I remember the first time I heard the name of this cake, my head filled with images of dilapidated chalets tucked in the darkest recesses of a forest lined with burnt, hollowed-out trees with branches mimicking witches fingers and a silence so stifling, nothing grew.
Dramatic much?
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| Oops! Got a little messy while I was trying to plate it. |
Um, yes! However, back when I learned that the cake contained a cherry filling, I was instantly turned off. Still, to this day, the name itself conjures up similar images now that I'm an adult, but with less fear and wonder.
I used to be a very picky eater. When I was little, I wouldn't eat my meals if the various items on my plate touched and for some sick reason I always put brown sugar on stuff - soup, rice, you name it. Gross, I know. It's a wonder I never had a cavity and I managed to stay tiny for so long (not so much anymore, though - those days have caught up with my hips...).
I don't have many culinary aversions, but if I had to choose one from my top five, cooked/processed/canned fruit makes the list and could quite possibly be at the very top. What sick mind decided it was okay to take perfectly picked, fresh fruit and process and package them beyond recognition? In my world, fruits are meant to be eaten as is.
So when I looked at week 9 in the course syllabus and saw Black Forest cake, I made my mind up to skip that class. Instead, I reluctantly showed up for class and decided to save my absence for a time when I really needed to be away. While scaling the ingredients, I noticed Chef unpacking chocolate - Callebaut bars and vermicelli. My mouth watered and mood perked up and I turned my attention back to scaling. Then I got to ingredient #6 and felt a little queasy. Cherries don't belong in a jar suspended in what looks like red snot. They just don't!
Maraschino cherries are the worst offenders of processed fruit, in my opinion. Just read the FDA's definition of the artificial process used to create them - "The term "Maraschino Cherries" is regarded as the common or usual name of an article consisting of cherries which have been dyed red, impregnated with sugar and packed in a sugar sirup flavored with oil of bitter almonds or a similar flavor."
They don't even refer to them as food, but 'an article'!! Need I say more? They are pretty to look at though, I must say. Like little jewels. But we don't eat jewels, do we...
It's unfortunate, because I love cherries - you know the kind you pick, fill a basket with, sit out in the sun and enjoy. I love fruits, I grew up with a number of them hanging off trees in my backyard. I guess that's why it is so difficult for me to appreciate them any other way, but fresh.
In the end, I really enjoyed this cake - sans cherries. I scraped away the cherry filling and passed the little jewels that adorned the top, over to K (surprisingly, he likes them). With the wanna-be fruits out of the way, I had a good share of the chocolate cake and whipped cream frosting. There is always a work-around my friends. You should know by now that there is just no way this fiend would pass up a chance at good chocolate. It was indeed 'the cherry' atop this cake!
Happy Hump Day!
Servings: 12
Ingredients
Devil’s Food Cake
- 235 grams sugar
- 80 grams butter at room temp
- 2.5 grams salt
- 160 grams water
- 3 grams vanilla
- 160 grams pastry flour
- 45 grams cocoa powder
- 20 grams whole milk powder
- 5 grams baking powder
- 2.5 grams baking soda
- 2.5 whole eggs
Filling and Frosting
- 500 grams cherry pie filling or sour cherries
- 500 grams whipping cream 35%
- 32 grams icing sugar
- 250 grams chocolate shavings
- 8 maraschino cherries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 380ºF.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer using the paddle attachment, cream together butter, sugar and salt. Scrape the bowl.
- Sift together the pastry flour, cocoa powder, milk powder, baking powder and baking soda. Add to butter mixture.
- Add water and continue to mix on medium speed for about 5 minutes. Scrape sides.
- Turn mixer to low and gradually add the eggs one at a time until blended, about 1 minute. Scrape the bowl. Do not over mix after eggs are added.
- Scale the batter into two 9” or three 7” greased and floured baking pans.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes.
- To make the filling: whip the 35% cream, adding the icing sugar until firm peaks are achieved. Set aside.
- To assemble the cake: Cut cakes into three layers. Place the the first layer on cake board and soak with Kirsch or simple syrup, if desired. Use an angled spatula to spread a thin layer of cream on the cake. Using a #5 star tip, pipe a rim of cream around the edge of the cake layer. Fill the center with cherry filling. Place a small amount of cream on the cherry filling and place another layer of cake on top. Repeat steps 5-8 for the next layer. Place the final layer on top and mask the entire cake with whipped cream. To finish the cake, you may use a pastry comb to decorate the sides, or smooth the sides and decorate with chocolate shavings or vermicelli. Pipe rosettes around the top edge of the cake using the whip cream and fill the center with chocolate shavings.
Tried this recipe?Mention @isugarcoatit or tag #isugarcoatit !
frost says
this looks perfect! *drools*
Radhika says
Love Black forests! Love the look of your cake 🙂
R
G Pavao says
Cake looks delicious and I love that cake stand.
Paula Kelly-Bourque says
It is a pretty cake and I must admit, I like the cherries! So...you were a picky eater too! I still am, not as bad as I was but still too picky for most people.
I Sugar Coat It! says
Hahaa. I am not as picky an eater anymore, but I have serious qualms about who and how my food is prepared.
I Sugar Coat It! says
Thanks! Good to see you here!!
I Sugar Coat It! says
Thx!
I Sugar Coat It! says
🙂
Vilma Strangis-Short says
Mmmm...looks delish as usual! I think I want to make this for our Christmats dessert. 🙂
Regina @SpecialtyCakeCreations says
Oh yum! I love Black Forest Cake, now. As child it was the loads of whipping cream that turned my off this cake. Somehow I told myself whipped cream causes me headaches and sure enough, I believed it so much that every time I had any, a headache actually would set in.
Now my hips can also tell a tale of how I came to like whipped cream and butter cream and other stuff that likes to hang around. But not maraschino cherry. They go to my K who has a sickly liking for them
😉
I Sugar Coat It! says
LOL!! My hips are well acquainted with all things butter and chocolate related. 😉