Black Forest Cake
I love black forest cake; it holds so many wonderful memories for me. When I was little if Mum and I were out at the shops together, without all my siblings in tow, we would have a piece of Black Forest Cake; Mum would let me spoon all the foam off her cappuccino; leaving her with a milky flat white and a bit of child spit. This was long before babychinos existed; clearly some Mum tired of flat whites saw a gap in the coffee market.
My brother, Tim often requested this cake for his Birthday and Mum would lovingly make it from scratch, layer by layer. It usually followed a serve of her best crumbed cutlets, or as Tim would say “cuplets”. The sour taste of the cherries with the thick whipped cream will send me right back to a family dinner.
I made this cake after work last Saturday as a friend was coming over for morning tea. I was hot and tired so I used a packet cake mix – no judgement here. I used a chocolate mud cake but any will do. I had the best intentions of making a cake from scratch but it was hot, I was tired and on the way up the hill with my groceries I tripped on a paver sending the jar of cherries flying, after I had a good cry in my cherry and glass mess I cleaned it all up, washed my face and headed back out for a second jar. At this point we were lucky to get cake at all!
If it was for a birthday or a larger number of guests I would make two cakes so I had 4 layers, it looks a bit more dramatic but you will need to double all ingredients.
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake Mix – usually requires 2 eggs, 80gm butter & 60ml milk
685gm Jar of cherries
½ cup Caster sugar
Vanilla extract
60ml Sherry* 600ml Pure cream
200gm Dark chocolate or 3 Flakes
Method
Make your cake as per the packet. Once it has baked leave it to cool in the tin so it can come away from the sides, turn onto a cooling rack. Put aside.
Meanwhile, make your cherry filling. Reserve approximately 14 cherries for decoration, place them on paper towel and put aside. Add all the remaining cherries and half the juice into a small saucepan, bring to a low simmer.
Add the sherry, and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Slowly add your caster sugar and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Leave to bubble away until the syrup reduces and thickens. If you want it nice and jammy you can add a tablespoon of cornflour at this point, stir vigorously. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
Whip up your cream, quick tip – pure cream doesn’t contain gelatine and so it will whip much faster!
Once everything has cooled use a bread knife to cut your cake in half. Spoon out your syrup and coat the inside of both pieces of cake. Place a piece of baking paper onto your serving plate and then place on your bottom layer.
Add the cherries in the remaining syrup, spreading them out evenly. Then add dollops of cream, reserve about 1/3rd of the cream for decorating.
Add your top layer and pop it in the fridge to chill. Meanwhile, grate your chocolate or if you are in a hurry crumble your Flakes.
Take out your cake and cover the sides in whipped cream. Using generous handfuls gently press the grated chocolate on the side of the cake, reserving a handful for the top. A lazy susan is a big help at this point. Slide out your baking paper and chill. The cake, not you.
Cover the top in a little whipped cream, fill the middle with the remaining grated chocolate. I went a little fancy and piped little cream peaks around the edge and then placed a cherry onto each peak.
Note
It was a very hot day in Brisbane when I made this cake, it might not need the constant refrigeration between stages. Your cream peaks may also hold their shape a bit better too!
I used a mix of dark and milk chocolate this time, just for something different.
*Traditionally you use Kirsch, a cherry brandy; I never think to buy it so I used sherry instead.
