The Ultimate Black Forest Cake

Cherry Filling

• 2 cups (400 g) morello cherries – from a 680g or 700g jar with syrup removed. Save syrup for other elements of the cake.
• 3 tbsp (40 g) cherry juice – from the jar of morello cherries
• ¼ cup (50 g) white granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp (14 g) fresh lemon juice
• 2 tbsp (15 g) cornstarch – also known as cornflour in some countries
• ⅛ tsp almond essence or extract
• ⅛ tsp ground cinnamon

Cherry Syrup (for soaking cake layers)

• ⅔ cup (150 g) cherry juice – from the jar of morello cherries
• ⅛ tsp almond essence or extract – in replacement of Kirsch (see note 1)

Chocolate Sponge Cake

• ¾ cup (90 g) all purpose flour
• ¼ cup (30 g) cornstarch
• ⅓ cup (35 g) cocoa powder – Dutch processed preferred
• 1 tsp instant coffee powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 tbsp (30 g) unflavoured vegetable oil – I use canola oil
• 2 tbsp (28 g) melted unsalted butter
• 6 large eggs
• 1 cup (200 g) white granulated sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla essence/extract

Dark Chocolate (for covering sides and top of cake)

• 1 block (180 g) dark chocolate (50% dark)

Stabilised Whipped Cream

• 1 cup (225 g) mascarpone – cold
• ½ cup (60 g) icing sugar – also known as powdered or confectioners sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence/extract
• 3 cups (670 g) whipping cream – cold, minimum fat percentage of 34%

Also read How to Make Fried Rice with Frozen Goods

Instructions

• Filling of Cherry
• In a saucepan, mix the sugar, lemon juice, cornflour, almond flavouring, and ground cinnamon. Spread it out over medium-low heat and keep mixing it until it gets thicker.
• Take it off the heat when it gets thick and add the morello cherries. Mix slowly so that the cherries are covered in the mixture that has thickened. Put it in a bowl and leave it there to cool down.
  Sweet Cherry Syrup
• Put the cherry juice and almond flavouring in a bowl and mix them together. Put the mix aside for now.
  Chocolate Cake with Sponge
• Set the oven’s fan to 160 °C (320 °F) and grease or line the bottom of three 8-inch cake tins. If your oven doesn’t have a fan function, see note 2. I put circles of baking paper on the bottom to line them. Do not grease the sides.
• Put the cocoa powder, instant coffee powder, salt, and flour through a sieve. Mix with a whisk until everything is well mixed. Set this aside for now.
• Mix the oil and butter together in a small bowl or cup. Put it aside after mixing.
• Put the six whole eggs in a large bowl and crack them in. Add the sugar and vanilla flavouring to it, and then use a whisk to mix it all together well. Put the bowl over a small pot of simmering water, but make sure the bowl’s bottom doesn’t touch the water.
• Keep mixing the ingredients until the mixture feels warm to the touch and the sugar crystals are gone.
• Use your fingers to rub some of the mixture together to see if it’s done. If you can’t feel any sugar crystals and the mixture is still warm, it’s done. You can also use a thermometer.
• The mixture is ready when it reaches 45°C.
  You don’t want to cook the eggs, so take the bowl off the heat right away.
• With a hand or stand mixer set to medium-high speed, whip the egg mixture until it has tripled in size and is thick enough that a spatula can be used to lift it into ribbon-like shapes (see video). Based on how strong and fast your mixer is, this could take anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes.
• Once it’s the right consistency, cut the speed of the mixer in half and mix for two more minutes.
• This will help the batter stay together and get rid of any big air bubbles.
  Next, use a spatula to carefully fold half of the dry ingredients that have already been mixed into the egg mixture until it’s almost all mixed together.
• Then add the other half of the dry ingredients and mix them in slowly until they are just combined.
  Next, add the oil and butter mixture and mix it in slowly until it’s just combined.
• The butter should be melted. If it has hardened, heat it up again before adding it to the batter.
• Spread the batter out evenly between the three cake pans. To get rid of any big air bubbles in the batter, run a toothpick through it (see video).
• Make light drops of the cake pans on the counter as well.
  Place in the oven and bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until the tops are firm. You should be able to press your finger into the top of the cakes and make a small hole that slowly fills up.
• After the cakes are baked, drop them from about 10 cm to let out some of the steam. Then, turn the cakes over and let them cool for about 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, run a thin knife around the edges of the cake pans to help the cakes come out.
• Then, put the cakes on a wire rack to cool completely.
  Remove the thin layer of crust from the tops of your cake layers with your hands once they are cool. After this step, the cake will be able to soak up the syrup better.
• You could also use a serrated knife for this step if the top is hard to remove.
  Chocolate Dark
• Grate the chocolate block with a potato peeler to make little shards. We only need about 180g, so if your block is bigger, don’t grate it all, just the part you need
• The chocolate shreds should be kept in the fridge until you need them.
  Whipped cream that is stable
• Mascarpone and whipped cream should be cold before you start.
• Mix the mascarpone, icing sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl. Mix on low speed for 10 seconds. Then raise the speed to medium-high and mix for another minute, or until everything is well mixed. Use the whisk attachment on a stand mixer.
  On a low speed, add the heavy cream and mix for about 10 seconds so that the cream doesn’t splash around. Then, increase the speed to a medium high level and whip until you get stiff peaks. Pay close attention to the mixture because you don’t want to whip the cream too much.
  Group Work
• Put the first layer of cake on the cake stand or plate and use a pastry brush to cover it with a lot of cherry juice. For each layer of cake, use a third of the cherry syrup.
• Put a piping bag with a 1A large round tip and about 1/4 of the whipped cream in it. If you don’t have the right piping tip, just cut the end of the piping bag off and pipe a dam around the top edges of the cake layer.
• Put half of the cherry filling in the middle and spread it out evenly. Whip up some whipped cream and spread it out with an offset spatula so it’s level.
• Add the next layer of cake on top, and then do it all over again. Soak in the cherry syrup, pipe a wall of whipped cream, fill the middle with the rest of the cherry filling, and cover the top with more whipped cream.
• Put the last layer of cake on top and cover it with the rest of the cherry syrup. Put whipped cream on top and around the sides.
• Cover the sides of the cake with dark chocolate using your hands.
• Fill a piping bag with a 1M star tip with the rest of the whipped cream. Pipe swirls around the cake’s top edges. Put more shredded chocolate in the middle and put cherries on top of the swirls of whipped cream to make it look nice.
• Put the cake in the fridge for at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight, so the flavours can develop. Don’t eat it too soon, because I promise it’s worth the wait!

Nutrition

• Calories: 559kcal
• Carbohydrates: 53g
•  Protein: 8g Fat: 39g
• Saturated Fat: 23g
•  Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g
•  Monounsaturated Fat: 8g
•  Trans Fat: 0.1g
•  Cholesterol: 189mg
• Sodium: 119mg
•  Potassium: 221mg
•  Fiber: 2g
• Sugar: 26g
•  Vitamin A: 1718IU
•  Vitamin C: 2mg
•  Calcium: 95mg
•  Iron: 2mg

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