Baking Time: 30 minutes
Decoration Time: 10 minutes
Serves: One 8 inch Cake
Love black forest cake but too afraid to make it at home since it presumably takes a lot of time and effort? Do not fear! This 60 minutes recipe is here! First let us break down a black forest cake- it’s a chocolate cake, with tons of whipped cream, chopped cherries and chocolate shavings. Yes, that is it! So, if you know how to bake a chocolate cake, you are all set. Surprise your family and friends with this beautiful black forest cake!
INGREDIENTS:
For the Chocolate Cake:
1.2 cups of flour
2.5 tbsp cocoa powder
3.1 tsp baking powder
4.100 g butter, softened
5.1 cup of sugar
6.2 eggs (For vegetarians: 1 can of condensed milk)
7.1 tsp vanilla essence
For Decoration:
1.200 g fresh cream (I used Amul Fresh Cream but I would advise you to use heavy cream, if available)
2.Icing sugar (You need about 6 tbsp but adjust as per you sweetness capacity!)
3.½ cup grated chocolate
4.1 tin of canned cherries (About 200g cherries- you may also use the local candied cherry variety)
5.5-6 tbsp water
METHOD:
For the cake:
1.Preheat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius.
2.In a bowl sieve flour, cocoa powder and baking powder. Mix well and keep aside.
3.In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add in the eggs or condensed milk and vanilla essence and combine well.
4.Add the flour mixture slowly, into the egg mixture and mix well using a hand blender. (Add milk if the mixture is too sticky)
5.Bake it in the oven for 35-40 minutes or until the skewer or fork comes out clean.
6.Your chocolate cake is ready. Let the cake cool completely before decorating it.
For Decoration:
1.In a large bowl add the cream. Add 5 tbsp of icing sugar. Using an electric beater, whip for 7-8 minutes or until hard peaks appear. Place the bowl in the fridge until the cake is cooled enough to be decorated.
2.In a small bowl add water and 2 tsp of sugar and mix well until the sugar is completely dissolved.
For Assembling:
1.Once the cake has cooled completely, place it on a cake stand or plate with its face or surface touching the plate. (Simply turn the cake upside down on the plate)
2.Taking a knife gently cut the cake into two halves.
3.Keep aside the half with the face portion.
4.First, spread half of the sugar syrup evenly over the bottom half of the cake. This is to ensure the cake is moist.
5.Next, take a spatula and cover the surface of the cake evenly with whipped cream.
6.Spread half of the grated chocolate shavings over the whipped cream.
7.Add half of the cherries over the layer of chocolate.
8.Now take the remaining portion of the cake (face portion) and sandwich it gently with the bottom half.
9.Now repeat the above steps for the upper portion- drizzle sugar syrup, spread whipped cream. Decorate with chocolate shavings and cherries.
10.Take some whipped cream and evenly coat the edges of the cake.
11.Put it in the refrigerator and let it set for 4-5 hours.
12.Take it out of the refrigerator- Black Forest cake is ready!
TIPS:
1.To further shorten the time from an hour, simply use ready-made, packaged chocolate cake mixture.
2.In case of the sugar syrup, dissolve the sugar in rum or any juice (preferably cherry or strawberry or orange) instead of water if you want.
3.To reduce too much effort, make the cake a day in advance and assemble it the day after. However, you must keep the decorated cake in the fridge for at least 4 hours for the cream to set.
Recipe by: Sukanya Saha