Black Forest Surprises!

BLACK FOREST CHERRY CAKE
[Schwarzwälder Kirshtorte]

This is from the Time Life Foods of the World (Germany edition).

For garnishings:
Ingredients:
semi-sweet dark or white chocolate
Steps:
The day before, take 8 oz of your favorite semi-sweet dark or white chocolate to make garnishes. Use a bar of white and a bar of semi-sweet Ghirardelli. Melt separately for a minute or so in the microwave, stir and then with spoon or pastry bag lay down ribbons on piece of parchment paper. Use a fork to create the marble effect. Slide into the fridge or a cool place. Make sure you make it a day before so it's got time to harden.

For Syrup:
Ingredients:
3/4 cup white sugar
1 cup cold water
1/3 cup kirsch
Steps:
Bring water and sugar to boil over moderate heat, stirring only until sugar dissolves. Boil briskly for 5 minutes to reduce a little, remove from heat. When syrup is luke warm, add kirsh and stir in. Set aside.

For Filling:
Ingredients:
1-2 cups pitted sour cherries or,
fresh cherries
maraschino cherries
Steps:
1 to 2 cups of pitted sour cherries packed in water or light syrup, rinsed and drained. Set aside. If you have fresh cherries, pit and de-stem them, and poach them in a mix of 2 cups water and 3/4 cup sugar, simmering on low for 5 minutes or the cherries are tender. Drain and cool.
2.If you like maraschino cherries for garnish, get a small jar with the stems still on. Drain those as well but do not rinse. Set aside.

For the Cake:
Ingredients:
10 tbsp. unsalted butter
6 eggs room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
butter and flour to coat three 8 or 9 inch pans
Steps:
1. Get your pans set up with wax or parchment paper in the bottoms, buttered and floured before you even start making the cake itself. This cake is delicate in the mixing and you want it in the oven as soon as possible. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Clarify the 10 tablespoons of butter in a small pan or in the microwave. Let it rest a minute after melting gently, skim off the foam and discard the milk solids at the bottom.
3. In a small bowl sift together cocoa and flour together and set aside.
4. In a mixer or large bowl with a hand mixer whip the eggs and sugar until it nearly triples in bulk. This will take 10 minutes on high. Then with a spatula start folding in the cocoa-flour mix in small portions, be gentle with the mix to keep it from collapsing. Once the cocoa-flour is all mixed in, start adding the clarified butter the same way. The volume will start to go down, but don't panic. As long as you are gentle with the process, it doesn't fall any more than it should. Once all the butter is folded in, pour immediately into the three pans and slide them in the oven. Cook 10-15 minutes or until toothpick or knife tests clean.
5. Remove pans from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes before taking out of the pans. A sharp knife will be needed to release the edges of the cake from the pan. Leave the cakes on their wax paper until it's time to put the cake together. The wax paper will keep the cake together for construction.
6. When cool, prick the cakes with a fork and then drizzle them with the syrup made earlier. Don't use too much - there's plenty of left over. You want the cakes moist but not swimming.

For Topping:
Ingredients:
3 cups chilled heavy cream
1/2 cup icing or confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup kirsh
Steps:
1. Whip cream until just thickening and then sift in the icing sugar. Continue whipping until stiff peaks form and then while still beating pour in the kirsh in a thin stream until combined. Your topping is ready.
2. You need a large workspace for assembly. On a cake plate or stand, turn your first layer on to the surface, peeling off the wax paper. Slather on some of the whip cream making a bit of a dam around the edges. Lay in half of your sour cherries. Tip on the next layer and repeat the process using up the rest of your sour cherries. Place the third layer on top, and apply the remaining topping to coat the whole cake. Smooth the surface but don't get too fussy. It looks nice with some texture.
3. From here it's all a matter of design and preference. Some grate up a bar of chocolate and press the shavings into the sides of the cake, and place curls of chocolate on top. I take my marbled chocolate and either cut into leaves or make shards like I did this year, spiraling them around, interspersed with maraschino cherries. Your done! Set it in the fridge to chill and enjoy the leftover chocolate shards.

If you're not an experienced baker, make sure you've got a lazy sunday to work with on this. When you're used to the recipe, you can do it in an evening like I did.







CLASSIC BLACK FOREST CAKE
Ingredients:
For the Cake:
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 large eggs
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For the filling:
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 1/4 cups kirsch
2 (15-ounce) cans dark sweet pitted cherries in heavy syrup
2 tablespoons cornstarch
For the Frosting and Garnish:
1 pound confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 stick butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup boiling water
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 teaspoons sugar
3 ounces semisweet chocolate, shaved
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a small saucepan, warm the milk and 2 teaspoons of the butter together over medium-low heat. With an electric mixer fitted with a wire whip, beat the eggs and 1 cup of the sugar on medium-high speed in a large mixing bowl until the mixture is pale yellow, thick, and tripled in volume, about 8 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, beat in the warm milk mixture. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt into a small mixing bowl. Add half the flour mixture to the egg mixture and blend thoroughly until smooth. Repeat with the other half. Add the vanilla and mix gently. Grease 2 8" round pans with the remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Sprinkle evenly with the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Pour the cake batter into the pan, spreading it evenly. Bake until the cake springs back when touched, about 15 minutes. Cool for about 2 minutes, then gently flip it out onto a large sheet of parchment paper. Let cool completely.

For the filling: Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar, and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool completely. Stir in 1 cup of the kirsch and stir to mix. In another saucepan over medium heat, bring the cherries to a boil in their syrup. In a small bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in the remaining 1/4 cup kirsch and add to the cherry mixture. Whisk until it thickens, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool completely.

Assemble the cake: Using a serrated knife, carefully cut each cake horizontally in half to make 4 layers. Brush the tops of all the layers with equal amounts of the sugar syrup. (You will not need all of the syrup.) Let the liquid soak into the layers for about 30 minutes. Place the bottom layer on a large cake plate. Spread 1 cup of the filling evenly over this layer, then top with a second layer of cake. Spread 1 cup of the filling evenly over it. Repeat the same process with the third layer and another cup of the filling. Top with the fourth layer.

To Finish: Sift together the confectioners' sugar and cocoa powder into a medium size bowl. Add the butter and mix with an electric mixer until incorporated. Add 1 teaspoon of the vanilla and the boiling water and mix until smooth. Let cool. Combine the cream, the remaining 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, and the sugar in a medium-size mixing bowl and, using an electric mixer, whip until soft peaks form. Ice the sides and top of the cake evenly with the chocolate frosting. Spoon the whipped cream over the top of the cake and sprinkle with the chocolate shavings. Slice and serve the cake.



BLACK FOREST FLAKE
Ingredients:
For the base:
5 whole eggs, separated
1/2 cup (120g.) caster sugar
250g. white cooking chocolate, melted
100 ml. brandy
200g. ground almonds
1 1/4 cups (150g.) self-rising flour, sifted
Steps:
1. Beat eggyolks with half of sugar until thick and white.
2. Fold in chocolate, brandy, almonds, and flour.
3. Beat eggwhites with the rest of the sugar.
4. Fold in with first mixture.
5. Prepare 9" round springform pan lined wiht baking paper.
6. Preheated oven 350F, bake for 40 to 45 minutes.
For the filling:
4 cups (1 litre) thickened cream
1/3 cup (90g.) caster sugar
425g. can sour black cherries, drained and pitted
1/2 cup (125ml.) kirsch (or cherry liquer)
Steps:
1. Whisk cream until stiff, reserve 1/4 for decorating.
2. Place cherries and kirsch in-between layers of cake.
For decoration:
3 cadbury flake bars, crumbled
12 red cherries



GERMAN CLASSIC BLACK FOREST CAKE
Ingredients:
For the sponge:
3 eggyolks
63g. sugar
47ml. vegetable oil
47ml. water
1 1/4 cups cake flour
Step1. Mix all these ingredients together. Set aside.
130g eggwhites
1g. cream of tartar
63g sugar
Step2. Mix all these ingredients together.
Step3. Fold in to first mixture.
Step4. Preheated oven 400F, bake for 10 minutes.

For the filling:
500g whipped cream
20ml. cherry bran
fresh cheries
bittersweet chocolate
cocoa powder
cherry sweet stem

For strawberry filling:
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water3 cups strawberry
1 pinch rosemary
1 tbsp. cornstarch
2 tbsps. lemon juice
1/8 tsp. strawberry flavoring
1/4c rum
Boil until cooked.

For the chocolate sauce:
250ml. fresh milk
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate
1 pinch all spice
cinnamon

For the syrup:
1/4 cup brandy
3 tbsp. rum
1/2 tbsp. sugar
grated lemon zest
Heat and let cool.

For garnishings:
meringue
shell icings (using whipped cream)
white chocolate





BLACK FOREST EXTRAVAGANZA
Ingredients:
For the Base:
150g chocolate, chopped
150g butter
10 ml dry instant coffee
4-5 tbsps. rum or kirsch
5 eggs, separated
125g ground almond
125g castor sugar
Steps:
1. Melt chocolate and butter. Set aside. Let cool.
2. Add in egg yolks and almonds.
3. Whisk eggwhites and lightly fold in sugar.
4. Fold into chocolate mixture using metal spoon.
5. Grease 2.5cm tin pan.
6. Preheated oven 325F, bake for 1 hour. Let cool.
For the toppings:
2 tbsps. kirsch
5 tbsps. black cherry jam
284ml. double cream
150g yogurt (natural or strained)
50g toasted flaked almonds
2x 425g cans of black cherries
chocolate decoration
Steps:
1. Soak base with kirsh.
2. Spread cherry jam on top.
3. Whip cream, coat top and sides. Put the remainder on a piping bag.
4. Press almonds on sides. Pipe edgings of cream.
5. Top cake with cherries.
6. Decorate with chocolate trimmings.







A Bit of the Black Forest Cake History. It was in Germany that the first recipe for a dessert known as Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte came to be, now popularly known as the Black forest cake. Schwarzwälder (or black forest), is a tourist destination in Germany well-known for its beautiful high lands and dense forests. Said to be the inspiration for the black forest cake, the Schwarzwälder region is home to abundant, beautiful cherry trees (it was a customary then for newly-weds to plant a cherry tree). And in 1915, it was confectioner Josef Keller who invented the black forest cake, or as he called it, the black forest cherry in his café Agner in Bad Godesberg .

The black forest cake would typically contain three layers (although more layers can be added) of chocolate sponge cakes, with generous amounts of whipped cream and sour cherries or maraschino cherries in each layer, further decorated and garnished with additional whipped cream, chocolate shavings and fresh cherries. In traditional black forest cakes, the sponge cakes are soaked on Kirschwasser or kirsch, which is a clear colorless fruit brandy made from double distillation of Morellos (made of sour cherries). However, today even other kinds of liquors like rum are used instead of kirsch, or made without any alcohol at all.

….Ready to indulge?



Photos from Flickr.com