Black Forest Cake
Serves 8 slices Time 3 hours Difficulty 4/5 Ingredients 20 Steps 21
Black Forest Cake, sometimes called by the French gateau, gateaux or gâteau (meaning "cake"), is a chocolate cake with a strong cherry element. The recipe originates from Germany, where it is called Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte.
Ingredients
Cake
- 4 oz (100 g) butter
- 8 oz (225 g) brown sugar
- 4 oz (100 g) plain chocolate
- 7 oz (200 g) self-raising flour
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ pint sour cream
- 3 tablespoons strong cold black coffee
- 2 eggs
- 1 pinch of salt
Pastry base
- 4 oz (100 g) cream flour
- 1 pinch of salt
- 2 oz (50 g) icing sugar
- 2 oz (50 g) Irish butter
- 1 egg yolk
- a few drops of vanilla essence
Misc.
- 1 pint cream
- 1 tin (1 lb) black cherries
- 4 tablespoons black cherry jam
- brandy or cherry juice
- 4 oz (100 g) grated chocolate
Steps
Cake
- Cream the butter and sugar together well.
- Melt the chocolate. Beat into the creamed mixture. Beat in the eggs.
- Sift the flour, salt and cinnamon together.
- Fold the dry mix into the liquids. Fold in the sour cream and cold coffee.
- Pour into a lined and greased 9-inch round, deep cake tin. Bake 1 hour 25 minutes.
- Cool on a wire rack.
Pastry base
- Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Bind until the mixture stiffens.
- Roll out on a floured board to about the size of the base of the cake tin.
- Lay on a baking sheet. Bake at 350°F, 20–25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Whip the cream until it holds its shape.
- Put some whipped cream in a piping bag with a star tip. Reserve for decoration.
- Slice the cake horizontally into 3 equal layers.
- Drain the cherries. Reserve 8 for decoration. Remove the stones from the rest.
- Put the pastry on a serving plate. Spread with black cherry jam.
- Soak the cake layers with brandy or cherry juice.
- Place one cake layer on the pastry.
- Spread a layer of cream. Top with half the stoned cherries.
- Add the second cake layer, then cream and cherries.
- Top with the final cake layer.
- Cover the whole cake with the remaining cream. Press on the grated chocolate.
- Decorate the top with piped cream rosettes and the reserved whole black cherries.
Notes from the original
- Using 3 identical cake pans instead of 1 large one is acceptable.
- Margarine, vegetable oil or regular butter will substitute for Irish butter.
- In some countries (e.g. Austria and Australia) the brandy is often replaced by rum, in Germany itself it is almost always replaced by Kirschwasser.
- Cakes usually work at between 325°F and 400°F (160°C and 205°C). Pastries usually work at between 350°F and 425°F (175°C and 220°C).
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Black Forest Cake” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2025-09-03, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo. Black Forest gateau.jpg by Mikelo, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia. Resized; otherwise unchanged.