As such, they make lovely <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/shopping\/souvenirs\/\">souvenirs<\/a>, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You may also come across limited editions of the cake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, they once offered a Torte featuring Klimt&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/belvedere-sites\/kiss\/\">The Kiss<\/a> on the packaging. And I&#8217;ve also seen a coffee-flavoured variety honouring the city&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/eatingdrinking\/coffee-house-experience\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"1947\">coffee house tradition<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-do-i-get-an-imperial-torte\">How do I get an Imperial Torte?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>You have three ways to get your hands on the cake:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Buy one from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imperialtorte.com\/\">online store<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Enjoy a slice with a cup of coffee at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cafe-imperial.at\/\">Caf\u00e9 Imperial Wien<\/a> (one of Vienna&#8217;s many <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/eatingdrinking\/cafespubsbars\/coffee-houses\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"7689\">elegant caf\u00e9s<\/a>)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Just drop into the caf\u00e9 and buy a cake to take with you<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Incidentally, quite apart from providing cake and accommodation (as one of the city&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/accommodation\/fivestarhotels\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"18\">five-star superior locations<\/a>), the Imperial Hotel has another point of interest for the visitor to Vienna: the hotel served as a major location in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/songsfilms\/vienna-blood-season-2\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"38572\">Season 2<\/a> of the Vienna Blood period detective series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Address: Imperial Hotel, K\u00e4rntner Ring 16, 1010 Vienna<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/d\/u\/0\/embed?mid=1VpgWfXwOCZC4gSO3zwKdzTnaiMkOqOl6\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Sachertorte is not the only cake in Vienna rich in tradition. Nor is it the only one with a secret recipe. We have the Imperial Torte, for example, which&nbsp;is made at the luxury hotel of the same name. A cake with history (Press photo by Kirchgasser Photography) According to legend, the cake &#8211; which [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5840,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5838","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-food","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5838"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5838\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79972,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5838\/revisions\/79972"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}