Black Forest Cake

Black Forest Cake is a cake of German origin. It is said that the addition of cherry liquor gives the cake its authentic taste. However, to make the cake suitable even for my kids, I omit the liquor and replace it with cherry syrup instead. I simply use the syrup from either the cherry pie filling or from the bottled whole cherries. This recipe is an adaptation of the Black Forest Cake from my favorite (for now) recipe book. If you read my previous post, you will know what it is.

The cake is made by first baking the chocolate chiffon cake then assembled with whipped cream frosting and cherries. Hubby once asked why I don't use our famous chocolate cake as the base. To me, the moist chocolate cake is too dense for such cake. The lightness of the chiffon cake is just perfect for this type of dessert.

Chocolate Chiffon Cake:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup – 2TBSP all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp coffee
• 1/4 cup cocoa

• 1/4 cup oil
• 4 eggyolks
• 1/3 cup water

• 4 eggwhites
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 1/2 cup sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Line the bottom of 2 8x2 round pan with greaseproof paper. Do not grease.
2. Measure, sift and mix the first set of dry ingredients above then make a well in the center. Add in order the oil, eggyolks and water.
3. Mix with a wire whip or wooden spoon until there are no lumps. Do not overmix. It usually just take me about a minute or two to do this. Set aside.
4. Beat the eggwhites with the cream of tartar until frothy then gradually add the sugar and beat on high until stiff but still glossy.
5. Mix 1/3 of the beaten eggwhites to the cake batter and fold gently until fully incorporated. Fold in the remaining eggwhites.
6. Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
7. After removing from the oven, cool the cake in an upside down position in a wire rack.

Prepare the soaking syrup:

SYRUP:

1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
3 TBSP CHERRY brandy

Boil the sugar and water and let simmer for a few minutes. Remove from heat and add in the cherry brandy.
Spoon or brush this syrup over the surface of the unmolded cake.

For the Fillng & Frosting:

2 cups chilled whipped cream
1/2 c sifted powdered sugar
1 bar Cream Cheese (optional)
Cherry pie filling
Shaved chocolate


First some notes about the frosting:

1. The original recipe calls for 2/3 cup sugar. To me 1/2 cup is enough. The sweetness of the cake, the syrup and the chocolate shavings will make up for that part.

2. Most Black Forest Cake recipe don't call for cream cheese but I tell you the cream cheese will make it the best BFC you've ever had. I divide my BFC cakes into two categories: Regular and Premium. The cream cheese is added to the latter.

3. Whipped cream must be chilled overnight or at least 3 hours but I now use Bakersfield Whippit non-dairy cream so I do not have to chill it.

4. If you are in the Philippines and find the imported "whipping" cream expensive or live in a place where there are no whipping cream (like here, ugh), do not worry, the Alaska All-Purpose Creamer can do the job. I find it better smelling than Nestle. Do I sound like I'm endorsing?

To make the frosting, whip your chilled cream with the powdered sugar using an electric beater until it doubles in volume. In a separate bowl beat the creamcheese until light and fluffy. Fold this into the whipped cream.

If you want a more stable whipped cream frosting, you can add gelatin to it. Do this as your first step. Sprinkle a tablespoon (1 packet Knox) to 4 tablespoons cold water. Let stand for 5 minutes to soften the gelatin. Microwave at half power for 10-30 seconds to melt the gelatin or you can melt it using the double boiler method. Let cool but do not allow it to set. Add this after the cream has attained the necessary volume and continue beating the cream until soft peaks are formed.

To assemble the cake, fill it with the whipped cream frosting, spoon cherry pie filling over the whipped cream. I process my cherry pie filling in the food processor because I do not want whole cherries in the filling. Top the iced layer with the second cake. Frost the entire cake. Pipe some rosettes on top of the cake, spoon some more pie filling on top. Garnish with whole cherries and chocolate shavings.

More notes:

For the garnish, I buy the whole cherries with stem. For the chocolate shavings, I use a thin knife if I want to make curls and run it over a chocolate bar. When I am lazy, I use a peeler.

If you want a four-layer BFC, double the cake recipe and bake it in 2 9" pan then just torte each cake to make 4 layers.

After discovering Bakersfield Whippit, I feel in love with it. It is a very stable whipped cream. I just have to add water to the paste and whip it. It whips beautifully. Heaven. It is very stable and doesn't melt. It gives very beautiful result. When using Whippit, I omit the sugar because it is already slightly sweetened.

Hope you like it. Enjoy!