In September 2018, the Hotel Imperial relaunched one of its star culinary attractions. The grand and grandiose hotel on Vienna's Ringstrasse has been making its Imperial Torte since 1873 -- the year Vienna played host to the World's Fair -- when it was conceived by the young pastry chef Xaver Loibner to honour the then-emperor Franz Josef I. In contrast to the typical torte, baked in the round, a whole Imperial Torte is square and somewhat squat, constructed from fine, compact layers of milk chocolate cream and crisp, sliced almonds. The whole torte is cloaked first in a layer of marzipan and then a milk chocolate glaze. Prior to 2018, the Imperial had already brought one variation thereon onto the market: a chocolate orange torte, in which the chocolate cream is spiked with coffee and the marzipan festooned with citrus fruits. But a third was seemingly called for, and thus was a raspberry puree interspersed between the layers of chocolate and almond.
The Imperial Torte is served at the Cafe Imperial, located -- wait for it -- inside of the Hotel Imperial, today owned (rather disappointingly) by Marriott International. My one culinary fact about the Cafe Imperial (besides the aforementioned about the Imperial Torte, of course) is that, prior to his death in May 2019, the Formula 1 driver and aviation entrepreneur Niki Lauda would go there every day for breakfast, always sitting at the same table and ordering the same thing. His custom order remains on the menu as the "Niki Lauda-Breakfast," consisting of bread with butter and chives, a soft-boiled egg presented in a glass, a bowl of plain yoghurt topped with grated apple and fresh raspberries, and a melange (or cappuccino). For the low, low price of 21 Euros, the Niki Lauda experience could be yours too.
