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Black Forest Cake II

SUBMITTED BY: Valinda PHOTO BY: abrooks

"Wonderful chocolate layer cake which is soaked in Kirsch liqueur, with cherry filling."

RECIPE RATING:

Read Reviews (83)

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PREP TIME	30 Min
COOK TIME	40 Min
READY IN	2 Hrs 10 Min
Original recipe yield 2 layer 8 inch round cake

SERVINGS

(Help)

Servings
USMETRIC

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup kirschwasser
1/2 cup butter
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 pinch salt
1 teaspoon strong brewed coffee
2 (14 ounce) cans pitted Bing cherries, drained
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon kirschwasser
1 (1 ounce) square semisweet chocolate

What to Drink?
	port
	Coffee

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line the bottoms of two 8 inch round pans with parchment paper circles. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda and 1 teaspoon salt. Set aside.
Cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Beat in flour mixture, alternating with buttermilk, until combined. Pour into 2 round 8 inch pans.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool completely. Remove paper from the cakes. Cut each layer in half, horizontally, making 4 layers total. Sprinkle layers with the 1/2 cup kirshwasser.
In a medium bowl, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add confectioners sugar, pinch of salt, and coffee; beat until smooth. If the consistency is too thick, add a couple teaspoons of cherry juice or milk. Spread first layer of cake with 1/3 of the filling. Top with 1/3 of the cherries. Repeat with the remaining layers.
In a separate bowl, whip the cream to stiff peaks. Beat in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 1 tablespoon kirshwasser. Frost top and sides of cake. Sprinkle with chocolate curls made by using a potato peeler on semisweet baking chocolate.

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REVIEWS

Reviewed on oct. 28, 2004 by mamacookie

This recipe is very good...HOWEVER, here are my moderations: I made this in a hurry, so I had... MORE

Reviewed on oct. 28, 2003 by AnnaG

I made this for my husband's birthday. Since he loves Black Forest Cake, and until now has... MORE

Reviewed on nov. 26, 2008 by Baybee Caix

Full Review

The reviewer gave this recipe 5 stars. This recipe averages a 4.49 star rating.

Baybee Caix
nov. 26, 2008

This cake stole the show at a pre-Valentine Party and not a crumb was left afterwards. I recommend allowing a day for the syrup to soak through the cake in the fridge (covered of course, cakes pick up odors and flavors and dry out). The high alcohol content mellows out over time. I assembled the cake(with the cherry buttercream filling minus the whipped cream frosting) on a tin pizza platter - you know the disposable type. I was glad I did because the cake is quite fragile after soaking. I chose not to sweeten the whipped cream because I had an ample amount of shaved semi-sweet chocolate on hand to sprinkle over the entire cake which sweetened the whipped cream. I used 1/4 cup of Kirshwasser for the syrup and brushed it generously over the cake and opted to use maraschino cherries for garnish on top- just for appeal. I might use more Kirsh next time. I could hardly taste it. To those of you who had trouble finding Kirshwasser-I thought I was running into the same problen at my local liquor store. The vendor told me I was mistakingly looking in the Cordials section when I should have looked in the Brandy section of the store. Next to the cherry brandys were Hiram Walker™ Kirshwasser. Oh and another modification: Try using 1 stick (8 TBS) butter to 4 cups powdered sugar. It should take about 2-3 tbs. liquid to get to the right consistency. I find the original recipe is wayyy too sweet and doesn't produce enough buttercream.

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60 users found this review helpful

This cake stole the show at a pre-Valentine Party and not a crumb was left afterwards. I... MORE

Reviewed on dec. 22, 2003 by JOANCLR

This cake was just great. I didn't have cherry liquer and so I used the syrup from the cherry... MORE

Reviewed on dec. 16, 2003 by PULCHRA

I live in Germany, and this is one American recipe that I must admit is nearly dead on.... MORE

Reviewed on dec. 11, 2006 by Linda C

Full Review

Linda C
dec. 11, 2006

Wonderful recipe!!! My son needed a German recipe to make for his World History class and he chose this one. The class raved about it! We made a few changes. For the unsweetened cocoa powder he used Hershey's Special Dark (unsweetened) Cocoa. He used the cherry juice from the canned cherries instead of the kirschwasser. After reading the reviews, he used only 2 cups of confectioners' sugar and still added about a teaspoon of cherry juice to make it spread easier. He made three 8 inch layers instead of cutting the two into 4 layers (he just cooked them for less time). He cut the cherries in half to put between the layers and to decorate the top of the cake. He added the 2 tablespoons of dry milk while whipping the heavy whipping cream to stabilize it as recommended earlier and the frosting looked great on the cake the next day. At first he wanted to add sugar to the whipping cream to make it sweeter, but he decided not to. After tasting the cake the next day, he said the less sweet frosting complimented the sweet cake very nicely--he was glad he didn't add it! The cake came out nice and moist and the tastes blended beautifully after letting it sit over night in the refrigerator. This recipe is definitely a keeper!

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30 users found this review helpful

Wonderful recipe!!! My son needed a German recipe to make for his World History class and he... MORE