German Cuisine

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All German Recipes

TV Show
Food Safari

Special Consideration
Chocolate
Baking

Food Category
Dessert
Cake

Key Ingredient
Cherry
Chocolate
Cream

Cuisine Category
German

Black forest cake

Cuisine: German Created by Martin Boetz

Martin Boetz, executive chef at Longrain, talks about German cuisine.

How has your heritage affected your cooking?

I grew up eating German food in Brisbane but I started cooking western food during my apprenticeship and I now specialise in Asian cuisine [at Longrain], so I don’t really cook German food these days. I still love eating smoked and cured meats and dill pickles and when I go back to Germany I eat lots of German food.

Why is this dish representative of German food/cuisine?

Germans love having coffee and cake. It is a ritual that they have it every day at around 3pm. Blackforest cake is one cake that if you go to a café it will always be on the menu. Obviously, there are heaps of German-Austrian cakes but this one is pretty much an all rounder in every café you go to. It does take a bit of skill to make one and they are delicious.

How closely will you be following the World Cup?

I am interested but not over-the-top interested. But, yes, I will be following any game Germany is in and will definitely be watching Germany playing Australia.

Is food or football more important to German people?

Well, you need food to play football so I’d say food comes first, but football will come a close second. Germans love talking about food. The next question is always ‘what are we having for dinner’.

If you could cook a meal for one of your nation's football heroes, past or present, who would it be and why?

My father, Wolfgang Boetz; he used to be a football trainer in Germany but he died when I was 23. He trained an A-League team in Giessen where we grew up and he was an excellent football player.

Ingredients

Butter Cake
300g butter
300g caster sugar
300g flour
6 eggs
1 ½ tsp baking powder

Chocolate Cake
250g chocolate
250g sugar
1 ½ cups flour
6 eggs
180g butter

Chocolate Mousse
4 egg yolks (80g)
200g unrefined caster sugar
100ml whole milk
150g top quality dark chocolate
Generous pinch of table salt
200ml whipping cream

Chocolate Ganache
95ml whipping cream
1 tsp glucose syrup
Pinch of table salt
95g top quality dark chocolate
20g unsalted butter

Cherries
1 jar of whole sour cherries (Morello)
1 vanilla bean
1 tbsp sugar

To Build Your Black Forest Cake
All of the above - ie. 2 x butter cake, 2 x chocolate cake, the chocolate mousse, cherries, cherry syrup and the chocolate ganache plus:
Freshly whipped cream
Shards of dark or milk chocolate (this is your ‘forest’)
10 whole fresh cherries that have been soaked in Kirsch for 1 week

View Conversion table

Preparation

Butter Cake
Cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs one by one and fold in flour and baking powder. Pour into a greased baking tin & bake at 180°C for 55 minutes.

Chocolate Cake
Melt chocolate and butter together, then beat the eggs and sugar together and fold the cool chocolate mix through. Sift the flour and fold into the chocolate mix.
Pour into a greased baking tin and bake at 180°C for 1 hour.

Chocolate Mousse
Beat the egg yolks with the sugar for 5 minutes, or until stiff. A food mixer with a paddle attachment can be used for this.

Gently warm the milk in a small pan. Remove it from the heat and stir in the beaten egg yolks. Return to a medium heat and cook for a further 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently. Use a digital probe to monitor when the temperature of the mixture reaches 80°C and remove from the heat.

Finely chop the chocolate and place it in a medium sized bowl. Pour the warm milk and the eggs over the chocolate and stir until the chocolate has melted. Add the salt and leave to cool.

Whip the cream until soft peaks form. Fold the cream into the cooled chocolate mixture.

Chocolate Ganache
(Martin uses the mousse recipe from the Heston Blumenthal book but any basic mousse recipe is fine to use.)
Gently heat the cream, glucose syrup and salt. Break the chocolate into a bowl then stir in the warm cream. When the chocolate has melted entirely, add the butter and stir until that too has melted. Spoon the mixture into a piping bag and place it in the fridge for at least an hour to stiffen.

Cherries
Drain a jar of whole sour cherries (morello cherries), keeping the juice in a saucepan. Add a vanilla bean and sugar and reduce to a syrup.

To Build Your Black Forest Cake
Start with a layer of butter cake (one half of the butter cake cut across the diameter)
Splash cake with Kirsch
Pipe a layer of mouse around the outside of the cake (you are building a wall to keep in the cherries)
Add the cherries within the confines of your ‘mousse wall’
A layer of chocolate cake
A layer of cream
Another layer of butter cake
Pipe on another layer of the Mousse Wall and then add cherries
Another layer of chocolate cake
Another splash of Kirsch
Then another layer of cream
Another layer of butter cake
Topped with another layer of mousse (but this time fill the mousse over all the cake – no wall and no cherries)
Final layer of chocolate cake
Pour ganache over the top
Add topping of chocolate shards and whole cherries (preferable fresh ones that have been soaked in kirsch for 1 week)

Let set and settle for 3-6 hours.

German Restaurants

Displaying 10 of 56 German Restaurants.

Restaurant		Suburb
1.	German Arms Hotel	Hahndorf
2.	Vienna Restaurant	Kambah
3.	De Bortoli Winery and Restaurant	Dixons Creek
4.	Eiger Swiss Restaurant	Petersham
5.	Hofbrauhaus	Melbourne
6.	Hahndorf Inn Hotel & Cellars	Hahndorf
7.	Harmonie German Club	Narrabundah
8.	Elmar's in the Valley	Henley Brook
9.	Lowenbrau Keller	The Rocks
10.	Duckstein Brewery	Henley Brook

14 Apr 2012 06:07 AEST

Somebody

China

Gabe

Gabe is a great person, you should get to know him!

05 Apr 2012 10:16 AEST

Bean

Campbell Town

Not Black Forest

I am German and this is the worst version of a black forest cake I have seen. It's not even close to the real thing! Very disappointing!

05 Apr 2012 09:53 AEST

Naomi

St Leonards

It does work

There are no hidden tricks nor special tips to this recipe. Good fresh ingredients and a good knowledge of cooking is your best bet. Have everything at room temperature before you use it. Cream your butter and sugar until the sugar is fully dissolved and use a light hand mixing in the flour. The mousse definitely works as does the ganache. Read my reviews from Jan/Feb 2010. I can vouch for how well it works and tastes. The glucose made fore a wonderful textured ganache. Learn to cook with love.

30 Mar 2012 08:48 AEST

conpanbear

Kingsbury

Worst ever

Worst cake I've ever made. The butter cake was nice, but the chocolate one was dry and dense. The mousse is too sweet and runny. I made this recipe despite reading the negative comments because I am extremely methodical, and thought that if I followed the recipe and video perfectly, I'd have a better outcome. No matter what, I think it is impossible to reproduce the cake as it is in the video. I think there are special tips and tricks that he omits so don't waste nice ingredients on this recipe.

24 Mar 2012 10:22 AEST

Jack

Melborune

EHHHHH!

Now, the cake looked awesome on the show. And knew it was a great idea for a birthday. Followed it to the letter, but found errors and issues. The "moose" wasn't moose like they had. Theirs was WAY thicker, you can't call it a custard either. I let mine sit for ages. When i piped it, it was runny and eh. ALSO, any ganache i've ever made didn't have glucose, it never set either. Sum up: Big let down Moose wasn't the right term or idea :( I wanted to eat this. It will taste good, but not look it

22 Mar 2012 02:30 AEST

Barry

Thornlie

What a flop

This recipe would have to be the worst I've tried to follow. I followed it to the letter, except the bit about the ganache in the piping bage etc. The cakes were heavy and dry, especially the chocolate. It was very expensive and would somebody tell me what you were supposed to do with the rendered down cherry juice? I'm afraid its going to be served up as trifle now, but only after a very liberal sloshing of sherry.

03 Mar 2012 09:51 AEST

Anastasia

Sydney

Very Dissapointing

I will never do this cake again. It turned out to be a bit dry. I believe the chocolate cake and the butter cake are simply wrong. They should be light, sponge cakes. The instructions were poorly written. The mousse receipe was the only good thing that came out of this. It was a waste of time and ingridients.

28 Dec 2011 07:44 AEST

Aditi

shah

very helpful

i think its well written , since i seen the video of same recipe therefore.. i would for sure like to try it.. and damn sure it will be yum.. Thank you, SBS food..!! :)

15 Sep 2011 10:16 AEST

cricket bat and ball

sydney

sports

I appreciate your blog and that?s why I share my views about Cricket. It is an ever green game and admired by all age group people who were cricket lovers at their time and have safely stored a huge and fantastic collection of Sports Equipment like cricket bat and ball .

21 Aug 2011 09:02 AEST

Gill

Sydney

Perfect - But it isn't yet eaten!

No sure why you are all having so many problems. This recipe worked perfectly from go to woe. My tips are add some baking powder to your chocolate sponge mixture. Buy the Lindt 70% dark chocolate from The essential ingredient and use proper pouring cream - not the thickened cream. Be exact in your measurements and definitely get the heat gauge for preparing your ganache. I'm yet to taste it - but so far so good.

26 Mar 2011 11:50 AEST

Bianca

Preston

euro spnge

To make this recipe work you need to know how to make a European sponge. I don't think there is enough emphasis put on the need to beat the eggs and sugar together in the chocolate cake recipe. This needs to be done for quite a while until the mix is pale thick and smooth. In a European sponge the only raising agent is the air trapped in the eggs, so it is essential to get this stage right or you will end up with a chocolate omelet! Beat well, fold carefully and it is a winner!

06 Mar 2011 10:31 AEST

Matt

Melb South East

Can't get that mousse right

I've made this one now once or twice, I've given up on the cake recipe, I use two packet cakes (yeah, I know!) and make four layers. The cakes are much easier to use and taste better than those in the recipe. They're also not so disaster prone as those in the recipe!!!! The mousse however is my biggest headache. I've never been able to get this right as it turns out to be far too runny. I've tried a few variations, but just can't seem to get it right. Has anyone got any other mousse ideas?

19 Dec 2010 10:13 AEST

Stephen

Melbourne

A few tips

Also before making this cake I cross referenced with the printed recipe in the Food Safari cookbook. The recipe is good as is, the ganache is actually fantastic. However, the recipe does not specify cake tins size; I used 20cm round cake tin. In doing so I had to leave it in the oven for 15mins longer, so I think using a 24cm tin would be better, also it ended up being too high. Just dont mix the mixtures too much (fold in ingredients). Also sprinkle an extra layer with kirsch. Hope this helps.

17 Nov 2010 10:07 AEST

Stephen

Melbourne

A bit of a shame...

When I first saw this recipe on TV I was determined to try it. However, the recipe has a few flaws. I found it strange that the order of ingredients is not chronological and, as mentioned in another post, the chocolate cake is needs a raising agent. Also half of the mousse recipe is under the ganache method - DO NOT put the ganache in a piping bag! Lastly, the cakes (one each ONLY, not X 2) must be cut into three laters, NOT in half. Uses choc bits for the ganache, hardly top quality couverture

21 Oct 2010 12:12 AEST

jane

canberra

watch the vidoe

i think the recipe is only a written approximation of the show and if you want to cook it well you should use it with the video from the show i think that fixes the flaws for me atleast

14 Oct 2010 03:47 AEST

Iris

Melbourne

Badly written recipe

After reading the recipe several times, I worked out there were many mistakes and we had to practically rewrite it. After making the cake, I concluded it was too high and the chocolate layers too dense (we note the recipe is probably missing a raising agent such as baking powder or maybe it was meant to be self-raising flour). The mouse and ganache were great but I think there are less complicated recipes. Overall not worth it - all look and not that great tasting!

10 Oct 2010 02:57 AEST

pauly

altona

sheeesh...

5 hours and counting, should have read your comments first i reckon. mousse is looking a bit thin too....

01 Oct 2010 09:48 AEST

Laura

Cambridge Gardens

someone can't count

I made this up on Thurs. Thought the 6 eggs per cake was a bit rich so I improvised & bake one vanilla & devil's cake mix. Mousse was good but would have bought a packet mix. Also improvised ganache. Splashed on heaps of kirsch anyway. Got too confident in building up the cake...... hang on...... where did the 2 extra layers come from. I am sure it said 4 on the 1st section????? Boy did it turn out to be a massive cake, about 6" high, imagine if I had the extra 2 layers....... LOL ;)

19 Sep 2010 09:44 AEST

Jemima

Toowoomba

A bit unimpressed

This looked amazing on the show, so I tried making it today. The cake turned out very very dry - I would recommend turning down the oven temp or cooking for shorter time. Overall, the cake was extremely time consuming and expensive, so I was disappointed that it didn't turn out very well. Also I think the recipe has the ganache and the mousse a bit mixed up? - it says to put the ganache in a piping bag and leave to set - I assumed this was meant for the mousse.

19 Sep 2010 02:36 AEST

Mike

Kallaroo WA

When is a Half, not a Half??

Recipe calls for cakes to be cut in half, then has them each used 3 times. Bit like loaves and fishes, me thinks.

07 Sep 2010 12:53 AEST

pop goes the weasle

poopbag

what?

dude that guy is so hot!!!!!!

07 Sep 2010 12:50 AEST

gentleman

somewhere

poop bag

this ''woman'' is a blonde idiot!

07 Sep 2010 12:46 AEST

gentleman

some where

why did you add dead grass at the end

25 Jul 2010 06:05 AEST

Matt

Canberra, ACT

Meh.

Got it all together after Googling for Heston Blumenthal's original 2006 piece on Black Forest cake. The mousse was a little problematic (Blumenthal's wasn't to be piped like this, but poured and chilled in a mould), but nothing an hour in the freezer couldn't fix. The cakes were dry; suggest 160oC rather than 180oC, or baking both at once. The ganache was thin. Overall, this wasn't really worth the effort. Will probably turn the remaining half a cake into trifle.

04 Jul 2010 12:15 AEST

Michelle

Toowoomba

just starting!!!

okay i was soooo excited to make this recipe for my sisters birthday and thought i would do a trial run of the mousse....what a bomb!!!! Its runny!!! This recipe has cost me a fortune so far, and now even more to fix it, thanks Chef!!!

13 Jun 2010 12:39 AEST

alternative recipe for ganache?

Ganache 150g milk chocolate 150g dark chocolate 84ml (1/3 cup) thickened cream (35 percent fat) Place chocolate and cream in a medium heavy-based saucepan over very low heat. Stir frequently, and remove from heat when chocolate has just melted and mixture is smooth. If necessary, allow the ganache to cool slightly at room temperature to obtain a spreadable consistency. personally i felt the ganache from the recipe(black forest) turned out too watery. this might be an alternative for the cake.

13 Jun 2010 12:39 AEST

alternative recipe for ganache?

13 Jun 2010 12:39 AEST

alternative recipe for ganache?

11 Jun 2010 06:03 AEST

recipe error.

Chocolate Ganache (Martin uses the mousse recipe from the Heston Blumenthal book but any basic mousse recipe is fine to use.) Gently heat the cream, glucose syrup and salt. Break the chocolate into a bowl then stir in the warm cream. When the chocolate has melted entirely, add the butter and stir until that too has melted. Spoon the mixture into a piping bag and place it in the fridge for at least an hour to stiffen. why would you put ganache into a piping bag??

31 May 2010 04:22 AEST

Peter McGifford

Manly

This is Not the right pesentation

to get a bette german cake,made the german way as I have a DVD showing correct way.this cake looks like a french imposter of the real masterpiece.Iam a cook ,But not a pastry chef.Howeve Having visited germanys black forest twice & some of its cafes and friends homes.the real one has cream aound the sides and on top.cherries on top should be morello not glace.chocolate curls or tree shapes On top,then the sides with choc shavings.If i want fech cakes i go to a french cake shop,Vienna is better .

15 May 2010 10:45 AEST

Michelle

Altona Meadows

Accomplishment!

After inspiration from Masterchef, I thought i would try bake a black forest cake for the in law's & husband's birthday. The recipe they presented didnt get much positive feedback so I thought I'd give this simpler recipe a go. Everything turned out perfect! The cakes weren't dry in the slightest (10inch pan - baked at 160 degrees fan forced). I couldn't be more proud. Next time I would use an 8-9 inch pan so the layers are thicker. Highly recommended if you follow to the recipe to the tee!

08 Feb 2010 05:15 AEST

Naomi

St Leonards, VIC

It was Brilliant!

I started making this cake on Saturday for my 40th - cakes, mousse & cherries. Finished it Sunday morning and the results - AMAZING! The cake looked just like Martin's. I used just under 10" springforms for the cakes. Yes, the cakes are a little dry but with all the fillings and some kirsch you end up with a spectacular cake that cuts easily, serves well and IS a religious experience to the diner. To all the nay-sayers I say TRY AGAIN! The recipe works and I served 13 adults with 1/4 cake over.

11 Jan 2010 10:53 AEST

Naomi

St Leonards, VIC

It works!

After reading all the negative comments I was a bit worried about making this for my birthday from the book I received at Christmas. Last night I made the mousse for a trial run and it worked a treat I used large eggs for the yolks and high quality Callebaut Dark Chocolate. For the cream I used double cream (Gippsland). It is set thick and creamy. German tortes are traditionally quite large so I will be using at least a 10 inch springform for the cakes. Stay tuned!

29 Dec 2009 11:34 AEST

Ruth

Cumberland Park

Lacks detail

We used SR flour in the cakes, but they were still very heavy and dry. The chocolate cake took ~90 min to cook, and the butter cake was swimming in melted butter leaked from the springform pan. We looked up the actual H Blumenthal mousse recipe, and were grateful - the missing ingredient is gelatine. We used 9inch tins for the cakes, and while they may have been thick enough for 3 layers, I went halves and just went with less layers. Good idea, but I would use different cake recipes next time.

27 Dec 2009 04:32 AEST

Riya

india

good

good receipies for the cake

07 Aug 2009 01:33 AEST

what a flop

what a flop the choc cake is incredibly dense and dry, the moose requires twice the amount of cream, the ganache needs half the cream and no glucose who ever desighned this recipie was not a chef! i am and when you just look at the ingredient proportiond they are all way out of wack. theidea is good but DO NOT follow the ingredients listed.i used a 9 inch cake pan which was too small the layers became too thick so i didnt use half of each cake or it would have been a foot high.

01 Jul 2009 11:46 AEST

ranai

nsw

ggg

gggabe, you sound stupid.. i/'m 12 to.

12 May 2009 11:12 AEST

dianne

oakleigh

i too had goo

Just used normal size cake pan because recipe didnt specify any other, what a costly disaster. Were the eggs and sugar for the chocolate cake supposed to be beaten until smooth or thick? Lift your game whoever is resposible for this recipe site

27 Mar 2009 10:49 AEST

Gerard

Hawthorn

Amazing

May not be authentic but tastes amazing and is extremely fabulous!

04 Mar 2009 02:35 AEST

Clay

Coburg

You sure?

Ay? No way! Looks like there's too many eggs.

03 Mar 2009 12:11 AEST

Carolin

Pottsville

Black Forest Cake - Not

I am from the Black Forest and must say that this is not an authentic recipe. It is rather a chocolate overkill compared to the real deal. Just because it has cherries in it doesn't make it a Black Forrest Cake. The real ones are much lighter and refined and most important also need a sprinkle of Cherry Brandy (Kirschwasser)!

24 Jan 2009 04:32 AEST

Audrey

perth

close but no cigar

i havnt yet eaten mine, only just put it in the fridge. But i know itll taste great, anything with that amount of chocolate would. The mousse didnt set and some of the instructions werent helpful, so it just looks like a massive mound of cream and chocolate...i dont know how im going to transport it, but it should be fun

11 Jan 2009 03:02 AEST

Rimian

Thirroul

A booboo

My friends and I had a great time cooking this. I had weird chocolate dreams that night. I think this recipe has a mistake. The Ganache and Mouse get a little mixed up. Don't up the Ganache into the piping bag. The mouse goes in there.

04 Jan 2009 08:12 AEST

Ilky

Glendale

What the..........

I made this cake on New Years Eve so that my gusets could celebrate 2008 in a hugh gastranomical way (that was some mother of a cake).The recipe did not indicate the size of the cake tins to use,hence the very tall cake with the mousse that was like a runny custard. I served this cake up at 11pm with lots of laughter and great compliments from all, they loved the flavour. 2008 a year of the unexpected.2009 perhaps a year of adjustment for this recipe and world events.

04 Jan 2009 07:57 AEST

Ilky

Glendale

What the..........

I made this cake

27 Dec 2008 02:01 AEST

Marilyn Fenton

Camden

Flavoursome

I made this cake for christmas and as i didnt have any kirsch i used cherry brandy. Flavour was delicious but i found the cake itself heavy. I used plain flour but i too wonder if self raising flour would have made the cake lighter.

26 Dec 2008 01:43 AEST

Elizabeth

Lenah Valley

Editing please

We made this cake with raspberries rather than cherries and substituted creme de cacao for kirsch: still tasted great. It's the mousse, not the ganache which needs to chill; definitely self raising flour and of course split the cakes in three layers each. Serves at least 12 (hungry teenagers); probably 16 normal humans.

23 Dec 2008 11:58 AEST

Pascale

Prospect

Piping bag

I would cool the mousse in the piping bag, not the ganache

20 Dec 2008 07:15 AEST

Roger

Belconne ACT

Self Raising Flour

The recipe specifies baking powder so it would be self raising flour. The cake looked stunning on television.

18 Dec 2008 07:59 AEST

Gabe

Mosman

Looking Goo!!!

Hi I'm Gabe, I'm 12 and I love my food and your show. I loved the look of the black forest cake and am on my way to making it! Hope you keep up the good work, Gabe.

18 Dec 2008 01:47 AEST

Elizabeth

Lenah Valley, Hobart

How many layers?

Having cooked two cakes and split each into two, the instructions then call for three layers of chocolate cake and three of butter cake.

18 Dec 2008 12:08 AEST

john

brisbane

flavour

Amazing!

17 Dec 2008 08:28 AEST

Matt

Riverstone, NSW

Great recipe

This recipe looks great, however my main problem is I'm not sure if the cakes require plain flour or self raising flour. Perhaps that could have been pointed out.

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