Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte, or Black Forest Cake, is one of the most prominent German desserts. The Black Forest is a region in southwestern Germany that borders the Alsace region of France. The cake was first invented in 1915, by Josef Keller, a pastry chef who ran a tearoom in Bad Godesberg.
Layers of chocolate Genoise infused with kirsch-flavored syrup are filled with sour red cherries and whipped cream. I have found the Genoise one of the more difficult cakes to make because of the last-minute folding of melted butter into batter. On previous attempts, the butter has sunk to the bottom of the pan, creating a heavy, dense, unappetizing cake, rather than the light sponge cake it’s meant to be.
Recently, I discovered tips on two Asian pastry-chef websites that all but eliminate the pitfalls: one by Hanbit Cho; the other by Celia Lim. The tricks include using superfine sugar, heating the egg and sugar mixture sufficiently before beating, whipping at the correct speeds for a long enough period of time, keeping the melted butter at a correct temperature, incorporating some batter into the melted butter before folding, removing air bubbles, and shocking the batter to remove excess air.
Though I do not use their recipes, I do incorporate their techniques into my own version.
Although the cake requires several steps, three of them can be prepared a day or so ahead of serving the cake.
Making the Chocolate Curls
Slightly warm a semisweet chocolate bar, not letting it melt at all. (I do this on the Bread Proof setting on my oven.) If you don’t have such a setting, you could try warming the bar slightly in your hands. With a vegetable peeler shave curls across the long edge of the chocolate. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Making the Genoise
The cake can also be made a day ahead because it will be soaked in kirsch syrup. Just insert the cooled cake into a large tightly sealed plastic bag or place in a tightly covered cake stand or container.
Lightly butter only the sides of a 9-inch cake pan. Line the bottom and the sides with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350°.
Line the pan with parchment.
Sift the cake flour into the measuring cup, then level off the top with the back of a knife. Resift the cake flour and the cocoa. Whisk together the dry ingredients until well combined.
Lightly beat the eggs, the superfine sugar, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Superfine sugar is nearly impossible to find any longer. This can be remedied by running regular granulated sugar in a food processor for a minute or so.
Beat eggs, sugar, and vanilla.
Place the bowl over simmering water, stirring until a thermometer reaches 100° to 104°.
Heat the egg mixture over simmering water.
Immediately begin beating the egg mixture at high speed with the whip attachment. Continue beating for 10-12 minutes until the mixture is at least tripled in bulk.
Beat until tripled in volume.
The batter should create a slowly dissolving ribbon when the beater is lifted from the mixture. It should also be firm enough to allow an inserted toothpick to stand on end. Then lower the speed to medium and beat another minute or so. Finally, turn down the speed to low and beat another minute until a smooth creamy texture is obtained.
Beat on low speed until creamy.
Sift half the flour mixture over the egg mixture, and gently, but quickly, begin folding in the flour with a spatula. This should be done with a J motion, except that you turn over the spatula at the bottom curve of the J to blend.
Sift on dry ingredients.
When it is incorporated, sift on the remaining flour and fold quickly until it disappears into the egg mixture. Do not over mix, or you will deflate the egg mixture.
Fold in the dry ingredients.
While you are folding in the flour, heat the butter in a small saucepan until it is melted and reaches a temperature of 140°. Scoop about 1 cup of the batter into the butter and mix thoroughly. Then quickly, but gently, fold the butter mixture into the batter. Carefully scoop the batter into the cake pan. Stir the batter gently a couple times with chopstick or other similar implement.
Gently stir the batter in the pan.
Lift the pan 6 inches over the counter and drop the pan to shock the batter and remove any excess air.
Bake in the middle of of the oven for about 35 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean. Again, hold the baked cake 6-inches over the counter and drop it, shocking the cake once more to remove any final air. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes, and invert the cake onto the rack, peeling off the parchment paper.
The baked Genoise.
After 5 minutes, turn the cake right-side-up and allow to cool thoroughly.
Making the Syrup
This is another step you can do a day ahead. Just pour the syrup into a clean jar with a tight-fitting lid. Combine the sugar and cold water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring only until the sugar is dissolved. Continue boiling for 5 minutes. Let the syrup cool, then stir in the kirsch.
Making the Filling
A jar of cherries and bottle of kirsch.
The jar of Marco Polo cherries can be found at many food stores, as well as online. Drain the cherries in a sieve held over a medium saucepan. In the classic Black Forest Cake recipe, the cherries are simply drained, dried and placed between the cake layers. The juice for these jarred cherries is absolutely delicious, however, and it seems a shame to waste it. I’ve found other recipes that make this filling, but they all use far too much cornstarch, causing it it to be gluey and unpleasant. The trick is to use only enough starch to keep the cherries from running. In a small bowl dissolve the cornstarch with a few tablespoons of the cherry juice.
Dissolve cornstarch in cherry juice.
Stir the sugar into the juice in the saucepan and bring to a boil. Whisk in the cornstarch mixture and cook until the mixture is thickened and somewhat clear. Cool the mixture, then stir in the kirsch (cherry-flavored brandy), and finally the drained cherries.
Add cherries to thickened syrup.
Test a spoonful or so of filling on a plate, making certain that it doesn’t run. If it does you’ll need to reheat with a bit more cornstarch. If the filling to too pasty, you can add a little extra kirsch or water to thin it out.
Making the Topping
The whipped-cream icing needs to be stabilized so that it doesn’t begin to run and destroy your cake’s appearance. The most prevalent method for this is to incorporate a bit of dissolved gelatin in the cream. This is a slightly tricky process and tends to make a less fluffy whipped cream. I discovered another easier method, which uses instant vanilla pudding. Although I’m generally against using these processed ingredients, I tried using a small amount (less than that used in other recipes) and found that it barely affected the taste of the whipped cream, while holding it firmly in shape for days.
Sift together the confectioners’ sugar and the instant pudding. Pour the heavy cream into a chilled bowl and begin to beat with a chilled beater. When the cream just begins to develop soft peaks, add the vanilla and one half of the powdered sugar mixture. Beat a bit longer, then add the remaining sugar mixture. Beat until the cream has become thick. Chill until ready to frost the cake.
Assembling the Black Forest Cake
Cut the cake into three layers. I find using a cake cutter can give you neater and more evenly thick slices. I use the Wilton adjustable cake leveler. Here’s a video on how to adjust and use it. (It takes a bit more strength than the video displays.)
Slice the cake.
Brush each layer with the kirsch syrup.
Brush the layers with the kirsch syrup.
Place the top layer of the cake top-side-down on a serving plate, lined with small strips of waxed paper, which prevents your serving plate become a mess of whipped cream. Spoon a one-inch thick ring of cream around the perimeter of the slice. Spoon half the cherry filling in the middle of the ring created by the cream.
Spread cream and cherries on the layers.
Spread a bit more cream over the top of the cherries. Place the middle layer of the cake on top, and repeat the same procedure with more cream and the rest of the cherries. Place the final layer bottom-side-up on the top of the cake.
Spread the remainder of the cream on the top and sides of the cake, smoothing it out with a palette knife or spatula.
For the garnish, dry some maraschino cherries in paper towels. Place them decoratively on the top of the cake. Gently press the chilled chocolate curls onto the sides and top of the cake with cold fingers. Gently pull out the wax paper strips from under the cake.
The decorated Black Forest Cake.
Chill for three to four hours before serving the Black Forest Cake.
The sliced cake.
