Best Black Forest Cake - Easy Recipe With Cocktail Cherries

Ingredients:

FOR THE SPONGE CAKE
Self-raising flour or plain flour	315g
Sugar	250g
Corn flour	1 1/2 tbsp
Baking powder	2 tsp 2 1/2 tsp if plain flour is used
Bicarbonate of soda powder	1 tsp
Cocoa powder	1/4 cup or 30g
Salt	1/4 tsp
Eggs	6
Vegetable oil	1/2 cup
Nescafe	2 tbsp
Hot water	1/2 cup
Lemon juice	1 tsp
FOR THE FROSTING
Heavy cream/Double cream/ Whipped cream	2 cups or 300ml
Icing sugar	1 cup or 150ml
Dried milk powder	1 tbsp
Vanilla essence	1tsp
FOR THE SUGAR SYRUP
Water	10 tbsp
Sugar	10 tbsp
FOR DECORATION
Morello cherry	1 bottle
Dark chocolates	1 bar

It was indeed a dream come true; the thrilling experience I had while admiring my gorgeous Black Forest Cake was beyond description.

This felt like quite a daunting task, some months before. However, after a few days of dreaming about making this beauty, I later realised, that it is just a matter of making two simple chocolate sponge cakes, soaking them with sugar and cherry syrup, cover with whipped cream frosting, and pat with dark chocolate shavings. Not so daunting when your grit, coupled with passion, is on track, after all!

To make the whole process easier and less stressful, I used cocktail cherry in cherry syrup, instead of making the same with fresh cherries. Cherries are seasonal fruits and in some months fresh ones are not available in supermarkets. Also, in tropical countries, cherries are hard to find. Hence, I guess, using cocktail cherries in this recipe is very practical and in turn, the cherry syrup in the bottle gives an addictive deep flavour to the cake as well as the cherry liquor-soaked cherries are equally addictive.

Gather all the necessary ingredients and proceed with confidence. Opt for a relaxed time during which you will not get distracted. Follow all the steps methodically and voila! Black Forest Cake will be in front of you in no time! Trust me, you will love the ultimate goal!

Let’s start making this beautiful cake;

1. Bake the cake

Whisk egg yellows

• Separate the eggs (Even a tiny drop of egg yellow could spoil the batter, so be very careful while separating the eggs)
• Whisk the egg yellows until frothy
• Add oil. Continue whisking
• Add 1/2 the amount of sugar and whisk until the sugar dissolves. Keep the other 1/2 of the sugar
• Pour the 1/2 cup of hot water into 2 tbsp of Nescafe and make coffee. Let cool. Add to the egg yellow and whisk gently
• Sift flour with cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and bicarb. Add into the egg yellow mixure and combine all together
• Mix all together until a smooth batter is formed

Beat the egg whites

• Drop the egg whites into a clean and dry bowl (Any wetness in the bowl will not allow the egg whites to stiff well)
• Beat on high speed until heavy and stiff ( Pls see the picture above)
• Add in the remaining 1/2 of sugar in three times while beating on high speed
• Drop 1tsp of lemon juice
• Beat a few rounds and keep them aside

Combine both

• Now, pour the egg white mixture into the egg yellow mixture and gently combine until everything incorporates producing a smooth batter

2) Into the oven

Two trays of this size are perfect

• Pre-heat the oven to 180 C for 10mins
• Line up two round trays
• Divide the batter and pour it into the trays
• Place the trays on a wide rectangle tray filled with water
• Place it in the oven and gently close the oven door (do not bang the oven door shut as the cakes can drop from the middle)
• Bake for 20-25mins
• Stab a skewer into the middle of the cakes. If the skewer comes out clean the cakes are ready. If not, leave 5 more mins in the oven
• Take out from the oven and let cool on a cooling rack

3) Make the sugar syrup

• Mix 10 tbsp of sugar and 10 tbsp of water and make the sugar syrup

4) Make the Frosting

• Keep all the ingredients needed for frosting on the worktop. Double cream should be taken out of the fridge just before using it. Chilled double cream makes beautiful snow-like peaks
• Take a clean, dry bowl. Wipe clean if any wetness is left. Pour in the 2 cups of chilled double cream
• Beat on high speed until the cream turns thick and stiff
• Add the icing sugar three times and continue beating for 2-3 mins
• When the pins are lifted they must hold beautiful stiff peaks. Stop beating
• Add in milk powder and lemon juice
• Beat a couple of rounds and check the taste. If the sweetness is not enough, you can add a bit more icing sugar and mix
• Cover the bowl with a cling film and refrigerate until needed

5) Decorate the cake

• Peel off the baking paper of completely cooled cakes. Try baking the cakes on the previous day
• If the sides and the tops of the cakes are hard and crusty, scrape them off neatly. Otherwise its perfectly alright to take the cakes as they are
• Now stab both cakes all over with a skewer and make several tiny holes
• Pour the sugar syrup all over both cakes
• Now pour the cherry syrup/liquor in the bottle of cocktail cherry onto both cakes liberally
• Place one cake on the cake stand. Cover with the frosting. Place cocktail cherries around and in the middle
• On top place the other cake
• Pour some cherry syrup/liquor from the bottle of Cocktail cherry
• Cover the top and around with the frosting
• Fill some of the frostings into a piping bag and using the rose nozzle make a dainty line of roses
• Place a cherry on each rose
• Shave the dark chocolate with a vegetable peeler and pat on the sides of the cake
• Done!
• Place the cake in the fridge overnight or at least 3hrs before serving
• Enjoy!

Tips:

• Make sure you buy the best brands of all the ingredients in order to produce best results
• Place all the ingredients on the worktop to make the process easier and quicker
• Read the recipe a couple of times and make a mental note of the steps
• Always opt for a peaceful time for baking because just one little step forgotten, the whole effort will be spoilt
• Do not pre-heat the oven too long. Upto 15mins is more than enough. And also, never bang the oven door after placing the cake inside. The air inside will get disturbed and make the cake to flop from the middle
• Before frosting/icing the cake always make sure the cake is completely cooled. Bake the cakes on the previous day to save a lot of time and energy.