BLACK FOREST CAKE RECIPE

Dark chocolate layers soaked in cherry brandy, coated with dark chocolate ganache, topped with heavenly whipped cream and finished with fresh juicy cherries? Let's do this.

What makes this recipe great?

This cake is all about the assembly; and I gotta say we love that in a treat! It has many elements to it which I love in a recipe, especially when each element brings a unique flavor and quality to the end result.

Something I learned from my Grandma (other than there can never be too much butter) is to make the cake beforehand and let it sit in the freezer. She was hell bent on at least a week but I typically bargain for a couple days before I want to serve it. Now this is a fantastic trick for all cakes but I have found even more so with chocolate cake. I don’t know what it does in there but it sets all the flavors perfectly and I swear by this rule. It's important to wrap them up tightly however to really ensure keeping in the maximum goodness and flavors in there. Also since this is an assembly cake and the toppings really should be made on the day it's served, it helps break up the time. Anyways- I am always in search of THE perfect chocolate cake and I have to say this one comes pretty close. It’s perfect for this recipe because it allows the brandy syrup to really soak in all that cherry goodness without it feeling dry. Though I am a big fan of butter I find oil based cakes to just be better textually and taste wise- I also always note when a cake uses buttermilk. Soured milk to any dessert gives it a certain zing like nothing else. I also found that hot coffee with this gave it depth and moisture, some people use hot water but I am just gonna say it- USE that hot coffee. It is as lush as it comes.

People use canned cherries or soak the cherries in the syrup- but I much prefer juicy, fresh ones. I find if you soak the layers and then add the cherries on top it gives the cake a moist cherry brandy layer and then a juicy fresh cherry finish- sticky fruits aren't really my thing, so I think the balance of this settles that.

Now while I have been researching recipes for this cake- I have found no one typically uses ganache. To side bar, I love ganache. It's easy to make and with GOOD chocolate it can take any recipe further up the tasty scale. While I am a fan of keeping things classic, I find ganache really punches up the layers of this cake. It adds another element and texture that I personally am very into. I also ended up using my left over for my garnish; I mean chocolate covered cherries? Come on.

RECIPE

Prep it:

• Three buttered and floured 8 inch cake tin rounds (you can also use 9 inch but I am a BIG fan of higher cakes)

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit

The Chocolate Cake

• 1 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

• 1 and 3/4 cups granulated sugar

• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil

• 2 large eggs, room temperature

• 3/4 cup full fat sour cream

• 1/2 cup buttermilk

• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

• 1/2 cup hot coffee

Cherries and Syrup

• 2 1/2 cups fresh cherries (plus 8 or 9 for garnish)

• 1/4 cup cherry brandy or liqueur

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 1/2 cup water

The Chocolate Ganache

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream

• 4-ounce semi-sweet chocolate

The Whipped Cream Topping

• 3 cups heavy whipping cream

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar

The Cake

Combine flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda and salt in a medium sized bowl. Now we want a bowl a bit larger to mix together our wet ingredients; eggs, oil, buttermilk, sour cream, vanilla (hold off on the coffee). Gently fold in dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. You can use a mixer for this process as well but hand mixing also does the trick. The mixture will be quite thick, almost a brownie batter consistently, which is fine! Keep gently mixing until everything is fully incorporated. Now pour the hot coffee over the entire mixture and gently fold in. This will take a minute as the coffee will sit on the top, keep stirring and eventually you will get a cake batter consistency. Pour evenly into the three buttered and floured 8 inch round cake tins. My convection oven works quite quickly and I put them all in at the same time, it took about 19 minutes. Keep an eye out around minute 18. It could take up to 25 minutes depending on your oven. Take out of oven and test with a knife and it should come out pretty clean (some cake is okay to see on it). Let them cool in the pans. Pop them out and wrap them tightly with cling film. Freeze (do not refrigerate) for 24-48 hours. Now, you don't have to put them in the freezer if you don't want to, I just find the flavors set and taste divine if I do.

Cherry/ Syrup

Wash your cherries, cut them in half and remove the pit. I find the best way to pit them is to use a small spoon to scoop the pit out. Set 8 or 9 aside for the garnish.

Combine water and sugar in a saucepan and put on medium heat. Wait for sugar to fully dissolve and water to come to a slight simmer but not a full boil. Remove from heat and add your cherry brandy.

Let syrup cool. Put both cherries and syrup to the side.

Ganache

Place chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Heat heavy whipping cream in a saucepan over medium heat, until it comes to a simmer, again not a full boil. Pour cream over chocolate and let sit for a couple minutes. Gently stir until combine until silky and smooth. Let cool and set aside. *If you wish to do so dip the remaining 8/9 cherries in the ganache and slide them in the freezer. This makes for a pretty cake topper at the end.

Whipped Cream topping

For the topping, make sure your cream is chilled and your bowl could even be chilled as well (pop it in the fridge for a couple minutes!) I recommend using a mixer for this but you can do it by hand (takes a lot of effort, be prepared for some bicep gain). Beat cream and powdered sugar on medium to high speed for around 3 minutes; should form stiff peaks.

If you're not using right away, keep in the fridge for chilling.

The Assembly

Get those chocolate cake layers out of the freezer and unwrap. Let them thaw out bit. I like to keep them on separate plates with cling film under them so we can syrup them all at once and then transfer each layer on top of another as we assemble. We want to let the brandy soak in the layers. You can brush the liquid on or can use a spoon if that's what you have. This is helpful to do on the plates as it will drip and all three layers should be sufficiently covered in syrup! Now layer one will now be covered in ganache, followed by a heaping amount of cream topping and fresh cherries to finish. Place second layer on top of first layer and repeat the process. Place the last layer on the top of the cake. Cover the entire cake with whipped cream. There should be enough to do some piping with the cream if you wish to do so. Place your ganached cherries on the top (if you chose to do this). And we are done! Now with the fresh cream and cherries this cake really should be eaten within a few days; so grab a fork and get to it!