How to make
I'm sharing a recipe for a classic Black Forest Cake by the Certified Master Confectioner, Heinz-Richard Heinemann, of the Federal District - Schwarzwald, who reveals the real recipe for this wonderful German classic cake: the Black Forest cake.
The combination of cherries, kirsch, whipped cream, sponge cake and chocolate is simply irresistibly delicious. I wrote kirsch instead of cherry liqueur, because the real cake is made from black cherry kirsch of the Morello variety, but today producers are more likely to use red cherries.
Please note: The cake takes a little more effort to make. However, if you do not give up, you can count on the recognition of your guests. So give it your best shot as a master baker!
The Black Forest cake is only available during the autumn and winter seasons (early September to late February). This rich cake is preferred the most at that time! It's a wonderful Christmas cake!
Preparation of the butter dough base:
Knead all of the ingredients except the flour in a cool state until a smooth mass is obtained. Then knead it carefully with the flour. Wrap the dough in foil and leave it in a cool place. Preferably leave it overnight and then it can be processed better.
Bake it the next day. Roll out the sweet dough. Cut a base with a diameter of 10″ (26 cm) and place it in a cake tin with a removable bottom, lined with baking paper. Pierce it several times with a fork and bake it in a preheated oven at 320°F (160 degrees) for about 20 minutes. The biscuit base is ready!
Preparation of chocolate sponge cake layer:
Mix the egg yolks and almond paste until a homogeneous mixture is obtained.
Beat the sugar and egg whites well. Sift the flour, starch, cocoa powder together and carefully mix them with the egg whites and the mixture of yolks and almonds, by first pouring the mixture of yolks and almonds at the bottom of the bowl, then the chocolate and the egg whites on top, by scooping from the bottom and up carefully until the whole mixture is well blended.
Spread two thin cake bases onto baking paper. Bake them in a heated oven briefly (6-7 minutes at 230°C). You can bake one whole cake base in the oven tray and then cut it in two or bake two separate ones.
Preparation of the cherry filling:
For the topping, heat the cherries with the sugar. Pour the resulting juice (150 ml) and leave it to cool. Then mix the juice with the starch. Boil the cherries along with the juice. The mixture will thicken in a minute. Cool it.
Preparation of cherry compote cream:
Soak the gelatin for the cherry compote. Strain it well, dissolve it in a water bath and mix it with the kirsch (or cherry liqueur) and sugar. Mix with a small part of the whipped cream (that way the two mixtures are mixed without any problems, do not skip this step by pouring it directly into the cream). Then mix with the rest of the whipped cream.
Assembly and decoration:
Spread the cooled biscuit base with the melted chocolate couverture. Put the chocolate cake layer on top and spread it with a thin layer of cream. Pipe out whipped cream on the cake layer aroun the edges like a ring and fill it with the prepared cherry filling. Place the second sponge cake layer on top and soak it in cherry syrup.
Place a cake ring on top. Fill the cake with cream at the height of the ring, smooth it out on all sides and cool it for 1 hour.
Once it has set and it has cooled, remove the ring and garnish it with chocolate chips, whipped cream and cherries.
It is very tasty! Enjoy! The taste of the original Black Forest Cake is twice as good with company!
