Black forest cake

The sky hasn't been very accommodating lately. Some days the sun shines like an intensified beam through a magnifying glass, casting harsh shadow and blinding whites in every photo I tried to take. And then on other days the clouds smothered the sky, so tightly woven that not even the smallest slither of sunlight could seep through rendering the house in darkness even with every curtain parted painfully open. Although I baked and sautéed, I could not take a decent photo of anything produced in my kitchen until one short moment when I hastily pulled a half eaten Black Forest cake from the fridge and managed to take two snaps before whatever remnants of greyed light turned to dust.

The first time I had black forest cake I was in the 7th Grade and I made it with my two best friends for our German class. We had my father video tape us whilst we baked away in the kitchen, using a packet of Betty Crocker Chocolate Cake mix as we aimed for ease over quality back then. I can't exactly recall what it tasted like, but I remember not being overly impressed by it.

Fast forward 13 years (man that sounds like a long time) and here I am, making it for the second time, from scratch, with a completely changed palette. Black Forest Cake Take #2.

1969 Black Forest Cake
recipe from Gourmet Traveller

Serves 8-10

Ingredients
300g dark chocolate (63 percent cocoa solids), coarsely chopped
1½ tablespoons kirsch
155g unsalted butter, softened
250g caster sugar
6 eggs
55g dried breadcrumbs
250g almond meal
155g unsalted butter, softened
250g caster sugar
6 eggs
55g dried breadcrumbs
250g almond meal
300ml thickened cream
2 tablespoons icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
300gm canned pitted sour (mrello) cherries, drained
chocolate curls, to serve

Method

Combine 130g chocolate, kirsch and 2 tablespoons water in a small bowl and place over a saucepan of simmering water for 5 minutes or until chocolate is melted, then stir until smooth. Set aside.

Beat butter and sugar together in an elec
ctric mixer for 5 minutes or until pale and creamy, add eggs one at a time, allowing each to be incorporated before adding the next, and beat until combined. Add chocolate mixture, mix to combine, then fold through breadcrumbs and almond meal. Spoon into a baking paper-lined 20cm round cake pan and bake at 180C for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre withdraws clean. Cool on a wire rack, then halve cake horizontally.

Combine thickened cream, icing sugar and vanilla extract in a bowl and whisk until soft peaks form. Place base of cake on a serving plate and spread with half the cream, top with cherries, then cover cherries with remaining cream and place top layer of cake over cream.

Melt remaining chocolate over simmering water and spoon over cake, scatter with chocolate curls and serve immediately.

ease: 4/5.
prep time: 22mins.
cooking time: 40mins
total: 1 hour & 2mins.

taste: 4/5. A rather tasty forest indeed.

I must admit that initially, I was quite unsure of the addition of breadcrumbs to a chocolate cake, but any uncertainties were cast aside once my teeth sunk into the soft yet toothsome cocoa layers. This cake is basically composed of three flavours, a softened and sweet chocolate, voluptuous cream and cerise cherries plump with a tart sweetness.

I don't know if I mentioned this before but for some unknown reason I just don't like eating cream with cakes, it somehow makes them too heavy for my taste buds and overpowers whatever flavours the cake is portraying. Therefore it seems, even 13 years on I am still not a great fan of the Black Forest Cake, my husband on the other hand rather enjoyed this, hence the 4/5.

would I make it again: No - I personally prefer the chocolate mousse incarnation of the black forest flavours.