Germany / Cakes & baking
Black Forest Cake
Black Forest Cake, sometimes called by the French gateau, gateaux or gâteau (meaning "cake"), is a chocolate cake with a strong cherry element. The recipe originates from Germany, where it is called Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte.
Ingredients
- butter, 100 g4 oz
- brown sugar, 225 g8 oz
- plain chocolate, 100 g4 oz
- self-raising flour, 200 g7 oz
- ground cinnamon1/4 tsp
- sour cream1/4 pint
- strong cold black coffee, strong, cold, black3 tbsp
- eggs2
- salt1 pinch
- cream flour, 100 g4 oz
- salt1 pinch
- icing sugar, 50 g2 oz
- Irish butter, 50 g2 oz
- egg yolk1
- vanilla essencea few drops
- cream1 pint
- black cherries, 1 lb1 tin
- black cherry jam, black cherry4 tbsp
- brandy or cherry juice
- grated chocolate, 100 g, grated4 oz
Quantities are auto-calculated from the original recipe as a guide. Items without numbers (e.g. “to taste”) are not changed.
Method 21 steps
Cream the butter and sugar together well.
Melt the chocolate and beat into the creamed mixture, then beat in the eggs.
Sift flour, salt and cinnamon together.
Fold the dry mix lightly into the liquids, then fold in the sour cream and cold coffee.
Pour the mixture into a lined and greased 9-inch round, deep cake tin, and bake for 1 hour and 25 minutes.
Set to cool on a wire rack.
Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and bind until the mixture stiffens.
Roll the pastry onto a floured board worktable until pastry is about the same size as the base of the cake tin.
Lay out on baking sheet and bake for 20–25 minutes at 350°F, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Whip cream until it holds its shape.
Put some whipped cream into pastry piping bag with a star tip attached, and reserve this for the decoration.
Slice the cake horizontally into 3 equal-sized layers.
Drain the cherries, reserve 8 for decoration and remove the stones from the remainder.
Put pastry on serving plate and spread the pastry with black cherry jam.
Soak the cakes with brandy or cherry juice.
Put one layer of cake on top of coated pastry.
Spread a layer of cream on the cake, and top with half the stoned cherries.
Add the second layer of cake, then another layer of cream and cherries.
Top with the final layer of the cake.
Cover the entire cake with the remaining cream, and press on the grated chocolate.
Decorate the top with piped rosettes of cream and the reserved whole black cherries.
