Black Forest Cake

Well, um, no new design yet. I'm having some issues with Wordpress, the design, and the hosting company. I kinda wish I hadn't started all of this. It has given me a huge headache this week. I've realized I'm way in over my head. I just want to blog like normal again!

I was very stressed the other night over some issues, so I designed an owl header and it made me feel better.

I also added some new features and updated some stuff tonight, as I watched Jersey Housewives. Such drama! My, my. What will I watch now that it's over?

How about Top Chef Desserts? I might review or blog about the show every week. I'm not sure yet... I suppose it depends on how the show is. I hope it's good! It starts September 15th.



Also coming up in September...

I'm going to be taking a cake decorating class with my mom and sister, Kristin! It's a continuing education class and it meets once a week for about a month. I'm planning on taking pictures and showing you all what I learn.

I'm looking forward to the class because I need help with my cake decorating skills. I know I've mentioned before that I need help with my decorating. See examples above and below.

That's a delicious, moist, perfect cake, but it's kind of ugly.



I made a cake for my sister's (Rachel) birthday recently. It was my interpretation of Black Forest Cake. I wasn't going for traditional black forest cake, mind you, so it doesn't look like one. A classic black forest cake would be a layered chocolate cake with kirschwasser (a German cherry brandy) in the batter, and then the layers would be topped with cherries, whipped cream and chocolate shavings.



I baked a double-layer chocolate cake and placed a mixture of fresh cherries and sweetened cream cheese in the middle. I then frosted the cake with whipped chocolate ganache = best thing everrr. I forgot to mention I also used this in the cherry-cream cheese mixture:



Sweet cherry wine! This is delicious! It's cold and sweet and refreshing. We drank this when the power went out and had some leftover, so I added a big splash to the cherries. Mmmm.

I need some more of that right now. Glug glug glug.

Pairs perfectly with CAKE.


Black Forest Cake
Printable Recipe

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup oil
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup milk, warmed
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (Hershey's Dark), melted

Whipped Chocolate Ganache
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Cherry Cream Cheese Filling
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/3 cup sweet cherry wine (sub kirsch or POM juice if desired)
1 cup coarsely chopped cherries
4 ounces cream cheese, softened

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat 2 (9-inch) cake pans with cooking spray.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat butter, oil and sugar until creamy - about 2 minutes; beat in vanilla and eggs until combined - about 1 minute. Beat in sour cream until combined. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually beat in flour mixture alternating with milk until just combined. Beat in chocolate and and mix until ingredients are well incorporated - about 1-2 minutes.

Divide batter into cake pans. Bake 20-25 minutes or until well risen, slightly crackled on top and cakes pull away from the pan. Cool 12 minutes before running a knife around outside edges and inverting cakes onto wire racks to cool completely.

To make the Whipped Chocolate Ganache, bring cream to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Place chocolate chips in a large mixing bowl and pour hot cream on top; whisk until well combined and chips are melted. Cool completely in refrigerator. When well chilled, beat chocolate cream using a mixer on high speed, until stiff peaks form - about 5 minutes.

To make the Cherry Cream Cheese Filling, in a small saucepan, whisk together sugar, cornstarch and cherry wine until combined; whisk in cherries. Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat. Continue to cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until cherry mixture is thickened and bubbly. Cool completely in refrigerator. Beat cream cheese in a large mixing bowl using a mixer on medium speed, until creamy; stir in cherry mixture until well combined.

Spread Cherry Cream Cheese Filling onto bottom cake layer. Place additional cake layer on top. Spread Whipped Chocolate Ganache over sides and top of cake.

Makes 10 servings