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Apr 9, 2019

Something Yummy!

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Hello and welcome! I don't have a card to share today, instead I decided to share what I baked on Saturday (don't worry I am not turning my blog into a food blog, I will have a card to share again soon:-)



This past weekend I decided to treat my family to a Black Forest Cake. This is a longer blog post and you might think this cake takes forever to make, but it actually doesn't take that long, I just explained it step by step. I don't have the best pictures as I don't usually take pictures of food, but I tried my best. I am also no expert in cake decorating, so please don't expect a professional looking cake 😀. But I can assure you, it's delicious if you love chocolate-y things!




So lets get started. By the way, this is an old German recipe, so all measurements are in grams/ ml. But you can easily convert them to ounces with an online calculator. I personally prefer the metric system when baking because it's more accurate. I've had my digital kitchen scale for a long time and I can use it with the metric system and English measurement (which is more common here in the United States). 

Ingredients:

For the Sponge Cake

  • 6 eggs (at room temperature)
  • 250 g Sugar
  • 90 ml  Hot Water
  • 200 g Flour 
  • 75 g  Potato- or Corn Starch 
  • 50 g Cocoa Powder (unsweetened)
  • 2 tsp Baking Powder

For the Filling
  • 1 jar of Morello Cherries/Sour Cherries (I found mine at Aldi - save approx. 12 to 15 cherries for decoration or use fresh cherries for this)
  • 25 g Starch (to be mixed with cherries)
  • approx. 1000 ml Heavy Whipping Cream (32 oz)
  • 1 tsp Starch or 1 packet of Whip It (to be added to whipping cream - optional)
  • 1 Tablespoon of Powdered Sugar 
  • 6 Tablespoons of Cherry Liquor (you may substitute with Brandy or Rum. or make it alcohol free by using 6 Tablespoons of Cherry Juice)

Frosting/Decoration
  • 3 to 4 Tablespoons of Whipped cream (saved from the filling)
  • Chocolate shavings and saved cherries

I tried my best at writing up/translating the "how to" but if it sounds a little bit confusing it's because English is not my native language. But I hope it is easy for you to understand. If not, just leave me a comment.

Directions for the Batter / Sponge Cake:
  1. Preheat the oven to 395 degrees Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius) and line the bottom of a  spring form (mine measures approx. 9 3/4 inches or 25cm) with parchment paper.
  2. Separate eggs. In a large mixing bowl, mix the eggs, warm water, and sugar. Mix until sugar is dissolved and the mixture will be very creamy and pale yellow. (I used my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer for this, but you can use a Hand Mixer as well.)
  3. In a separate bowl add the flour, baking powder, starch, and cocoa powder, blend together, then add to the egg and sugar mixture with a sifter or fine mesh strainer (what I am using). (I recommend replacing the wire whisk with the flat beater for this step if you are using a stand mixer.)
  4. Beat egg whites in a separate bowl with hand mixer until stiff, then fold into the rest of the batter. 
  5. Add batter to the spring form and bake for 25 - 35 minutes in preheated oven. It is recommended to lower the temperature during baking, so that at the end of baking time it will be at about 305 degrees Fahrenheit (150 degrees Celsius). This will prevent the sponge cake from sinking. (Unfortunately I overlooked this step when I baked my cake, so it did sink a little.) Ovens vary, so be sure to test with a skewer or toothpick. If it comes out clean, the cake is done. 
  6. When done, let cool for just a minute, then remove spring form and turn cake upside down on a cooling rack covered with parchment paper. Let cake cool completely before cutting and adding the cake filling. During this time you can prepare the whipped cream and cherry mixture. 

Birthday in a Box



Now it's time to cut the cake horizontally twice. Be sure the cake  has completely cooled before you do this step! You can purchase a cake leveler/cutter for this part. I do not currently own one of these devices, but have this one on my wish list. For now I use a ruler, some toothpicks and floss to cut layer cakes. I am sure many of you are experts and know how to do this well, but in case you are a beginner, you can read about how I do it.

(You can see in the photo below what I am trying to describe. Also, in this case I turned the cake right side up again, sometimes I leave it upside down though. It's really just a preference I think, but you will want to work with a flat even top. You can also cut it flat and eat the parts you cut off :-) 



For this cake I measured approx. 1/2" from the bottom all around the cake, placing toothpicks all around to mark the 1/2 of an inch. I repeated this process measuring 1" from the bottom all around, again marking with toothpicks.  Using the toothpicks as a guide, place the floss around the cake (I actually had to cut a little bit into the cake because my floss kept falling down - cake was a little bit over baked), overlap the ends of  the floss and pull to each side. The floss will cut the cake. (If the cake is still too warm, this will not work well - ask me how I know 😀).
Repeat this process at 1 inch. Now you have 3 layers. Separate the layers.



Directions for the Filling:
  1. Drain the cherries, but save all the liquid
  2. Mix about 6-8 tablespoonful of the liquid with the 25 g of starch and bring the rest of the liquid to a boil at medium low temperature. 
  3. Stir the starch mixture into the liquid and also add half of the cherry liquor (or cherry juice) and bring to another quick boil while stirring). Promptly remove from heat to prevent burning of the mixture. 
  4. The cherries (minus the ones you kept for decoration) can now be added to this mixture.
(I am aware that you can also purchase cherry pie filling for this, but I always find those much too sweet and prefer making my own.)



Completing the Cake:
  1. Using a Stand Mixer or Handheld Mixer whisk together the cold whipping cream (in a chilled bowl) and 1 tablespoonful of powdered sugar. You can also add a packet of Whip It or 1 teaspoonful of corn starch as a stabilizer. Save 3 to 4 Tablespoons of this whipped cream in a Pastry Bag.
  2. Drizzle bottom layer of cake with some of the Cherry liquor (or brandy/ rum or cherry juice), then add half of the cherry mixture, then (when cherry mixture is completely cooled) add about 1/3rd of the whipped cream and cover with second cake layer.
  3. Drizzle second layer again with a little liquor or juice, add the other half of the cherry mixture and 1/3rd of the whipped cream, making sure the cherry mixture has completely cooled before adding the whipped cream. Top off with the last cake layer and using an Icing Spatula cover the top and sides with the rest of the whipped cream.
  4. Finally decorate the cake as you wish with the whipped cream from the pastry bag with an attachment. I created 12 slices of cake. 


As you can see I am nowhere near a pro when it comes to decorating, but luckily my family doesn't care, they just want the cake!


I made my own chocolate shavings by simply using a Mandolin Slicer and yummy dark chocolate, then sprinkled on the top of the cake and the sides.


Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope you found this recipe of interest!


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8 comments:

Julie Tucker-Wolek said...

That looks amazing and so yummy!!!!!!!!

Ellibelle said...

Thanks Julie, it was delicious!

Alice (scrAPpamondo) said...

Oh, you make me feel hungry :D LOL
It seems really delicious, thanks for sharing the step by step recipe

Ellibelle said...

You're welcome :)

Linby said...

Yum indeed - my favourite cake too - just in case you want to bake if I ever visit lol!

Ellibelle said...

Yes!!

Amy Johnson said...

WOW! This looks amazing! I wish I could have a piece!

Ellibelle said...

Thanks Amy. It's hard to believe how easy this cake is to make, hardest part is cutting the chocolate cake part in 3 to layer, but my technique usually works so well for me.