Life right now is a bit tensed and hectic. In between all the work, hospital visits and attending to the needs of my family I hardly am getting any time to sit with the laptop. For which, could not even publish the generous comments some of you have given on my posts. The sonny boy is home for his summer vacation and his innocent blabbering helps to uplift our mood occasionally. Right now no one is home except the baby and me and though I feel tired and exhausted but cant close my eyes and drift away to sleep. So just thought of doing something that I love.
This is a very old post from my draft. Made this cake for my elder brother’s birthday last year. He is mad about fresh cream black forest gateau and absolutely loved this cake. It completely went out of my head and was sitting pretty in the draft folder for almost a year. its high time that I post it before I prepare his cake again next week.
I already have a black forest recipe from my initial days of blogging. This one is more authentic as now I know that a black forest should always be made with a sponge cake. I have been making this cake for last 2 years or more as every Bangali seems to love a big piece of black forest gateau. And almost every other person in my friends circle thinks that black forest cannot be made at home. so whenever I offer them a cake for their birthdays they seem to feel like challenging my skills with this cake. I have made it so many times that now am bored and wanna dig in other territories of cake making. 
Cake decoration is another field that I want to explore. I love to decorate cakes and cookies but with the unavailability of most of the products that becomes a little difficult. Mostly the cakes that I decorate are very simple and use products that are available here. above is the first cake that I decorated with marie biscuit dough, it tasted delicious but colouring the dough was a wee bit difficult.
Below is the recipe for my
Black Forest Gateau.
(9” cake)
Ingredients:
Flour: 1 cup
Cocoa powder: ½ cup
Baking powder: ½ tsp
Sugar: ¾ cup (measure and powder)
Eggs: 4 large
Butter: ½ tsp for greasing the pan
For decoration:
Fresh whipping cream or non-dairy whipping cream: 2 cups (I used non dairy cream which is already sweetened. If you use fresh cream then add ½ cup powdered sugar to this before whipping)
Few cherries
Chocolate shavings
For the cherry syrup and filling:
Fresh cherries: 200 gms
Sugar: ½ cup
Water: 1 cup
OR
1 tin canned cherries.
Method:
I prefer to bake the cake a day in advance which allows me plenty of time to cool, cut and decorate it the next day.
Place a big metal or stainless steel bowl along with your whipping blades in the freeze to chill.
Grease and line a 9” round cake pan and preheat the oven at 190 C.
Sift the cocoa and baking powder along with the flour for 2-3 times. Keep aside.
Beat the eggs with the powdered sugar on medium speed. Do this for 8-9 minutes or till the eggs double in volume and become very pale and fluffy. Add the vanilla essence and beat for another minutes.
Pour ¼ of the flour mixture in this and with a spatula fold this in very gently. Do not beat it vigorously or it will release the air incorporated in the eggs and will result in a heavy brick like sponge. Repeat till the dry ingredients are mixed in.
Pour in the prepared tin and bake for 30-35 minutes or till the top turns to pale brown.
Cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then turn on a rack to cool down completely. Level the top if it has puffed in the center, then slice horizontally in 3 pieces. I actually measure the height, mark and slice it for even layering.
For the syrup:
Pitt the cherries and mix with the sugar. Keep aside for an hour. Then pour ¾ cup water in it and gently simmer it for 5 minutes. Take out the chriies with a slotted spoon. Simmer the syrup till it thickens a little bit. Take off the heat and let it cool down. Once the cherries are cold chop them in big chunks and keep aside.
Assembling:
Prepare your cake-serving platter with 4 strips of foil or greaseproof paper placed along the border. This will catch all the drippings of chocolates and creams and when removed later will give a clean surface for the cake.
Take out the chilled bowl and whipping blades and whip the cream till firm peaks.
Place the top layer on the plate. Generously moisten the cake with the syrup. Use a pastry brush for best result. Be generous but don’t overdo it. When chilled the cakes will become little dry so use little more than you actually think is required. No body loves a dry black forest.
Measure 3/4 cup of the whipped cream and spread on the top. Scatter few cherries on top and cover with the middle layer. Press gently to level it. Moisten with the syrup. Again measure 3/4 cup of whipped cream and spread with few chopped cherries. Finally cover with the bottom layer of the sponge upside down. Generously soak the layer with the syrup.
Cover the entire cake with the cream and place it in the freeze for 2-3 hours for setting.
Decoration:
Decorate with piped cream, shaved chocolates and fresh or frozen cherries.
Always chill the cake for 3-4 hours before serving. This helps the flavours to maturate and the decorations to set. Chilled black forest is a joy for the taste buds.
A Homemaker's Notes:
Try to cut even layers as this helps the cake to be steady. for perfect even layers measure the height of the cake after leveling the top. divide by the number of layers you want in the final cake. take a ruler, mark the layer height at 3-4 places. take a big serrated knife and cut.
Always cut a cake that is completely cold. Dipping the knife in warm water helps in getting neater layers.
Always handle the cut layers with utmost care. The fat-less sponge is very delicate and crumbly and breaks easily.
Do not try to cut very thin layers until you are very confident of your skills. With this recipe its easy to make 3 layers.
Do not over beat the cream as it might curdle.
Events:
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