Big Cake!
Black Forest Gâteau
(Schwarzwälderkirschtorte)
Ingredients:
a). Cake:
150g butter
150g caster sugar
125g of self-raising flour plus 25g cocoa powder
3 eggs
b). Black Forest-Type Goodies:
375ml double cream (whipping cream)
1 tin of cherries (should be Morello cherries, I used black cherries)
Kirsch (a bit)
25g plain chocolate
0g Black Forests
First you make the cake. Like this. Mix the butter and sugar in a bowl (helps if butter is not cold). Add the eggs and mix. Put in the flour a bit at a time and mix. Next add the chocolate powder. Mix! (You guessed it). Now you have a cake mix. Jolly good. Spoon it into a greased circular cake tin. The kind with the removable bottom is very convenient. Cook in pre-heated oven at 180°C until you can insert a sharp knife into the cake without it coming out with any cake mixture on it, i.e. until it is cooked. Trala, now you have your cake. Get it out of the tin and let it cool on a wire rack (if you can wait!)
Next thing is to whip the cream. Make sure it is cream suitable for whipping, otherwise you will be waiting a long time and your arm may not survive the experience. Use a whisk and get plenty of air in it. When the cream suddenly goes nearly solid, you have arrived! It will now stand up against the force of gravity. Excellent for putting on a cake, more about that later.
De-tin the cherries, draining them and keeping the juice or syrup. Remove the stones by making a small cut in each cherry with a teaspoon and getting the stone out with your finger. You should get the hang of it. Each time you get a particularly firm and impressive cherry, keep it to one side until you have eleven of them - these are for the decoration. The rest you should cut in half. Then fold them gently into half of the whipped cream. This mixture will stick the insides of the cake together. Ja, gut!
Nearly there now. Cut the cake into three, horizontally. You now have three circular cake pieces. On a plate put the bottom bit and prick holes in it with a fork. Sprinkle on the Kirsch mixed with the cherry juice. Use a pastry brush and you will feel quite professional. Give it a good soak, whatever you use. Now spoon on half of your cream/cherry mixture into the middle of the cake base. Squish on the next circular cake piece. Do the same soaking-sprinkling procedure to this part, and then spoon the rest of the creamy cherries onto that. Lastly squish on the top part of cake. Why not take this opportunity to give that part a good soak with the cherry juice?
OK, smooth the remaining whipped cream over the outside of the assembled cake. Decorate with the eleven whole cherries on the top. Grate the plain chocolate over the whole thing. It's done! You are now the proud owner of one prime plot of Black Forest Cake! Move in and enjoy your investment!
Adjustments:
I would like to try it with fresh cherries. I didn't have any Kirsch so I used cherry brandy left over from Christmas 1532. You can grate the chocolate fine or thick. Adjusting the thickness will involve changing your grater for one with bigger holes. Or you could use a fruit/vegetable peeler.
The recipe came from Mrs. Beeton, but was later deranged by Mr. Beeton.
Finally, here is a picture of my first attempt, taken with my 2.1 Megapixel camera that cost so little that they almost paid me to take it off them, hence the quality is not perfect. Ok, look now!
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is just one of the things that could happen if you happened to have a spare hour and some cream and cherries, etc.
PS Yum!
(Schwarzwälderkirschtorte)
Ingredients:
a). Cake:
150g butter
150g caster sugar
125g of self-raising flour plus 25g cocoa powder
3 eggs
b). Black Forest-Type Goodies:
375ml double cream (whipping cream)
1 tin of cherries (should be Morello cherries, I used black cherries)
Kirsch (a bit)
25g plain chocolate
0g Black Forests
First you make the cake. Like this. Mix the butter and sugar in a bowl (helps if butter is not cold). Add the eggs and mix. Put in the flour a bit at a time and mix. Next add the chocolate powder. Mix! (You guessed it). Now you have a cake mix. Jolly good. Spoon it into a greased circular cake tin. The kind with the removable bottom is very convenient. Cook in pre-heated oven at 180°C until you can insert a sharp knife into the cake without it coming out with any cake mixture on it, i.e. until it is cooked. Trala, now you have your cake. Get it out of the tin and let it cool on a wire rack (if you can wait!)
Next thing is to whip the cream. Make sure it is cream suitable for whipping, otherwise you will be waiting a long time and your arm may not survive the experience. Use a whisk and get plenty of air in it. When the cream suddenly goes nearly solid, you have arrived! It will now stand up against the force of gravity. Excellent for putting on a cake, more about that later.
De-tin the cherries, draining them and keeping the juice or syrup. Remove the stones by making a small cut in each cherry with a teaspoon and getting the stone out with your finger. You should get the hang of it. Each time you get a particularly firm and impressive cherry, keep it to one side until you have eleven of them - these are for the decoration. The rest you should cut in half. Then fold them gently into half of the whipped cream. This mixture will stick the insides of the cake together. Ja, gut!
Nearly there now. Cut the cake into three, horizontally. You now have three circular cake pieces. On a plate put the bottom bit and prick holes in it with a fork. Sprinkle on the Kirsch mixed with the cherry juice. Use a pastry brush and you will feel quite professional. Give it a good soak, whatever you use. Now spoon on half of your cream/cherry mixture into the middle of the cake base. Squish on the next circular cake piece. Do the same soaking-sprinkling procedure to this part, and then spoon the rest of the creamy cherries onto that. Lastly squish on the top part of cake. Why not take this opportunity to give that part a good soak with the cherry juice?
OK, smooth the remaining whipped cream over the outside of the assembled cake. Decorate with the eleven whole cherries on the top. Grate the plain chocolate over the whole thing. It's done! You are now the proud owner of one prime plot of Black Forest Cake! Move in and enjoy your investment!
Adjustments:
I would like to try it with fresh cherries. I didn't have any Kirsch so I used cherry brandy left over from Christmas 1532. You can grate the chocolate fine or thick. Adjusting the thickness will involve changing your grater for one with bigger holes. Or you could use a fruit/vegetable peeler.
The recipe came from Mrs. Beeton, but was later deranged by Mr. Beeton.
Finally, here is a picture of my first attempt, taken with my 2.1 Megapixel camera that cost so little that they almost paid me to take it off them, hence the quality is not perfect. Ok, look now!And that, ladies and gentlemen, is just one of the things that could happen if you happened to have a spare hour and some cream and cherries, etc.
PS Yum!
posted by Philip Howard at 8:35 PM
1 Comments:
This is a good recipe for the same cake - it's more complicated but has more Black Forest 'spirit'
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