Black Forest Cake
Todd asked for a Black Forest Cake for his birthday this year. I've never made one, but this one was pretty easy. Many recipes I looked at called for more alcohol (kirsch or cherry liquor). This one didn't call for it at all, but I added a bit of brandy to the cherry filling mixture. I thought the cherries were really tasty. A little on the sweet side, but matched well with the cake which was moist but not overly sweet. All in all, it worked out well and everyone liked it.
2 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 (20 ounce) cans pitted sour cherries (I used 2 bottles of Morello dark cherries from Trader Joes)
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup of brandy or kirsch, optional
3 cups heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
Drain cherries, reserving 1/2 cup juice. Combine reserved juice, cherries, 1 cup sugar, and cornstarch in a 2 quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat until thickened, stirring constantly (I briefly brought mine to a boil before dropping it back to medium to thicken up). Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla and brandy or kirsch if using. Cool before using. Do this step first, so the cherries can chill in the fridge while you work on the rest of the cake. You want the cherries to be cold when you fill the cake layers.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9 inch, round, cake pans; cover bottoms with waxed paper (I used cocoa powder to dust the pans, rather than flour).
In a large bowl, combine flour, 2 cups sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add eggs, milk, oil, and 1 tablespoon vanilla; beat until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pans.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until wooden toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool layers in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Loosen edges, and remove to racks to cool completely.
Combine whipping cream and confectioner's sugar in a chilled medium bowl. Beat with an electric mixer at high speed until stiff peaks form.
With long serrated knife, split each cake layer horizontally in half. Tear one split layer into crumbs; set aside (I did not do this - I split both layers and used all 4 layers in the cake). Reserve 1 1/2 cups Frosting for decorating cake; set aside. Gently brush loose crumbs off top and side of each cake layer with pasty brush or hands. To assemble, place one cake layer on cake plate. Spread with 1 cup frosting; top with 3/4 cup cherry topping (I put the cherry layer down first, so that the cherry juice could soak into the cake and make it more moist, then topped with a layer of whipped cream). Top with second cake layer; repeat layers of frosting and cherry topping. Top with third cake layer (and fourth, if you're not going to use the last layer to make crumbs for decorating). Frost side of cake. Pat reserved crumbs onto frosting on side of cake. Spoon reserved frosting into pastry bag fitted with star decorator tip. Pipe around top and bottom edges of cake. Spoon remaining cherry topping onto top of cake.
Notes: I did not tear the last layer into crumbs. Instead, I made a bit more of the whipped cream frosting, stacked all four layers of the cake with the cherry filling and whipped cream between each layer, and then I frosted the entire cake with whipped cream frosting. If you do this, you can't really pour the extra cherry mixture on top of the cake, because it will just turn the top of the cake pink and will probably run off the sides. So, just decide ahead of time how you want to decorate your cake, and plan accordingly. I frosted the whole thing in the whipped cream frosting, and then gently placed just a couple of cherries (no juice) in the center top, and then I sprinkled chocolate shavings around the top (just use a vegetable peeler on a bar of chocolate).
Adapted from Allrecipes
2 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 (20 ounce) cans pitted sour cherries (I used 2 bottles of Morello dark cherries from Trader Joes)
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup of brandy or kirsch, optional
3 cups heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
Drain cherries, reserving 1/2 cup juice. Combine reserved juice, cherries, 1 cup sugar, and cornstarch in a 2 quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat until thickened, stirring constantly (I briefly brought mine to a boil before dropping it back to medium to thicken up). Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla and brandy or kirsch if using. Cool before using. Do this step first, so the cherries can chill in the fridge while you work on the rest of the cake. You want the cherries to be cold when you fill the cake layers.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9 inch, round, cake pans; cover bottoms with waxed paper (I used cocoa powder to dust the pans, rather than flour).
In a large bowl, combine flour, 2 cups sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add eggs, milk, oil, and 1 tablespoon vanilla; beat until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pans.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until wooden toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool layers in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Loosen edges, and remove to racks to cool completely.
Combine whipping cream and confectioner's sugar in a chilled medium bowl. Beat with an electric mixer at high speed until stiff peaks form.
With long serrated knife, split each cake layer horizontally in half. Tear one split layer into crumbs; set aside (I did not do this - I split both layers and used all 4 layers in the cake). Reserve 1 1/2 cups Frosting for decorating cake; set aside. Gently brush loose crumbs off top and side of each cake layer with pasty brush or hands. To assemble, place one cake layer on cake plate. Spread with 1 cup frosting; top with 3/4 cup cherry topping (I put the cherry layer down first, so that the cherry juice could soak into the cake and make it more moist, then topped with a layer of whipped cream). Top with second cake layer; repeat layers of frosting and cherry topping. Top with third cake layer (and fourth, if you're not going to use the last layer to make crumbs for decorating). Frost side of cake. Pat reserved crumbs onto frosting on side of cake. Spoon reserved frosting into pastry bag fitted with star decorator tip. Pipe around top and bottom edges of cake. Spoon remaining cherry topping onto top of cake.
Notes: I did not tear the last layer into crumbs. Instead, I made a bit more of the whipped cream frosting, stacked all four layers of the cake with the cherry filling and whipped cream between each layer, and then I frosted the entire cake with whipped cream frosting. If you do this, you can't really pour the extra cherry mixture on top of the cake, because it will just turn the top of the cake pink and will probably run off the sides. So, just decide ahead of time how you want to decorate your cake, and plan accordingly. I frosted the whole thing in the whipped cream frosting, and then gently placed just a couple of cherries (no juice) in the center top, and then I sprinkled chocolate shavings around the top (just use a vegetable peeler on a bar of chocolate).
Adapted from Allrecipes
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