Light and airy, fragrant and full-bodied, gorgeous and melting in your mouth - this is it all, Black Forest cake. But even such a description absolutely cannot convey how amazingly tasty this masterpiece of national German cuisine is. The name of the dessert may sound a little different, because the word schwarzwald in the Russian translation sounds like "black forest".
A fascinating history of the origin of the Black Forest cake
The Black Forest cake, which gained worldwide popularity in the second half of the last century, was known much earlier in Germany. The official version of its origin indicates that the author of the recipe was the gifted pastry chef Joseph Keller. In 1915, an experiment for the sake of a culinary specialist added cherry vodka and cherries to the classic combination of chocolate biscuit + whipped cream. As it turned out, such a culinary tandem was very successful and soon brought fame to the experimenter.
Germany is a country of fairy tales and sagas shrouded in mysticism, and even the origin of the dessert has a number of curious legends. The first is associated with the Black Forest. She tells that even in ancient times, the imagination of people was mesmerized by the impenetrable thickets of forests in this mountain range. The cake also became their metaphorical reflection: deep-dark with figured decorations made of chocolate or shavings, which so resembles the mysterious thickets of the forest.
The second legend says that the sweetness is dedicated to beauties from the local settlements, whose outfit consisted of brown dresses, white aprons and blouses, and their heads were crowned with hats with bright red balls.
Classics of the genre or original recipe
Prepared according to a clear guideline, the Black Forest cake promises to be delicious and as like as two drops of water to the original.
The classic cake consists of chocolate sponge cake, fluffy buttercream, berry filling, impregnation and chocolate decorations.
Chocolate biscuit
First of all, you need to preheat the oven to 180 °. While the oven is heating up, we are busy with the biscuit. For this we need:
- 6 eggs;
- 150 grams of sugar;
- 4 tablespoons of cocoa powder;
- 170 grams of flour;
- 2 teaspoons baking powder.
Add eggs and sugar to the mixer bowl, beat everything at maximum speed until the egg mass increases and stable peaks. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients: cocoa powder, flour and baking powder. Then we sift the dry ingredients into the egg mixture, which will help make the biscuit even more lush by enriching the flour with oxygen.
Mix the dough very carefully, with light movements from bottom to top. We take a baking dish, grease it a little with chilled butter and crush it with flour, making the so-called French shirt or simply line the bottom of the form with baking paper.
We distribute the dough according to the shape and put it in the oven for 30-35 minutes. We check the readiness of the baking with a wooden skewer.
Cherry filling
While the cake is baking, prepare the filling. You need to take a jar of canned pitted cherries, separate the liquid from the berries, and let the berries drain. If you are using frozen cherries, you must first defrost them, cover them with a few tablespoons of sugar and leave for half an hour until the juice comes out. If there is too little juice, then add 400 ml of water and boil everything together to form a cherry compote.
Another possible option, if canned cherries were not found, is to take separately frozen cherries and cherry juice.
Next, take compote or juice (about 200 ml), pour it into a small saucepan, add 3 tablespoons of potato or corn starch and 50 grams of granulated sugar.
Stir until smooth, heat, boil until thickened. The result should be a kind of viscous jelly. Remove from heat, put in cherries and leave to cool completely.
Butter cream
Place the whisk and bowl in the refrigerator in advance. The cream must also be refrigerated. Take 700 ml of cream with a fat content of 30% or more, 50 grams of powdered sugar and 3 sachets of thickener. Add all the ingredients to the mixer bowl and beat at a slow speed, gradually increasing it. The cream will be ready as soon as stable peaks begin to remain on the whisk cream.
At this point, you can add a few spoons of the original Kirschwasser, a German alcoholic beverage. A real Black Forest cake is sure to include this savory ingredient. You can replace it with cherry brandy, liqueur or tincture. But it is quite possible to do without alcohol. Also, having prepared the cream, you should immediately set aside 3 tablespoons of the cream for decoration.
Assembling the cake
We take the finished biscuit out of the mold and cut it into three parts. We take the first cake and soak it with cherry juice. As an impregnation, you can use sugar syrup (in a ratio of 50 grams of sugar per 100 milliliters of water) with the addition of an alcoholic drink Kirschwasser. If the cake should be absolutely alcohol-free, then we simply skip this step and do not add the alcoholic component.
We spread some of the filling and butter cream. We repeat the same steps with the following crust: impregnation, filling, whipped cream. We put the last cake on top and coat the surface of the cake with the remaining cream.
After completing the assembly, we send the dessert to the refrigerator for several hours so that it is thoroughly soaked and acquired a unity of taste. Now is the time to decorate the cake with a piping bag. We make roses of cream around the edges, and sprinkle the middle with dark chocolate shavings. In order to complete the appetizing picture, put a cherry on each rose.
Gourmet Black Forest cherry cake is ready. All that remains is to cut it into pieces and taste this handmade culinary masterpiece.
Black Forest cake with gelatin
Some adjustments can be made to the original recipe if necessary. So, if the cake is not planned to be served on the day of its preparation, it is worth using gelatin.
In this case, take a couple of gelatin sachets and 100 milliliters of water. Prepare gelatin according to the instructions on the package, dissolve it in hot water. Then we follow the instructions outlined above regarding the preparation of the cream, and at the end we add the prepared gelatin.
It should be noted that if gelatin is used, and not a thickener, then the amount of powdered sugar is increased to 100 grams. It is this simple subtlety that will allow the cream to be more stable, and the dessert will retain its shape for a longer time.
Conclusion
Black Forest Cherry Cake is a small journey and immersion in German culture, opening new boundaries of flavors and perfect combinations. Having tasted this dessert for the first time, you will irrevocably fall in love with German pastries, each time enjoying a great combination of aromas, flavors and consistency.
