With all the dark, sour, and vinegary flavors included in German food (from beer to sauerkraut), it was essential that we have a sweet dessert to balance everything out. I think this must be why most German desserts are so sweet.
Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte (Black Forest Cherry Cake)
(from EuropeanCuisines.com)
For the cake:
* 6 large eggs
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or essence
* 4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, melted
* 1 cup flour, sifted
For the syrup:
* 1/4 cup sugar
* 1/3 cup water
* 2 tablespoons Kirsch
For the filling:
* 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar / icing sugar
* 1/3 cup unsalted butter
* 1 large egg yolk
* 2 tablespoons Kirsch
For the topping:
* 2 cups canned sour cherries, drained
* 2 tablespoons confectioners' / icing sugar
* 1 cup heavy cream, whipped
* 8 ounces semisweet chocolate
CAKE: Beat eggs, sugar, and vanilla together until thick and fluffy, about 10 minutes. Alternately fold chocolate and flour into the egg mixture, ending with flour. Pour the batter into 3 8-inch cake pans that have been well greased and floured. Bake in a preheated 350 degree F. oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cakes in pans for 5 minutes; turn out on racks to cool completely.
SYRUP: Make syrup by mixing together sugar and water and boiling for 5 minutes. When syrup has cooled, stir in kirsch. Prick the cake layers and pour syrup over all 3 layers.
FILLING: To make the butter-cream filling, beat together sugar and butter until well blended. Add egg yolk; beat until light and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Fold in Kirsch.
CAKE ASSEMBLY: To assemble cake, place 1 layer on a cake plate. Spread with butter cream filling. Using 3/4 cup of the cherries, which have been patted dry, drop cherries evenly over cream. Place second layer on cake. Repeat. Place third layer on top. Fold 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar into the whipped cream. Cover the sides and top of the cake with whipped cream.
Decorate top of cake with remaining 1/2 cup cherries. To make chocolate curls from chocolate bar, shave (at room temperature) with a vegetable peeler. Refrigerate curls until ready to use. Press chocolate curls on sides of cake and sprinkle a few on the top. Chill until serving time.
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The only thing I didn't do very well was incorporating the chocolate - I think it was too warm, and I ended up with a flecked cake instead of a chocolate one. It still tasted good though. The kirsch is essential to make this "authentic" but it definitely has a presence. That combined with the sour cherries (as opposed to maraschino or cherry pie filling) makes the cake less sweet than you would assume, and there is a nice contrast and balance in the flavors.
I wanted to be blogging about the rye bread which I spent a blissful 12 minutes kneading, but my kitchen was too cold, the dough never went through its second rise very well, and the end result was tasty but too dense. I really want to go more towards bread baking and get away from these super sweet desserts!
Categories: Cake, Cherry, Chocolate
2 comments:
Hi Jenny, that food sounds great. I love sweets myself and that cake looks delicious. I may try that recipe.
So that's what black forest is called in German. Looks amazing.
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