
This makes the cake beautifully light, but does have a tendency to be a bit on the dry side (it’s just a fact of life with egg-aerated cakes because eggs dry baked goods out). baking powder, baking soda) and rely solely on whipped eggs to make them rise in the oven. The Black Forest Cake’s chocolate sponge layers are made without a leavening agent (eg. If you prefer not to use alcohol, just substitute with more reserved cherry juice. Authentic Black Forest Cake uses it in the cherry syrup. Kirsch or cherry liqueur – This is a German-origin, cherry-flavoured brandy. Top up using cherry juice to make up the cherry liquid called for in the recipe So, canned cherries it is!Īlso, we use the flavoured syrup from the jar as the base for the cherry syrup used to brush the cake layers.Ĭan’t find canned cherries? Use frozen pitted cherries + cherry juice instead. Even when fresh cherries are cooked down to make a sauce (like I do with blueberries) the texture just wasn’t as good. Canned fruits are softer and juicier, and just make more sense here. Morello / sour cherries in a can or jar, in syrup or juice – Yes, jarred not fresh cherries! I’ve tried this cake with fresh cherries and although lovely when summer cherries are in their prime, the cake just isn’t the same. Regular, unsweetened cocoa powder can however be used here instead – there’s plenty of other flavours going on so it won’t compromise the outcome!īlack Forest Cake is sandwiched with cherries, and the cake layers are also soaked with cherry syrup which imparts flavour and moisture to the sponge layers which are often (sadly!) too dry otherwise. Wipe dry (to avoid residual water dripping into bowl), then use per recipe andĬocoa – Use Dutch process cocoa powder if you can because the colour and flavour is more intense than regular cocoa powder. A quick way to warm up fridge-cold eggs: Place eggs in a large bowl, cover with warm tap water (just warm, not hot) and leave for 5 minutes.

This is particularly important for Black Forest Cake because the sponge layers rely solely on the eggs to make them rise they do not use baking powder or baking soda like other cakes do. Use at room temperature – Eggs need to be at room temperature and not fridge-cold, because they aerate better when beaten.
Moist black forest cake recipe crack#
Crack eggs, beat whites and yolks together, THEN pour into a bowl to measure out what you need). If your eggs are significantly larger or smaller in size, just weigh different eggs and use 330 – 360g / 12 oz in total (including shell) or 300 – 325g / 11 oz in total excluding shell (this is useful if you need to use a partial egg to make up the total required weight. These are industry-standard sizes in Australia and the US. Nothing groundbreaking here! Just a note on a couple of things:Įggs – Make sure they are what’s sold as “large eggs”, which are 55 – 60g / 2oz each. Here’s what you need to make the three cake layers: If all this sounds pretty good to you, then I dare say this might also just be YOUR idea of a perfect Black Forest Cake too! I tried fresh cherries in their prime during summer and they honestly weren’t as good! They’re softer, juicier and make much more sense to your mouth when you eat the cake. Jarred rather than fresh cherries – Jarred cherries simply work better in this cake from a textural point of view. Vanilla cream, just lightly sweetened (notice a theme here?) and The sponge is chocolate-y but not overwhelmingly so (save that kind of excess for Chocolate Cake!) Ĭherry syrup that actually tastes of cherries, not just tooth-aching sweetness from sugar Three chocolate cake layers – Tender and moist layers that are still sturdy enough to hold up to the (considerable!) mass of toppings and the all-essential cherry syrup soaking. So I gathered the best features that I want in a Black Forest Cake and constructed what I think is The Perfect Black Forest Cake. Or – and the biggest issue for me – the cake is just far too sweet and the nuclear sugar levels obliterate everything. Often the cake layers are too dry (a very common offender). Niggly shortcomings seem to plague recipes for this cake. I’ve never been completely happy with Black Forest Cake recipes I’ve tried in the past, whether it be traditional German cookbooks, recipes by notable bakers, or online sources. To our dear German readers out there – how do you rate my efforts? 😇 And most importantly to me, it’s not too sweet, so you can actually taste all the elements rather than just a pile of sugar!! Jarred rather than fresh cherries are my other trick, because they just work that much better with the cake.


This gateau is the most German of all cakes: Black Forest Cake! My idea of the perfect version has soft and tender cake layers wielding enough chocolate flavour without being overwhelming.
