Black Forest Cake
Black Forest cake (Schwarzwaelder Kirschtorte) is a famous German dessert built from layers of chocolate sponge, cherries and whipped cream.The result is a rich cake, both light and creamy, with a perfect balance between the chocolate, the cherries and the cream, which is exactly what makes the Black Forest such an enduring classic.
Ingredients
Sponge
- 97 g sugar
- 67 g flour
- 35 g cocoa powder
- 4 eggs
Cream
- 466 g heavy cream (at least 30% fat)
- 46 g icing sugar
- Cherries or raspberries
- Cherry or raspberry syrup / kirsch
Method
Sponge
- Put the eggs and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk on high speed for about 10 minutes. The mixture should triple in volume and be very foamy.
- Sift the flour and cocoa over the mixture.
- Fold in gently with a spatula, lifting the batter as you go. Do not overmix or the sponge may fail to rise in the oven.
- Pour the batter into a buttered and lined tin
- 25 minutes at 180°C
- Check the sponge is done by inserting a knife. If the blade comes out dry, it is baked.
- Leave to cool, then cut three discs of equal thickness.
Cream
- Before working the cream, make sure you put your equipment (whisk and bowl) in the fridge an hour beforehand, it makes whipping far easier.
- Whip the cream in the mixer for about 10 minutes to build it up.
- Once it holds its shape, add the icing sugar and keep whisking to work it in.
- Chill for 20 minutes before piping.
Assembly
- Brush each disc with syrup.
- Assemble in the following order:
- Cover the whole cake with cream, sides included, and smooth it out with a spatula.
- Then cover the cream with chocolate shavings. The shavings in the photo above were made by "peeling" a bar of chocolate with a vegetable peeler.
- Use the leftover cream to pipe decorations on top.
