Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte aka Black Forest Cake
Course: Deserts, FeaturedDifficulty: MediumServings
12
servingsCalories per serving
550
kcalWhat could be better than cherries paired with cognac and dark chocolate? That’s right, just a huge cake made from all of these ingredients. When I first made a Black Forest cake, my husband was simply delighted and asked me to cook it almost every weekend.
So I surely got a lot of experience to try different variations of the recipe for this cake. In pursuit of the perfect taste, I’ve finally came up with my own recipe. Today I’m delighted to share it with you.
Initially, when I was reading about this cake I though its name was given to it due to it’s distinct black-red color. You know, I’m a fan of old Europe tales – Grimm brothers, Germany, a dark night, red berries in the forest, it all made perfect sense for me. But I was surprised to learn that its name originates from 16th century, when cherries were first grown in the Black Forest region of Germany. So my theory was somewhat close, but not exactly.
In Germany, the cake is often referred to as “the king of cakes” and is considered a national treasure. It became popular in the 1930s and 1940s, and was often served as a special occasion cake, such as for birthdays, weddings, and holidays. We all know what was happening in Germany in those decades so, it was a small oopsie to learn that! But the cake is amazing anyways.
In 2013, the European Union granted protected geographical indication (PGI) status to the Black Forest Cake, which means that only cakes made according to the traditional recipe in the Black Forest region of Germany can be sold as “Black Forest Cake.”
So I surely got a lot of experience to try different variations of the recipe for this cake. In pursuit of the perfect taste, I’ve finally came up with my own recipe. Today I’m delighted to share it with you.
Initially, when I was reading about this cake I though its name was given to it due to it’s distinct black-red color. You know, I’m a fan of old Europe tales – Grimm brothers, Germany, a dark night, red berries in the forest, it all made perfect sense for me. But I was surprised to learn that its name originates from 16th century, when cherries were first grown in the Black Forest region of Germany. So my theory was somewhat close, but not exactly.
In Germany, the cake is often referred to as “the king of cakes” and is considered a national treasure. It became popular in the 1930s and 1940s, and was often served as a special occasion cake, such as for birthdays, weddings, and holidays. We all know what was happening in Germany in those decades so, it was a small oopsie to learn that! But the cake is amazing anyways.
In 2013, the European Union granted protected geographical indication (PGI) status to the Black Forest Cake, which means that only cakes made according to the traditional recipe in the Black Forest region of Germany can be sold as “Black Forest Cake.”
Ingredients
- Biscuits (18 cm – 7 inch diameter)
5 eggs
Sugar 200 g (7 oz)
A pinch of salt
Milk 100 ml (3.5 fl oz)
Sunflower Oil – 70 ml (2.4 fl oz)
Flour – 175 g (6.25 oz)
Cocoa powder – 35 g (1.25 oz)
Baking powder – 8 g (0.3 oz)
- Cherry Filling
Pitted cherries- 380 g (13 oz)
Sugar – 100 g (3.5 oz)
Cognac or cherry liqueur – optional
- Cream filling
Cream 33% – 360 ml (12.5 fl oz)
Powdered sugar – 100 g (3.5 oz)
Condensed milk – 100 g (3.5 oz)
Gelatin – 8 g (0.3 oz) + 48 ml (1.65 fl oz) of cold water
Mascarpone 150 g (5.3 oz)
Vanilla sugar 1 tbs
- Coating cream
Chocolate 300 g (11 oz)
Butter 100 g (3.5 oz)
Mascarpone 125 g (4.5 oz)
Vanilla sugar 1 tbsp
Directions
- Biscuits
- Combine flour, baking powder and cocoa, in a large bowl, mix everything with a whisk until smooth.
- Separate the whites from the yolks
- Add sugar, a pinch of salt to the whites and mix with a blender until a dense white foam is formed.
- One by one, add the yolks to the mixture while continuing to mix the substance with a blender.
- Add all dry ingredients to the mixture. Gently stir with a spatula.
- Add oil and milk to the mixture. Stir until smooth.
- Place the batter in a mold, and cover it with a foil sheet. Bake in a preheated oven for about 40 minutes at 180 degrees C (400 F). Then remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes.
- Leave the biscuit to cool down in the mold for about 15 minutes. Then run a knife along the edges of the mold and carefully remove the biscuit. Wrap it in cling film and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.
- Remove the biscuit from the refrigerator, remove the cling film and cut it into 3 equal layers. Set aside.
- Cherry filling
- Mix cherries with sugar and saute on medium heat. Optionally, you can add cognac or cherry liqueur. You have to achieve the boiling point and sauté for about 5-7 minutes.
- When the cherry starts giving away juice, remove the saucepan from the heat, strain the cherry juice through a sieve and set aside. We will need the juice syrup to soak the biscuit later on. Set the cherries aside in another bowl to cool completely.
- Cream filling
- Mix gelatin with water and leave it for 10 minutes. Then put it in the microwave (high power lever) for 20 seconds. Gelatin should become liquid.
- Add liquid gelatin to condensed milk.
- Mix the cream with powdered sugar, vanilla sugar and mascarpone until soft peaks (about 3 minutes)
- Add condensed milk with gelatin to the above mixture and beat at a low mixer speed for about 2 minutes
- Assembling the cake
- Our filling cream is ready. Let’s start assembling the cake. Soak the bottom layer of the cake with cherry syrup.
- Apply half of the filling cream on the first biscuit and put 1/2 of the cherries on top. Put the second layer of the cake, soak it with syrup, cover with the remaining cream and cherries.
- Soak the 3rd top layer of the cake and place it on top without covering with filling cream.
- Place the cake in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours to stabilize it
- Coating cream
- Melt the chocolate using water bath or microwave
- Add room temperature butter to the chocolate, stir the mixture with a spatula until the butter begins to dissolve.
- Add mascarpone and a teaspoon of vanilla sugar. Beat the cream with a blender until smooth. Set aside for about 15 minutes at room temperature. This will make it thicker and easier to work with.
- Cover the cake with this chocolate cream. Decorate as desired. Bon appetit!
