I love a good old EASY recipe! Especially black forest cake, which seems to be one of the most popular and sought after cakes that everyone seems to – dread making. This recipe is by far one of the easiest black forest cake recipes that will have you jumping for joy and eating it in no-time.
Black forest cake is a German cake with several layers of chocolate sponge cake sandwiched between whipped cream and cherries. To make an ORIGINAL German black forest cake the cake must include “Kirsh: cherry liqueur. To be honest, you can use any one of your favorite cherry liqueurs or one that you have sitting in the pantry and you will achieve the same effect. If you have rum in your pantry instead, you can use that too! The Austrian’s use rum in their black forest cakes instead. Whatever it is that you use, this cake will without a doubt turn out delicious!
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The Easiest Black Forest Cake
Ingredients:
Chocolate Cake Layers:
9 large eggs
½ cup sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
½ cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)
¼ cup softened unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
Cherry Syrup
1 lb of pitted and roughly chopped cherries
3 tbsp of cherry brandy of your choice
¼ cup of water
To Decorate:
10 whole cherries
3 oz of dark chocolate
Cherry Liqueur Cake Frosting:
3 ½ cups of heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup of powdered sugar
1 tbp cherry liqueur
Directions:
To Make Chocolate Cake Layers:
1. In a mixing bowl using an electric mixer, beat eggs on high. Slowly add in sugar all while continuously mixing until light and fluffy.
2. In a separate mixing bowl, mix together flour and cocoa powder. Using a spatula, fold into egg mixture until well incorporated.
2. Next, fold in vanilla and softened butter until well incorporated. Divide between two 9” pans and bake in a preheated oven at 350F for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
3. For best results, once your cake layers are done baking and cooled on a wire rack, place them in the fridge until you are ready to assemble your cake.
To Make Cherry Syrup:
1. Place pitted and chopped up cherries in a mixing bowl with 3 tbsp of cherry brandy. Let cherries sit in brandy for about half hour, and then separate the cherries from the syrup by draining the cherries over a bowl. Set both mixtures aside.
2. Add ¼ cup of water to cherry syrup and set aside.
To Make Cake Frosting:
1. In a mixing bowl, beat whipping cream on high speed using an electric mixer until peaks form. Slowly add in powdered sugar and cherry liqueur and keep mixing until well incorporated. For best results, put cake frosting in fridge and keep cool at all times until you are ready to assemble your cake.
Cake Assembly:
1. Using a long knife, slice cake layers in half in order to make 4 cake layers. Place first layer on a serving plate or cake stand, and cover with ¼ cup of cherry syrup. Then, cover with approximately ¾ cup of frosting and sprinkle on chopped cherries. Repeat with all layers. Using the remaining frosting to frost the sides of the cake.
2. Using a vegetable peeler, shave chocolate in order to make chocolate shavings. Cover the sides and the top with shaved chocolate and decorate top with whole cherries.