I’m not a fan of cakes, however I love making them so it wasn’t hard to be convinced and make one when my proof eaters asked for it (my colleagues at work that is!) The ‘Black Forest’ request was made months ago but I wanted to wait for the black cherries to be in season. I searched a lot for a good traditional German recipe and it all ended to the following one. Black forest cake was inspired in Black Forest region, a place full of beautiful forests in the south west of Germany. Reading more about it I found out that it is a place famous for its ‘haute cuisine’ having 17 Michelin awarded restaurants! I think I found my next destination for a short trip (after summer holidays of course!)

the recipe

 

for the chocolate cake

• 125g self-raising flour
• 2tsp. baking powder
• 3tbsp. cocoa powder
• 5 large eggs, separated
• 200gr. unsalted butter, in room temperature
• 150gr. powder sugar
• 2tbsp. cooled espresso or another strong coffee
• 100gr. dark chocolate (min. 65% cocoa), melted in ‘bain-marie’

for the filling and topping

• 500gr. black cherries
• 60gr. powder sugar
• 75ml. kirsch or cherry brandy or rum
• 550ml. double cream
• 2tbsp. powder sugar
• 5tbsp cherry chutney or jam with big pieces
• grated dark chocolate to garnish

directions

for the chocolate cake

• Preheat the oven to 150ºC.
• Grease well using butter a 23cm baking cake pan cover the bottom of the pan with baking paper and then grease the paper as well. Sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder together in a bowl and set aside.
• In a large bowl, beat the egg whites to a firm meringue using an electric mixer. Beat the butter and sugar in another bowl until you get a ‘white’ color. Add the yolks one at a time while beating, then add the espresso, followed by the melted chocolate.
• In lots of batches, ‘fold’ softly the sifted flour mixture and the meringue one at a time into the butter mixture. You need to get a fluffy result so keep folding carefully. Spread the combined batter over the base of the prepared pan so that it is equally speed in it.
• Bake for 40-50 minutes. Let it rest for 5 minutes when it’s done and then turn out on to a wire rack. Peel off the baking paper.

for the filling and topping

• Keep 1/4 of the cherries aside and remove the stems and pit the rest. Put all the cherries, the sugar and kirsch in a pan and let them lightly simmer. Cook until the cherries are soft. Move the cherries and syrup into a bowl and let them cool down.
• Meanwhile, beat the cream and powder sugar until you get a whipped cream.
• Using a long, sharp knife, cut the cake horizontally in two equal pieces. Drizzle each half with the kirsch syrup from the cherries to get it moisturized. Place the bottom half on a cake stand or big serving plate and spread over half of the whipped cream. Add the simmered cherries over the cream and add a layer of the cherry chutney. Cover with the upper half of the cake. Spread the remaining cream on top. Sprinkle over a little grated chocolate and decorate with the whole stemmed cherries.

Enjoy !

Tips!

• You can simmer all cherries, keep 1/4 of them to decorate the top part of your cake!
• If you want to, you can cut the cake carefully in 3 equal sized pieces and have this way more layers in the end. The rest of the ingredients remain the same, you only need to use less cream and cherries for the layers.
• If the kirsch syrup is not enough to moisten the cakes you can add some more kirsch liquor or rum into the syrup to enlarge it.
• Original recipe comes from Gordon Ramsay’s book ‘Cooking for Friends’