Black Forest Cake is a name that brings me nostalgia from my childhood in Taiwan; however, if you ask me to pinpoint any particular memory of this cake, I would not be able to tell you. The truth is, I don't even know if I really had this cake before as a child, yet the name is so familiar to me. Then, couple of months ago, someone in the office celebrated his birthday and the office bought this cake for him. It was from Sun-Kee, a Chinese bakery with authentic "Asian" flavor. Everyone raved about the cake, and I did too. If I haven't said already in this blog or elsewhere, baking is like a challenge, a game to me. I don't care so much about eating the end product, rather, it's the process of making something that's normally store-bought that brings me so much joy. This cake tickled me hard and I knew I had to try to make it sooner or later. Two months later...her I am.
Black Forest Cherry Cake
(Recipe from Carol)Cherry filling
- fresh cherry (pit removed) 200g
- cherry brandy 2 tablespoon
- sugar 20g
Chocolate Cream
- whipping cream 400g
- cherry brandy 1/2 tablespoon (optional)
- milk chocolate block 150g
- whipping cream 40g
Break the chocolate block into small pieces for faster melting. Melt the chocolate over a pot of water over medium heat.
Heat the 40g whipping cream over the hot water.
Mix together the melted chocolate and the warm whipping cream.
While hot, quickly mix together the hot chocolate mixture with the whipped cream from the fridge. You have to move fast otherwise the chocolate will harden.
Chocolate Chiffon Cake
- egg yolk 4
- sugar 15g
- liquid oil 25g
- milk 45g
- cake flour 50g
- unsweetened cocoa powder 25g
- egg white 4
- lemon juice 5 cc
- sugar 65g
- Chocolate shaving/chips 150g, fresh cherry for decoration (optional)
Preheat oven to 160c/320f.
Mix together the yolks, sugar, liquid oil and milk with a hand whisk.
Add the sifted cake flour and cocoa powder and mix well.
Whisk the egg whites on high (speed 8) until you see big bubbles forming, then add the lemon juice and half of sugar. Continue to whisk until you see the bubbles start to get smaller and mixture expands, add the rest of the sugar. Continue to whisk until a stiff peak is formed.
Add 1/4 of whisked egg white to the yolk mixture and mix.
When well mixed, add the yolk mixture back to the egg whites. Gently combine to the two.
Pour the batter into a 8inch round cake pan **
Bake for 40-45 minutes.
Cool the cake upside down to avoid shrinkage.
** if you are using a removable base pan, you don't need to line any parchment paper. If you are using a regular pan, you might want to line the bottom with parchment to ensure you can get the cake out later. Because you have to flip the cake to cool you don't want to line the side.
Assembling the Cake
Cut the cake into 3 equal pieces.
Brush some cherry sugar/brandy water from the soaked cherry on top of the first cake layer.
Apply a layer of chocolate whipped cream on the cake.
Put half of the soaked cherry on the whipped cream.
Cover the cherry with more whipped cream.
Put on the second cake layer.
Repeat the above for the second layer.
Put on the top cake layer.
Cover the whole cake with whipped cream.
Sprinkle the chocolate shavings/chips to cover the entire cake.
Decorate with some whipped cream and cherry if you like.
Refridgerate the cake for 3 hours before serving.
I absolutely love this cake, and so did my family. We had this cake for breakfast for two days now, and only a tiny piece is left. I had planned to make this cake for Ruthie's birthday this Saturday, but since she's out for a week camping 6 hours away, I don't know when she will be back. Also, the cherry season is over, so I don't know if I will be able to get more cherries later. One thing I definitely learned from this is that I cannot decorate a cake! It's so difficult, and I get so frustrated with whipped creams melting on me. My mom's birthday is coming up in 2 weeks, and I want to bake another birthday-ish cake for her to bring to her office. I'm thinking along the line of mocha, coffee mousse cake... we'll see!
i used to like this flavor a lot as a gelato without knowing what flavor it really was. i liked it because it sounded cool and it had a hint of chocolate in it.
ReplyDelete