Black Forest Cake Recipe

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I shared a picture of the Black Forest Cake I got to taste at the FOOD Kitchen Series in Enderun Colleges, so today, I am sharing the recipe of the cake, so you can bake it, too. Now I say "you," because we don't have an oven so I can't bake this, even if I wanted to. :)

Before I share the recipe, I would just like to share details about the chef behind this wonderful creation. Executive Pastry Chef Andreas Gillar is a native of Austria, and he acquired his education in the School and Pastry and Bakery in Baden, after which he graduated as Master Confectioner at the Master School for Pastry in Vienna. He worked close to 20 years as pasty chef consultant at Hotel Caravelle in Saigon, then as executive pastry chef for Cafe Wien in Jakarta. He was corporate pastry chef as well as of Hashoo Group, which owns operates two Marriott Hotels and seven Pearl Continental Hotels in Karachi, Pakistan. His most recent post prior to joining Enderun Colleges was as executive Pastry Chef of the Peninsula Manila.

We became his students for a few hours, and I instantly admired his way of teaching. He not only taught us, he also let us smell and get "up close" with certain ingredients as he went preparing and baking the cake. He was quite a jolly person, too, throwing us a joke or two just so the atmosphere in the Culinary Theatre wouldn't be too serious.




Black Forest Cake (the European Way)

{recipe provided by Enderun Colleges}

Ingredients - Chocolate Sponge Cake:

• 250 grams eggs
• 125 grams sugar
• 60 grams flour
• 30 grams cocoa powder
• 30 grams butter

Ingredients - Chocolate Mousse

• 120 grams egg yolks
• 50 grams eggs
• 90 grams sugar
• 60 grams water
• 400 grams cream
• 300 grams dark couverture chocolate (70%)

Ingredients - Black Cherry Topping

• 250 grams Black Cherries
• 125 grams Black Cherry Pulp
• 250 grams sugar
• 25 grams vitpris (or pectin)

Ingredients - Chantilly

• 500 grams cream
• 30 grams sugar
• Kirschwasser (alcohol made from wine)

Ingredients - Kirsch Cream

• 250 grams milk
• 65 grams egg yolks
• 75 grams sugar
• 1/2 pod of vanilla bean
• 6 sheets of gelatin
• 250 grams cream
• Kirschwasser

How to Bake - Sponge Cake

• Place egg and sugar mixture into bain marie, bringing to a maximum temperature of 50*C.
• Continuously beat the batter and whisk until completely cooled.
• Add flour and cocoa gradually and stir gently with a rubber spatula while doing so. Finish with the melted butter.
• Mold into circles and bake at 180*C.

How to Prepare - Chocolate Mousse Dough

• Poach the mixture of yolk, eggs, sugar and water at 84/86*C.
• Whisk at medium speed, but stop before the mix completely cools.

How to Prepare - Mousse

• Melt the chocolate at 55/60*C. Whip the cream.
• Using a whisk, add a small amount of whipped cream to the hot chocolate, achieving a smooth and elastic texture.
• Use a rubber spatula for mixing the chocolate mousse dough and the rest of the whipped cream.

How to Prepare - Black Cherry Jam

• Bring the pulp, black cherries, and half of the sugar to a boil. Add the remaining sugar mixed with vitpris, then boil for 5 minutes.
• Set to cool and then add the Kirschwasser.

How to Prepare - Kirsch Cream

• Whisk the cream.
• Bring the milk with vanilla to a boil. Meanwhile, mix the egg yolks and the sugar and let cool.
• Add the Kirschwasser and gelatin, then gently stir in the whipped cream.

Finishing and Presentation:

• Cut the chocolate sponge cake into three horizontal cuts. Using a pastry brush, add some kirschwasser on bottom cut of the cake then cover with black cherry jam, followed by the chocolate mousse.
• Add another cut of the sponge cake and brush with some kirschwasser again, then add the Kirsch Cream and another layer of chocolate mousse.
• Cover with the last cut of sponge cake brushed with some kirschwasser and cover the whole cake with Chantilly.
• Paste chocolate chips and put the cherry bits on top.

Again, another recipe that requires quite a lot of time, but really, once you taste the cake, it will be very rewarding. As Chef Andreas Gillar went on preparing the cake, I was able to scribble some things to consider:

1. While baking the sponge cake, don't open the oven door too often to check on it because the change of temperature will affect the cake.
2. While preparing the sponge cake batter, don't add the butter while there is still traces of flour because adding so will create lumps.
3. When adding chocolate mousse, Kirsch cream, and black cherry jam, spread it evenly so the cake will be even, too. Likewise, don't add too much of these fillings.
4. The cream and the mixing bowl and whisk has to be well chilled before using it.
5. You can replace the gelatin sheets with gelatin powder (1:1), but if you're going to use gelatin powder, bloom it at 1:3 - 1 part gelatin powder, 3 parts water.
6. Part of the success of the cake is how sturdy it should be, so if you're such a big fan of the Kirschwasser and would like to add more in the Kirsch Cream mixture, be sure to add more gelatin as well.

In the recipe, there is no need to cover the cake with chocolate, but when Chef Gillar presented this, after he chilled the cake covered with chantilly (there was this blast freezer in the kitchen), he also sprayed some melted chocolate around the cake using an air brush.

Quite a long time to prepare, and quite a lot of eggs and cream, too, so this you can prepare on special occasions. :)

*** Jenn ***