Growing up I had two favourite cakes, Fraisier and Black Forest. For some reason no one makes the Black Forest anymore. Maybe it’s because of the canned cherry filling that most recipes call for. This is me trying to bring the Black Forest back.

I made this cake for Father’s Day. I don’t want to brag or anything, but I have the best dad ever. Ever. So I wanted to make him a really beautiful cake. Sadly, the heat and humidity made icing the cake very complicated. It ended up not quite as pretty as I imagined, but still very very tasty.

The idea to make Black Forest Cake started with my lack of control when it comes to buying fruit. I had way to many cherries to eat by myself before they went bad, so I decided to try to preserve them. I pitted them, then covered them in sugar and amaretto. I let them sit in the fridge for a couple of days, and discovered they were delicious. I used these for the filling.

Black Forest Cake

Cherry Filling

• Pitted cherries, soaked in amaretto, plus the juices.
• 1/4 cup water
• juice of one lemon
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp cornstarch

1. Put all ingredients a medium saucepan, bring to a boil. Simmer until liquid starts to thicken.
2. Cover in plastic wrap and let cool completely.
3. Set aside till ready to assemble the cake.

Cream topping

• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 tbsp icing sugar

1. Whip cream till starting to thicken.
2. Add icing sugar, continue whipping till stiff.
3. Set aside till ready to assemble.

Amaretto Soaking Syrup

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup amaretto

1. Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan. Simmer for five minutes
2. Let cool and set aside till ready to assemble.

Chocolate Genoise

• 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted.
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder

1. In a heat proof bowl combine eggs and sugar. Place bowl over pot of simmering water and whisk the egg mixture constantly until it reaches 130 to 140 degrees.
2. Take eggs off the heat and whisk them with an electric mixer until they have quadrupled in volume (5 to 8 minutes)
3. Preheat oven to 350.
4. Take 2 tablespoons of the whipped eggs and combine with the melted butter.
5. Sift the flour and cocoa together. Fold them into the egg mixture in 2 or 3 additions.
6. Fold the butter in.
7. Pour into a greased 9 in pan.
8. Bake for 30 minutes.

Assembly

1. Once the cake has cooled completely, slice it in half.
2. Using half of the syrup, soak the bottom layer of the cake.
3. Cover with cherry filling
4. Cover with 1/3 of the whipped cream
5. Place top layer of cake on.
6. Soak with remaining syrup
7. Cover top and sides of cake with remaining whipped cream.
8. Garnish with fresh cherries.

Enjoy!