An old time classic cake of German origin!
ingredients for 8 servings (total cost about 15 € with organic ingredients)
for the sponge cake
- 200 g (4 medium) eggs
- 100 g pastry flour
- 20 g cocoa powder
- 120 g sugar
- zest from 1/2 lemon
- 1 pinch salt
For the filling and topping
- 250 g ricotta cheese, well strained
- 65 g icing sugar
- 400 ml liquid cream (32-35 % fat), well chilled
- 1 pinch of salt
- 200 g sour cherries in syrup
- 120 ml syrup (from the sour cherries)
- 100 ml water
- 20 ml kirsch
- 100 g bitter chocolate
This iconic cake is claimed to have been invented by the famous confectioner Josef Keller in 1915 at the famous Café Agner in the region of Bad Godesperg in Germany. Its name comes from its key ingredient, the Schwartzwalder (Black Forest’s for those who don’t understand German) Kirschwasser – a clear spirit based on sour cherries historically made in the southern region of the Black Forest.
Apart from its main ingredient, a Black Forest consists of layers of cocoa sponge cake, generously filled with whipped cream and common or sour cherries, covered with extra whipped cream and topped with grated chocolate and ……….. more cherries.
I, personally, like to enrich the whipped cream with the addition of some ricotta cheese, both to enhance the flavor and to improve the consistency to the whipped cream. I, actually find that I manipulate it more easily this way when assembling the cake. I also prefer to use sour cherries in syrup, rather than sweet ones.
So, to make the black forest we begin by preparing the cocoa sponge cake.
We whisk the eggs, adding the sugar progressively and we continue whisking, until they become pale white and their volume is triplicated (about 10 minutes).
We then sieve on top of the batter the flour mixed with the cocoa powder and the salt in two batches and we gently fold it in the mixture with a spatula, until they are fully incorporated in the batter and no lumps remain. We also add the zest.
We transfer the batter in a well buttered, lined with parchment, re-buttered and floured cake tin (of 16-18 cm diameter) and we bake at a 180oC preheated static oven (160 if using ventilation) for about 20-25 minutes. The cake is ready, if it re-bounces when pressing its surface with a finger.
We immediately unmold it and we let it cool completely on a wire rack.
Meanwhile, we prepare the rest of the cake’s components.
To make the syrup, we dilute the sour cherries’ syrup with the water and the kirch.
We beat the chilled liquid cream with the icing sugar, until we turn it to a soft whipped cream. For best results be sure that you have also chilled well the bowl and whisks of the mixer.
We also stir the ricotta cheese to make it creamy. We then fold to it the whipped cream and we gently mix them together. We put the ricotta – whipped cream mixture to the fridge, as they must be well chilled when we are going to assemble the cake. We grate the chocolate and we put it also to the fridge until the assembling time.
Now, we can proceed to the final assembling.
We cut the cake in three even discs with the help of a serrated knife.
We brush the bottom disc on both sides with one third of the syrup, then we spread over it one third of the ricotta – whipped cream. We arrange on top of the cream one third of the sour cherries. We repeat the same steps brushing a second layer of sponge cake with the syrup, we cover it with one third of ricotta whipped cream mixture and we arrange the rest of the sour cherries, keeping 5 of them for the final decoration.
Finally, we place on top of the cake the last layer of the base, we brush it with the rest of the syrup and we completely cover the top and sides with the rest of the ricotta – whipped cream, keeping a little bit to use for the final decoration.
We sprinkle the cake with grated chocolate, covering the sides, as well. We place the whipped cream in a pastry bag fitted with a star decorator tip and we make 5 rosettes on top of the cake, decorating them with the reserved sour cherries.
We keep it in the fridge for at least 2 hours before serving.
