Black forest cake
- Cuisine: German
- Prep Time: 45 min(s)
- Cook Time: 2 hr(s)
- Serves 16
This version of the classic Black forest cake by chef Martin Boetz makes your knees go weak. Martin uses a chocolate mousse recipe from Heston Blumenthal’s book In Search of Perfection (but any basic mousse recipe is fine) and likes to garnish the cake with fresh cherries that have been marinated in kirsch for one week.
It is preferable that you soak the cherries one week ahead.
Ingredients
Butter cake
300 g - butter
300 g - caster sugar
6 - eggs
300 g (2 cups) - plain flour
1 ½ tsp - baking powder
Chocolate cake
1 tsp - baking powder
250 g chocolate, chopped
180 g - butter
6 - eggs
250 g - caster sugar
225 g (1 ½ cups) - plain flour
Chocolate mousse
4 - egg yolks (combined weight of 80 g)
200 g - caster sugar
100 ml - full-cream milk
150 g - top-quality dark chocolate, chopped
generous pinch of salt
200 ml - whipping cream
Chocolate ganache
95 ml - whipping cream
1 tsp - glucose syrup
pinch of salt
95 g - top-quality dark chocolate, chopped
20 g - unsalted butter
Cherries
680 g - jar sour (morello) cherries
1 - vanilla bean, split
1 tbsp - sugar
To assemble
kirsch
whipped cream
shards of dark or milk chocolate
10 - whole fresh cherries (preferably soaked in kirsch for 1 week)
Preparation
Setting time: 3 hours
Butter another cake tin of the same size for the chocolate cake. Sift together the flour and baking powder. Melt the chocolate and butter together in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water then leave to cool. Beat the eggs and sugar together. Fold in the melted chocolate then the flour. Pour into the tin and bake for 1 hour. Leave to cool.
To make the chocolate mousse, beat the egg yolks with the sugar for 5 minutes or until stiff. Gently warm the milk in a saucepan then remove from the heat. Stir in the egg yolks and return to medium heat. Cook for 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.
Place the chocolate in a mixing bowl and pour over the warm milk and egg mixture, stirring until the chocolate has melted. Add the salt and leave to cool.
Whip the cream until soft peaks form then fold into the cooled chocolate mixture. Spoon into a piping bag and refrigerate to stiffen.
To make the chocolate ganache, gently heat the cream, glucose syrup and salt. Place the chocolate in a bowl and add the warm cream, stirring until the chocolate melts. Add the butter and stir until it melts.
Strain the cherry juice into a saucepan. Add the vanilla bean and sugar and simmer until reduced to a syrup.
Carefully cut each cake into three slices. Place a layer of butter cake on a flat plate and splash with a little kirsch. Pipe a rim of mousse around the top of the cake to form a wall to keep in the cherries. Fill with some cherries then top with a layer of chocolate cake. Spread with whipped cream. Repeat the layers but instead of topping the cake with cream, spread with ganache. Allow it to run down the sides of the cake. Sprinkle with chocolate shards (to resemble the bark of trees in a forest) and garnish with whole cherries. Leave the cake to set for 3–6 hours – in the refrigerator if necessary but take it out at least 1 hour before serving.
SBS cook’s notes
Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55–60 g, unless specified.
