The Ultimate Black Forest Cake

IMPORTANT: For accuracy, I would recommend using the gram measurements provided, as those are the exact quantities I use. Cup measurements are given as estimates (based on US cup measurements) to make it easier for those who do not have a scale.

Ingredients

Cherry Filling

▢ 2 cups (400 g) morello cherries - from a 680g or 700g jar with syrup removed. Save syrup for other elements of the cake.
▢ 3 tbsp (40 g) cherry juice - from the jar of morello cherries
▢ ¼ cup (50 g) white granulated sugar
▢ 1 tbsp (14 g) fresh lemon juice
▢ 2 tbsp (15 g) cornstarch - also known as cornflour in some countries
▢ ⅛ tsp almond essence or extract
▢ ⅛ tsp ground cinnamon

Cherry Syrup (for soaking cake layers)

▢ ⅔ cup (150 g) cherry juice - from the jar of morello cherries
▢ ⅛ tsp almond essence or extract - in replacement of Kirsch (see note 1)

Dark Chocolate (for covering sides and top of cake)

▢ 1 block (180 g) dark chocolate (50% dark)

Stabilised Whipped Cream

▢ 1 cup (225 g) mascarpone - cold
▢ ½ cup (60 g) icing sugar - also known as powdered or confectioners sugar
▢ 1 tsp vanilla essence/extract
▢ 3 cups (670 g) whipping cream - cold, minimum fat percentage of 34%

Extra Decorations

▢ 10-12 cherries (fresh, glacé or maraschino)

Instructions

Cherry Filling

Add the cherry juice, sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch, almond flavouring and ground cinnamon to a saucepan. Place it over a medium heat and continuously mix until it thickens up in consistency.
Once thick, take it off the heat and add in the morello cherries. Mix gently so that the cherries are coated in the thickened mixture. Place into a bowl and set aside to cool.

Cherry Syrup

In a bowl combine the cherry juice and almond flavouring. Mix and set aside for later.

Chocolate Sponge Cake

Preheat oven to 160 °C (320°F) with the fan on (see note 2 if you don't have a fan function) and grease and/or line only the bottom of three 8 inch cake tins. I line the bottoms with baking paper cut into circles. Leave the sides ungreased.
Sift together the flour, cornstarch, cocoa powder, instant coffee powder and salt. Using a whisk, mix until well combined and set aside for now.
In a small bowl or cup, combine the oil and butter. Mix and set aside.
In a large bowl crack in the six whole eggs. To it add in the sugar and vanilla flavouring and using a whisk, mix until well combined. Place the bowl over a small pot of simmering water (make sure the bottom of the bowl isn't touching the water), and continuously mix until the mixture is warm to the touch and sugar granules are completely dissolved. To check if the mixture is done, either use your fingers to rub some of the mixture between your fingers, and if you can't feel any sugar granules and the mixture is warm then it's done. Alternatively, you can use a thermometer and when the mixture comes to 45°C it's ready.
Take the bowl off the heat immediately as you don't want to cook the eggs. Using a hand or stand mixer on a medium high speed, whip the egg mixture until it's tripled in volume and is thick enough to form ribbons when lifted with a spatula (see video demonstration). This may take anywhere from 5-10 minutes depending on the strength and speed of your mixer.
Once it's at the right consistency, turn the mixer down to the lowest speed and mix for a further 2 minutes. This will help stabilise the batter and get rid of any large air bubbles.
Next sift in half of the premixed dry ingredients and gently fold it into the egg mixture with a spatula until it's almost combined. Then sift in the remaining half of the dry ingredients and gently fold until it's just combined.
Next add in the oil/butter mixture and gently fold until it's just combined. The butter should be melted, so if it's solidified then reheat it again before pouring into the batter.
Distribute the batter evenly into the three cake tins. Run a toothpick through the batter to remove any large air bubbles (see video demonstration). Also drop the cake tins lightly on the counter top.
Bake for 20-22 minutes or until the tops are set. You should be able to create a small indent on the top of the cakes with your finger that slowly bounces back.
Once baked, drop the cakes from a height of about 10cm to release some of the steam, and allow the cakes to cool upside down for about 30 minutes. 30 minutes later, run a thin knife around the edges of the cake tins to help release the cakes and then turn them out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
Once they're cooled, gently brush off the thin layer of crust on the tops of your cake layers with your hands. This will allow the cake to soak up the syrup better later on in the recipe. You can use a serrated knife for this step too if the top isn't easily coming off.

Dark Chocolate

Using a potato peeler, grate the block of chocolate so you have little shards. You only need about 180g so if your block is larger than that, don't grate the whole block, only what you need :)
Place the shredded chocolate into the fridge until you need it.

Stabilized whipped cream

Before beginning, your mascarpone and whipped cream should be cold.
In a large bowl, combine the mascarpone, icing sugar and vanilla. Mix on a low speed for about 10 seconds, and then turn up the speed to a medium high and mix until well combined (about a minute). If using a stand mixer use the whisk attachment.
Add in the whipping cream and mix on a low speed for about 10 seconds (to allow everything to combine without the cream splattering), and then turn up the speed to a medium high and whip until you reach stiff peaks. Keep a careful eye on the mixture as you don't want to overwhip the cream.

Assembly

Place your first cake layer onto your cake stand/plate and using a pastry brush, soak it with a generous amount of the cherry juice. Use a 1/3 of the cherry syrup for each cake layer.
Place about 1/4 of the whipped cream into a piping bag with 1A large round tip (or just cut the end of a piping bag off if you don't have the right piping tip) and pipe a dam around the top edges of the cake layer.
Fill the middle with half of the cherry filling, evenly spreading it out. Cover with a layer of whipped cream and spread it out with an offset spatula so that it's level.
Place your next cake layer on top and repeat the steps. So soak with the cherry syrup, pipe a dam of whipped cream, fill the middle with the remaining cherry filling and spread out a layer of whipped cream on the top.
Place the last cake layer on top and soak with the remaining cherry syrup. Cover the tops and sides with whipped cream. Use your hands to cover the sides of the cake with the dark chocolate.
Place the remaining whipped cream into a piping bag with a 1M star tip, and pipe swirls around the top edges of the cake. Fill the centre with more shredded chocolate and top the whipped cream swirls with decorative cherries.
Allow the cake to set in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours (ideally overnight) to allow the flavours to develop. Trust me it is worth the wait so don't eat it too early! :)

Notes

Note 1. Traditional black forest cake uses a cherry brandy (Kirsch) in the cherry syrup/filling, however I have left this out. To make up for this, I have added almond essence/extract to the syrup and filling as it adds a nutty and more pungent flavour than just using the cherry juice alone.

Note 2. In this recipe I use an oven with the fan function turned on. The fan forced function cooks cakes faster, so if your oven doesn't have a fan option, then you will need to increase the baking temperature to 175°C (347°F) so that the cake bakes at the same rate as mine 🙂

Nutrition

Nutritional information are estimates only as they are automatically calculated by a third party application. Actual values may differ based on brands and types of products used.