Black Forest Cake

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We visited our old friend Jane this week, and naturally, the conversation found its way around to cooking and baking.

Jane spent many years in Dubai, and is quite fond of the Dubai style cuisine. It is a mixture of all the Middle Eastern countries cuisine with a bit of Indian, Chinese and American thrown in for good measure. She is particularly fond of Lebanese style cookery.

Jayne let me borrow some of her cookery books she brought back from Dubai. While reading some of her recipes, I found a very interesting version of the German Black Forest Cake. The difference with this cake and all the other recipes we have on the database, is that the cherries are dipped in chocolate before being placed on the top of the cake. Chocolate leaves are added to enhance the effect. Here is Jane’s recipe

Black Forest Cake

Few commercial versions approach the quality of a Black Forest cake made at home. Rye bread crumbs are used in the mixture, and the cake is filled with cherries and cream.

For the cake mixture
250 gm (3-4 slices) of dark rye bread
75 gm unsalted butter + extra for tin
60 gm plain flour + extra for tin
1/ 2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp cocoa powder;
60 gm plain chocolate
90 gm whole blanched almonds
4 eggs;
100 gm caster sugar
1 tbsp kirsch
1 tbsp water

For the filling and decoration
180 gm plain chocolate
350 gm black cherries, fresh or canned in syrup

For the kirsch syrup
60 gm granulated sugar
125 ml (8 tbsp) water
2 tbs kirsch

For the Chantilly Cream
500 ml double cream
2 tbsp caster sugar;
2 tbsp kirsch

Preparing and baking the cake

Heat the oven to 180°C (Gas 4). Butter the cake tin, line the bottom with baking parchment, butter the parchment and flour the tin. Discard the crusts from the bread. Blend the bread to fine crumbs in the food processor or in a blender. Melt the butter and leave to cool.

Sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder into a bowl. Cut the chocolate into large chunks. Chop them in the food processor or with the chefs knife. Add to the bowl with the breadcrumbs. Stir to mix. Finely grind the almonds in the food processor.

Separate the eggs. In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks with half of e sugar until the mixture is very thick and light in colour, about 5 minutes. Add the almonds, kirsch and water and stir in with the wooden spoon. Set aside. Whisk the egg whites until stiff. Sprinkle in the remaining sugar and continue whisking until glossy to form a light meringue, about 20 seconds. Add about one-third to the yolk mixture and fold together lightly.

Fold the chocolate and breadcrumb mixture into the egg mixture in three batches. Fold in the remaining meringue with the rubber spatula, scooping under the contents and turning them over in a rolling motion. Pour the melted, cooled butter into the chocolate and egg mixture and fold in
gently. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin. Bake the cake in the heated oven until it shrinks slightly from the side of the tin and the top springs back when lightly pressed with a fingertip, 35-40 minutes.

Run a knife round the side of the cake to loosen it, then release the side of the tin. Transfer the cake to the wire rack, placing it upside-down on a piece of baking parchment. Remove the tin base, peel off the lining paper and allow the cake to cool. Meanwhile, prepare the filling and decoration.

Preparing the filling and decoration

Make the chocolate leaves: melt 90 gm (3oz) of the chocolate in a bowl placed in a saucepan half-filled with hot water; brush the chocolate on the shiny side of each rose leaf in a thin, even layer, leaving a little of the stem exposed. Place the leaves on the plate and allow to cool, then refrigerate
until the chocolate has set. Carefully peel leaves away from chocolates.

Make the Chantilly cream: pour the cream into a bowl placed in a larger bowl of iced water and whip until soft peaks form. Add the sugar and kirsch and continue whipping until stiff peaks form. Coarsely grate 60 gm of the remaining chocolate.

For the kirsch syrup, put the sugar into the small sauce and add the water and heat slowly until Ste sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and simmer the syrup 1 minute. Remove from the heat, allow to cool, then stir in the kirsch.

Reserve 8-10 cherries, with stems, for the decoration. Stone the remaining cherries. If using canned cherries, drain them.

Melt the remaining 30 gm chocolate. Dip the cherries with stems into the chocolate to coat evenly. Set the coated cherries on baking parchment and leave them to cool.

Slicing the cake horizontally into 3 layers

If necessary, trim any crusty edges from the cake. With scissors, cut 2 rounds of thin card slightly smaller than the cake; set the cake on top of one round. With the point of the chef’s knife, make a small vertical cut in the side of the cake. Using the serrated knife, cut the cake horizontally into 3 even layers.

Tum the cake, not the knife, as you cut the layers with an even, broad slicing motion.

Brush the cooled kirsch syrup evenly on each of the cake layers to moisten.

Spread the bottom cake layer with one-eighth of the Chantilly cream. Top with half of the stoned cherries. Spread with another one-eighth cream. Lift the middle cake layer with the second round of card, place it on the bottom layer and press down lightly. Brush with more kirsch syrup. Fill the second layer in the same way as the first, using another one-quarter of the remaining Chantilly cream and the remaining cherries.

Set the top cake layer in place, cut-side down. Transfer the cake on the card to a bowl or cake stand. Neaten the side of the cake by smoothing any cream that has pressed out between the layers. Spread half of the remaining Chantilly cream smoothly over the top and side of the cake. Press the grated chocolate around the side, using a piece of baking parchment to help.

Transfer the cake to a serving plate. Mark a lattice on top of the cake with the edge of the palette knife. Put the remaining Chantilly cream into the piping bag with the medium star nozzle and pipe rosettes round the top edge of the cake.

To serve

Top the rosettes with the chocolate-dipped cherries and add the chocolate leaves. The cake can be baked 3 days ahead and stored in an airtight container. After filling, it can be kept, covered, in the refrigerator 12-24 hours and the flavours will mellow. The chocolate leaves can be layered with baking parchment and stored in the refrigerator up to 1 week. Assemble the cake not more than 2 hours before serving.

baking cake with Bill & Sheila

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