Black Forest Cake ~ 100 th Post

Two months of blogging and so fast days passed by...I can't imagine myself reaching the 100th post.I never thought I would reach my first mile stone so quick with an average of 5 posts per week.Almost 3900 visitors to the blog and 64 blogger friends.That shows my passion to cooking,isn't it ??The blog has really helped me out a lot to try out variety dishes posted by my blogger friends and I would like to thank each one of them for their constant support and priceless sweet comments throughout my posts.I hope to have your support in coming posts too.

Also, I have changed the outlook of the whole blog as I have not done it since long..thought to give a new refined look and added some pages too..Hope you all liked it..

I couln't have reached this mile stone without my family's support too,so I thought to celebrate this event by preparing their favourite Black forest cake and mine too..:-)



Black Forest Cake(American english) is also known as German Gateau(British English).The cake consists of several layers of chocolate cake ,whipped cream ,maraschino cherries and chocolate shavings.The Black Forest cake had its name from the speciality liquor of that region Schwarzwalder Kirsch wasser (a clear liquor distilled from tart cherries.Traditionally ,Kirschwasser is added to the cake.Now adays rum,brandy or whisky is added to the cake.In the United States,The cake is mostly prepared without alcohol.This is a short insight to the beautifully layered cake.

Coming back to my recipe,I made the cake from scratch and I have not added any kirschwasser or any sort of alcohol.Instead I just baked the cake with baking powder to soften the texture as a matter of challenge to avoid alcohol.The cake came out really well and this was my first attempt in preparing a Black Forest Cake.The cake tasted equally good and was worthwhile the effort.Only drawback I fet was the strong smell of bottled cherries.I surprised everyone at home,all were amazed to see this yummy cake. The recipe is a simple one, only thing is it requires a pre planning and we got to be careful cutting the layers and layering it.The cake can also be prepared using the devil's food cake mix much simpler to bake rather than from scratch.(I read in one of the sites).



Ingredients

for cake

all purpose flour 1/2 cup

cocoa 1/2 cup

sugar 1 cup

eggs 4

butter 100g

vanilla 1tsp

baking powder 1/2 tsp (if you are not using alcohol)

for sugar syrup

water 1 cup

sugar 1/2 cup

kirschwasser/rum / brandy /whisky 3 tsp ( I have not used this)

for frosting n layering

whipping cream 1 1/2 cup

cherries bottled  15 cherries

chocolate bars 2 (for curls)



Method

1. Preparing the cake -

• Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder ,mix together,keep aside.
• Powder the sugar and keep aside.
• Beat the eggs until fluffy.Add the sugar and blend well .
• Add the butter and blend again.
• Add the flour slowly into the mix and fold over.
• Add the vanilla extract and mix well.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking tray with parchment paper and pour the mix.(I used an oval tin to bake)
• Bake the cake for 25-30 minutes.
• Leave it on the wire rack till it cools down completely.
• Leave the cake in the refrigerator for 2 hours.(easier to cut layers)

     2. For layering and filling -

• Cut the cake into 3 or 4 layers as per your convenience.(make sure to cut it as thin as posssible as it has to soak the syrup) and place on a parchment paper.

• Prepare a sugar syrup using water and sugar as listed. Cool the syrup and pour the syrup using a spoon on the different layers.
• Leave it for 1 hour,keep adding the syrup until you finish the syrup.
• In the mean time, whip the cream with a spoon or whisker till it reaches the stiff peak.(cream should not fall down once we hold the whisk upside down)
• Layer the top most part of the cake as the base on a flat plate or cake stand.
• Then layer the whipped cream and spread the cherries by cutting them.
• Again alternate next layer of cake(be careful not to break the layer as its soft and soaked) and repeat the same procedure till you reach the top most layer.

• Spread a layer of whipping cream on top and to the sides.



• Using a scraper (or a new razor can also be used),chocolate bar can be shaved to curls and spread on the top most layer and sides.
• Make a flower using the whipped cream (in an icing bag) and place the cherries on top to garnish.
• Refrigerate the cake for 4 hours and serve chilled.

NOTES
* Wash the bottled cherries thoroughly under running water to avoid the strong smell.
* Leave the cake refrigerated and if you are getting delayed in spreading the whipped cream before layering,its better to refrigerate than keeping outside.