Black Forest Cake
With layers of rich chocolate cake and a sweet whipped cream and cherry filling,this traditional black forest cake is sure to be a hit at your house, whether you're making it for a party or just to to indulge in on your own
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake:
- 2 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- ¾ cup cocoa powder Dutch-processed - sifted
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup buttermilk room temperature
- 1 cup black coffee very hot coffee or very hot water
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Cherry Syrup:
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup water
- ⅓ cup Kirsch Cherry Liqueur or cherry juice
Whipped Cream Frosting:
- 3 cup heavy whipping cream
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Assembly:
- 2 ½ cups cherries pitted and cut in half
- dark chocolate optional - shavings for garnish
- cherries with stems optional - for garnish
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Instructions
Chocolate Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease two 9" round baking pans and dust the pans with cocoa powder. Line the bottoms of the pans with parchment.
- Place the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix the dry ingredients.
- Add the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract to a medium bowl and mix well.
- Add the very water slowly to the wet ingredients. *You don't want to cook the eggs so the addition needs to be slow.
- Add the wet ingredient mixture to the dry mixture and mix on medium for 2-3 mins. *The batter will be very thin.
- Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pans. *It's helpful to use a kitchen scale if you have one, that way you can be sure the batter is evenly distributed.
- Place the cake pans on the center rack of the preheated oven.
- Bake the cakes for 35-40 mins or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool for 10 minutes in the pans on a wire rack.
- After 10 minutes, turn the cakes out onto the wire rack to cool completely.
Cherry Syrup
- Place the sugar and water into a small pan over medium-high heat. Stir the mixture and bring to a boil.
- Simmer the sugar mixture for 1 minute, then remove the pan from the heat.
- Stir in the cherry liqueur and allow the cherry syrup to cool completely.
Whipped Cream:
- In the bowl of your stand mixer add the heavy cream, sugar and vanilla.
- Start on low speed and build up to faster speed gradually, (this will give you a better consistency for your whipped cream than over-beating it from the beginning).Continue beating until the cream is fully whipped. This will take 8-10 minutes
Assembly:
- Cut each cake layer in half horizontally.
- Place one layer of cake on a cake stand or serving plate. Brush the top of the layer generously with the cherry syrup.
- Top the brushed layer with about 1 cup of whipped cream, spreading it evenly.
- Add one-third of the pitted cherries that have been cut in half on top of the whipped cream layer and gently press them into the whipped cream.
- Repeat this process with the remaining layers except for the top layer.
- Finish frosting the top and sides of the cake with the remaining whipped cream.
- Decorate the top of the cake with stem cherries. Add chocolate shavings to the sides of the cake.
- Refrigerate the cake for 3-4 hours before cutting to allow it to set up.
Nutrition
Calories: 399kcalCarbohydrates: 56gProtein: 5gFat: 18gSaturated Fat: 11gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0.003gCholesterol: 75mgSodium: 321mgPotassium: 232mgFiber: 2gSugar: 41gVitamin A: 728IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 72mgIron: 2mg
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