Black Forest Cake

The Black Forest Cake needs no introduction. It is a very popular dessert cake of German Origin. My first tasting was when I was in my early teens. It was famously available at Pastry Palace, a patisserie in Margao, Goa. I learned making it at an early age too. And everyone loved it. And so it became a cake that was made very often.

On this occasion, I’ve made this cake after maybe a gap of 15 years and my boys loved it so much, that I made the same on three days continuously. When I shared the picture with my school mates, Avril, my dear fried remembered that I had made it for one of her birthdays. She says the yummy taste still lingers in her mind. I have no recollection dear Avril, but I can certainly vouch for taste.

The simple think to do is to use good quality chocolate and other ingredients. These power the taste. Otherwise, very little goes into making the cake !

Serves: 4 to 6 Persons

Assembling Time: About an hour

Ingredients:

• Chocolate Sponge Cake (click here) – 6 inch
• Canned Red Cherries – 15 to 20 + five whole
• Sugar – 1 ½ tbsp.
• Non-dairy Sweetened Whipping Cream (chilled) – 1 ½ cup
• Dark Chocolate Compound – as needed (about 200 gms)

Step 1:      Prepare the chocolate sponge cake as described in the recipe and then cool and slice into two equal halves horizontally.

Step 2:     Take the cherries and pit them. Chop them into halves and keep aside. Keep 5 of them whole to top the cake.

Step 3:     Dissolve the sugar in ½ cup hot water. Cool for use.

Step 4:     Whip the cream in a stand mixer or with an electric beater on slow speed for 2 to 3 minutes and then whip on high till it doubles in volume (alternately, follow the instructions on the pack)

Step 5:     Take the chocolate compound bar and using a vegetable peeler, shave the bar to make chocolate shavings and keep in the refrigerator.

Step 6:     Place the ring mould that you used to bake the cake onto a cake board. Place half the cake into it – top side down. Brush generously with the sugar syrup – but don’t overdo it.

Step 7:     Next cover the cake in the mould with about 1 cup of the whipped cream or as needed. Spread the chopped cherries over it.

Step 8:     Place the remaining half of the cake on it and again brush this half with the sugar syrup. Then cover the top with a layer of the whipped cream. Place the cake along with the mould into the refrigerator and keep it in there for 30 minutes.

Step 9:     Later, remove from the refrigerator and unmould carefully. Next, cover the sides of the cake with the whipped cream and even out (not need to smoothen it completely).

Step 10:     Cover the top with some of the chocolate shavings. Crush the remaining and dab the sides with it. Pipe out some cream onto the top as shown in the picture and top each blob with a cherry. Or just place the cherries directly. Enjoy chilled.