Black Forrest Cake Recipe
The advent calendar going up kicks off the official countdown to Christmas in our home. It’s a lovely hand-made calendar, stuffed with lollies and nativity figurines in the pockets, providing a great source of post-dinner joy for the kids. With each passing day it grows lighter as the little wooden stable nearby fills up with characters (all standing by for the arrival of baby Jesus) and my 4-year-old knows that Christmas is one step closer! December is such a busy time of year for everybody. We’ve just flown in to Melbourne today, all ready for a meet-and-greet at Myer department store in the city tomorrow where (spoiler alert) they will be unveiling a GIANT replica of one of my gingerbread houses! Amazing, how did this happen?! But the best bit of these sort of events is of course meeting and chatting with all the people. It’s actually a bit surreal meeting people face-to-face who I’ve been talking with in the comments on YouTube and here on my website. You’re all so beautiful and encouraging and I really can’t say a big enough thank you for all of your support.
For the black forrest cake recipe you will need
Rich Chocolate Cake Recipe (makes 3 x 8” round)
300g (10.58 ounces) of 70% cocoa dark chocolate
475g (16.76 ounces) or 2 cups plus 2 Tbsp and 2 tsp margarine
12 eggs
3 1/4 cups plus 2 tsp or 729g (25.71 ounces) caster (super fine) sugar
300g (10.58 ounces) or 1 3/4 cups plus 2 Tbsp plain (all purpose) flour
45g (1.59 ounces) or 1/3 cup plus 2 tsp cocoa powder
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
Place chocolate and margarine into a bowl.
Melt in the microwave (30seconds, stir, 30sec, stir…).
Whisk the eggs and sugar together
Combine egg and chocolate mixtures
Sift flour, cocoa powder and baking powder together and mix into cake mixture until well blended.
Pour into three 20cm (7.87 inches) round cake tins
Bake at 180C (356 degrees Fahrenheit)
If the cake is looking done on top but is not yet cooked through put an empty baking tray on the shelf above it in the oven. Insert a knife into the centre to check if it is done, if it is ready it will come out clean.
Syrup
½ cup or 125millilitres (4.23 fluid ounces) water
1/3 cup or 73g (2.57 ounces) sugar
3 Tbsp kirsch or cherry brandy (optional)
Cherry compote
1 can cherries, drain and reserve juice
2/3 cup or 167g (5.89 ounces) cherry juice from above
2 Tbsp kirsch (optional)
1 Tbsp cornstarch (cornflour)
Heat juice and cornstarch until thickens. Mix in kirsch and cherries. Cool
Chocolate tree decorations
200g (7.05 ounces) Compound dark chocolate or tempered real chocolate
Pipe trees onto non-stick baking paper
Cream
600millilitres (20.29 fluid ounces) cream
2 Tbsp (powdered) icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
Whip cream with vanilla and a little icing sugar
Assemble cake using directions in the video.
by Ann Reardon Copyright 2015 How To Cook That
My Cookbook
Stores that sell my book listed by country: http://bit.ly/ARcookbook All recipe quantities in the book are in grams, ounces and cups.
Dear Ann – You forgot to tell us how long to bake them for! It is not written down, nor is it stated in the video. Please help!
I pre-heated my fan-forced oven to 190C, then turned it down to 180C when I put the cakes in. I baked them for 50mins, and I made sure to turn them and swap them around in the oven to help them bake more evenly. Even then two of the cakes took a few more mins (up to 10mins more). Hope this is helpful info!
Any way to cook it without an oven? I want to make this for my mom as a birthday gift, but our oven if non-functional. (I mean, it’s possible I could use it, but it would take some cleaning. We do have a toaster oven and a microwave. If I were making the cake smaller would it be possible to use something other than an oven?
My son (Elliot) and I really enjoyed making this cake for my wife and daughters birthday. It was delicious.
Thank you Anne, we really enjoy watching your videos.
David & Elliot
hay i just watched this viid and wanna make it for my own Bday
but Corona so can’t have many people over
so if I wanna make it for 6-5 people as cupcakes I would 3rd the recipe right?
so that would be
100g 70% cocoa dark chocolate
156g margarine
4 eggs
240g caster (super fine) sugar
100g plain (all purpose) flour
14g cocoa powder
1/3 tsp baking powder
and so on
thanks for the help 🙂
Hi Ann, I’d like to follow this recipe using three 9″ rounds, how should I adjust?
Hello Ann! If I wanted to bake this in two 9″ cake pans instead of three 8″ pans, how much should I reduce the sponge recipe by? Would 3/4 be enough? Thanks!
Hi Wade, Assuming both tins are 1.6″ deep. Three 8″ pans have a volume of 3 x 80 inches squared which is 270. Two 9″ pans have a volume of 2 x 102 inches squared which is 204. If we divide 204 by 270 and times by 100 it tells us that it is almost exactly 75%. So yes 3/4 would be perfect. ?
Hi Ann!
Thank you for this recipe and the excellent tutorial. I made my first black Forest cake today. It is a very popular cake in India, my home country and I miss eating it here in Australia. It is also my husband’s favourite cake. I’m so grateful for your blog. Here is a photo for you.
Yummy, looks amazing Ketaki ?
Hi Ann! I want to make this cake for my husband’s birthday next week. While I know how to bake the cake, I want to decorate it with a chocolate mirror glaze topped with some gold leaf. Would you please tell me how to go about it? Would the following work- frost the cake with whipped cream>> chill in the refrigerator for a day>> Pour chocolate mirror glaze ?
Really appreciate your help!!