Black Forest Cake / Black Forest Gateau

Cheers to you all for a beautiful Christmas that is just few days away. Yes, we can count fingers. It’s the time to relax, time to spend with our loved ones..

You can try out other Christmas Recipes of this blog too.

Everywhere the aura of festivity has already started. What are you all busy with now? Shopping Christmas gift goodies, making Christmas trees?, wrapping Christmas gifts in colourful papers to place it under the Christmas tree, busy in putting up the lights inside and outside of your home?, or learning new songs for the Christmas Carols or busy with carol singers in the church practice sessions or waiting to receive Santa Claus with all his sack full of gifts, cards in the email or WhatsApp..  snow in the yard or wrap yourselves up in a blanket as its winter now?, shouts of Merry Christmas, or day and night planning for the dishes which has to be made for the Christmas day and for the following week, enjoying fabulous food with your loved ones?!!

Hey, or, are you not in the mood of Christmas still?, Try and come back in to the spirit by turning off all the lights except the lights on the Christmas tree and play some Christmas music in the background of your home!!

We can see beautifully decorated Christmas Trees all around. In the streets, in the malls, in our homes. For me now Christmas vacation started in our school and since the last few days I am completely down with fever, throat infection etc., because of climate change.. Thought of making some Christmas cookies this time, but it wouldn’t be possible, I guess..

All Catholics are on Nativity Fast in preparation for the Nativity of Christ. It is not just giving up food or eating only one full meal a day, but abstaining from whatever is unhealthy in our personal life like, jealousy, gossip, laziness etc..

I thought of making the real Christmas Fruit Cake for this Christmas, but as am a bit late to soak all dry fruits in rum in advance as a part of preparation of fruit cake, thought of going for Black Forest Cake.. This cake is classic German dessert generally for adults from the Schwarz Wald (Black Forest) mountain range in south-western Germany. It is called German Chocolate Cake. In UK, it’s known as Black Forest Gateau, and in US it’s Black Forest Cake. Gateau is a French word meaning cake. Black Forest Cake consists of several layers of chocolate, maraschino cherries, whipped cream and garnished with chocolate shavings.

I started hearing the word ‘gateau’ after reaching here in Kinshasa, which is a French speaking and was a Belgian colony. When I statrt to bake anything, my cook always ask me, madam, are you going to make ‘gateau’?  Later I realised that, cake for us is gateau for the French people.. This cake is really meant for the adults because of its rich alcohol content. But in India normally we do not add alcohol in this Black Forest Cake.

This Black Forest Cake is not meant to be sweet because of its alcoholic content. One of the main ingredients which make the cake so flavourful is adding sugar syrup. For making sugar syrup, take the required quantity of water in a saucepan and add sugar. Then mix it properly and boil it. Keep stirring it till it becomes thick. Your sugar syrup is ready. Normally for the Black Forest cake we add little rum or brandy to make it more flavourful. But if it’s for the family with children, I advise you not to add rum or brandy.

Black Forest Cake, probably for me the most tempting dessert. My husband Reji will die for this cake, but under control!! This cake is so colourful, white of cream, dark brown of layers of chocolate and red of cherries. I love its red, chocolate strands and white colour combo which drags us towards it.. Its look itself is so appealing. In young days, I used to believe that this is the ultimate cake!!

It basically consists of layers of chocolate cake, layered with whipped cream and maraschino cherries and grated chocolate.

Some fond memories come to my mind when I write something about Black Forest Cake. It took me to a Boarding school in Kerala where I stayed for two years. In the weekends or on some evenings, we used to go out together for shopping and for dining out. Some days, friends who stay back in the boarding used to ask us to bring black forest cake. I still remember how we all were bullying each other to get a part of that.. Those were the golden days, I can say the most beautiful part of my life..

Friends and well-wishers, I know that you all are having your own stories and memories to say something about this cake. Isn’t it? When I started my own blog, I did an overall planning about the dishes and categories to be included in the blog. This was of course there on the top of the list along with some other yummy cakes. But only now I could post this recipe.

I want to wish you one and all a warm and blessed CHRISTMAS.. It´s the time to think about JESUS CHRIST as a baby in a manger.. Here we celebrate the birth of the child, the Christ. CHRIST was born for us, our Saviour came down to live among us, and eventually died for us on a cross and has risen to come again..

This is my Christmas Treat for you all. Hope you would try out this and share with your loved ones..

If you are looking for more Cake Recipes, then do check Chocolate Banana Cake, Chocolate Pastry Cake, Sponge Cake or Pound Cake, Christmas Fruit Cake or Plum Cake, Red Velvet Cup Cake, Valentines Vanilla Sponge Cake …

Ok, then here goes the recipe of Black Forest Cake..

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Baking Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 10
Calories : 320 / 1 slice

1 cup (200 grams) heavy Whipping Cream
4 tbsp. (heaped) Icing Sugar

How to Make German Black Forest Cake

Pre heat the oven to 180 degree Celsius for 10 minutes. Take an 8″ cake tin, place a butter paper in it and grease it with butter and keep it aside. Take a saucepan and melt 100 grams of butter. Keep it aside. Whip cream and icing sugar till it forms soft peaks. Keep it in the refrigerator till we use it. By using a potato peeler, peel the dark chocolate and keep it aside. Sieve the All Purpose Flour. baking powder, cocoa powder and salt together thrice on a sheet of parchment paper. Keep it aside for now. Fix the whisk attachment of a stand mixer.

Beat the eggs in a bowl. Add vanilla to the eggs and beat till it gets frothy and fluffy or light cream colour. Add the soda powder and sugar and beat it in high speed until the mixture gets triple in volume. Add the flour and cocoa powder and fold it well by using a spatula. Add the warm melted butter in to this and combine well. Fold in everything slowly. Pour evenly the batter in to the greased cake pan. Bake at 180 degree centigrade for 25 to 30 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean.

Take the cake out of the oven and let cool the cake for about 10 minutes. Remove the cake from the cake tin and place on racks until they are completely cooled.
Slice the Black Forest Cake with a segregated knife horizontally through the centre. Keep it aside.

Make the Sugar Syrup:

Mix ¼ cup of water and 5 tbsp. sugar powder well. Boil it stirring constantly and let it become little thick. Allow the syrup to cool down. If you are adding rum or whisky add it at this time and mix well.

Make some cream flowers on top of the cake by using a piping bag and nozzle. Place the additional cherries on top of the flowers.
Refrigerate Black Forest Cake for a couple of hours before serving.

My Recipe Notes and Tips on Black Forest Gateau:

1. I have used tinned cherries. If you are using fresh ones, pit it and soak it in the sugar syrup overnight.
2. Use a revolving cake stand for easier rotating. If you don’t have one you can use a plate or whatever and then rotate it manually.
3. You can pour the whole batter and bake the cake and then slice it in to two layers or you can divide the batter in to two parts and bake it separately to get 2 slices.
4. You can use whipping powder also to make the whipping cream. In that case, mix one cup of cold water and 200 grams of whipping cream powder and whisk it for 3 minutes using a beater. Make a thick cream out of it.Then refrigerate the cream for about 15 minutes.
5. You can make whipping cream in advance long before you make Black Forest Cake and can keep it in the refrigerator. That’s another advantage of whipping cream, which is of course a main ingredient of this cake.
6. You can use either strawberries or maraschino cherries, which ever you prefer. If you are not getting fresh cherries, use the canned cherries. If you are using the canned cherries, as the syrup contains sugar, adjust the ingredients accordingly.
7. It’s always better to use fresh cherries. In such case, pit the cherries and soak them in the kirschwasser, (a clear, colourless fruit brandy) overnight.
8. If you are using any other type of alcohol it wouldn’t give the authentic taste to this cake.
9. If you are using alcohol in this cake it is advisable to serve this dessert only to the adults.
10. Serve this Black Forest Cake at least one day later to develop the flavour of this Black Forest Cake. The longer it is kept, better the flavour.

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Serve Black Forest Cake to your loved ones!!

Loads of Love to you all.. 

Happy Baking..

Cheers..

Seenas Food Basket

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