Black Forest Cake

Last weekend was a friend’s birthday. Naturally, I had to make a cake. After considering many different options, from adding cherries to German chocolate to a s’mores cake to a margarita cake, I settled on a black forest cake. I had never made one before. In fact, I don’t believe I had even had one before. But, it sounded delicious and like something he would love.

Now, when I chose this particular cake, I did realize that I would be frosting it with whipped cream. However, I did not fully consider what this would mean for transportation. I was going to AirBnB on Higgins Lake, about three hours from Ann Arbor, for his birthday. The cake needed to survive the trip. After frosting it, the panic began to set in. It really needed refrigeration in order to stop the whipped cream from melting. A hot car would absolutely destroy it. My first thought was to use a cooler. It could plug into the car and cool down, sort of like a portable refrigerator. However, the cake would not fit. Then, I considered setting the cake by my feet and blasting the air conditioning downward, hopefully keeping it relatively cool (while also freezing my feet). Finally, when I brought up the problem to a friend, he suggested laying the cooler on its side. Since there was no ice in there, leakage would not be a problem, so it could be done. Sure enough, it worked! The cake fit perfectly! I guess engineers can come in handy sometimes. That cooler turned out to be a life saver! The cake survived the trip just fine and when we arrived, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Plus, now I have a great transportation strategy for future cakes! 🙂

Now on to the actually baking of the cake…

First, I thoroughly buttered and floured two 9″ cake pans.

In the bowl of my KitchenAid, I beat together the milk, eggs, oil, and vanilla. The recipe actually called for whole milk and canola oil, but I substituted 1% milk and vegetable oil, hoping it would be just fine.

In a large bowl, I whisked together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Then, I added the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, about a cup at a time. Each time, I mixed it on the “stir” setting just until the flour mixture was mostly incorporated.

I poured this into my two prepared pans, trying to make it as even as possible.

They took 30 minutes to bake, at which point a toothpick came out clean.

I let them cool for 10 minutes before removing them from the pans.

They came out very easily… what a relief! This is always the point in baking a cake when I can relax a little, knowing I didn’t completely screw it up.

Then, it was time to make the cherry filling. I began by separating out the cherries from their juices.

Then, I mixed up the sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan.

I whisked in 1/2 cup of the cherry juice.

Then, I added the cherries.

I began cooking this mixture over low heat. The recipe claimed that it should be thick and bubbling in about 10-12 minutes. This did not happen. It did nothing in that time. So, I increased the heat to medium-low and gave it another 10 minutes. Still nothing. I increased it to medium and in about 10 minutes it was thick and bubbling. Finally!

I removed it from the heat before adding the brandy. Ideally, this should have been kirsch or cherry brandy, but I just used the brandy I had on hand. Since the cherry mixture was still rather hot, I got some serious alcohol vapor when mixing it in!

I also prepared a simple syrup mixture while waiting for the filling and cakes to cool. I simply microwaved a cup of water for about a minute, then added a cup of sugar and stirred to dissolve the sugar. I let this cool as well. (In the end, I only used a small amount of the mixture, so I have reduced the amounts in the recipe below.)

After a couple hours, both the cakes and the cherry filling were cooled down. So, I turned to the whipped cream. I whipped the cream until it had thickened just a bit.

Then, I added the powdered sugar and whipped it until it held stiff peaks.

Finally, it was time for assembly! So, I was sure that I had taken photos of this process, but they are nowhere to be found. I’m not sure if this is a technology or a memory failure, but I apologize for the lack of assembly photos.

I actually sliced each cake in half to form four layers, trying to get them as even as possible. I had never done this before, so I was a little worried about messing up. It seemed to go alright.

I placed a small dollop of whipped cream on my cake base to anchor my first layer and placed some pieces of wax paper around it. That way I wouldn’t end up with a mess in the end. I placed my first layer on the base and brushed it with simple syrup. The simple syrup can help to bind the filling to the cake, while also helping to keep the cake moist. Then, I spread a generous amount of whipped cream and topped it with a good amount of the cherry filling. I placed the next layer on top. (I did not brush the bottom of the next layer with simple syrup, as I thought the cherry filling would act in the same way.) I repeated this process with the rest of the layers. Finally, I frosted the outside with the whipped cream.

I topped it with a bit of the remaining cherry filling.

The next day, I brought the cake up to Higgins Lake. After some creative thinking and three hours of cake transportation anxiety, I finally placed it in the refrigerator at the AirBnB. That night, we sliced into it.

Overall, it was delicious! I will say that the cake layers themselves were not as moist as I would have liked. However, the overall effect with the cherry filling and whipped cream was wonderful. In the future, maybe I’ll try to improve on the cake itself. Actually tweaking this recipe could be a good way to apply some of the knowledge from the baking science class that I am currently taking! I have already learned some things that could help, and I’m sure I’ll learn much more. I’m certainly very excited to finally understand how to work with the ingredients and tweak recipes to obtain different results! Finally, I’ll really understand what the different ingredients do and how they work. Or at least I hope I will. And I hope that it will result in some amazing cakes and other baked goods to come! 🙂

 

(Adapted from Taste of Home)

Ingredients

Cake

• 1 cup milk (I used 1%, but original recipe used whole)
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup oil (I used vegetable, but original recipe used canola)
• 3 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 10.6 oz (2 cups + 2 tablespoons) all-purpose flour
• 14 oz (2 cups) granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup baking cocoa
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt

Cherry Filling

• 2 cans (14.5 oz each) pitted tart cherries
• 7 oz (1 cup) granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 3 tablespoons brandy (ideally kirsch or cherry brandy)

Simple syrup

• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar

Whipped Cream

• 3 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Butter and flour two 9″ round cake pans.
3. In large bowl, beat milk, eggs, oil, and vanilla.
4. In separate large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
5. Gradually add flour mixture to milk mixture, stirring until just combined.
6. Pour batter into prepared pans, distributing evenly between the two pans.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
8. Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes in pans before turning out onto wire rack to cool completely.
9. Meanwhile, drain cherries and reserve 1/2 cup of cherry juice.
10. In saucepan, mix sugar and cornstarch for cherry filling. Whisk in cherry juice. Mix in cherries.
11. Cook over medium-low heat until thickened and bubbling.
12. Remove from heat and stir in brandy. Allow to cool completely.
13. Meanwhile, prepare simple syrup. Briefly microwave water until warm. Stir in sugar until dissolved. Allow to cool completely.
14. In large bowl, beat whipping cream until thickened slightly. Add confectioners’ sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks form.
15. Slice each cake in half horizontally to form a total of four layers.
16. Place a dollop of whipped cream on serving plate, surrounded by pieces of wax paper.
17. Place first cake layer on serving plate. Brush with simple syrup. Top with a generous amount of whipped cream, then cherry filling.
18. Place next layer on top of cherry filling and repeat process until final layer has been placed.
19. Frost outside of cake with whipped cream. Top with remaining cherry filling, if desired.
20. Refrigerate until ready to serve.