Let me start by saying that black forest cake was the ONE KIND of chocolate cake I avoided as a kid. The thought of mixing my favorite food — chocolate — and the cough-syrup like cherry flavor was pretty repulsive to me. So when my friend Amy texted me a couple days ago asking if we could bake black forest cake together, I was skeptical. But hey, I thought, maybe I haven’t given this dessert a chance. Maybe it was just one bad Chinese bakery experience. So last night, we embarked on our second major baking extravaganza. The first one was 7 years ago, when we baked a non-edible, baking-soda-flavored red (really purple) velvet cake from scratch. This black forest cake would be my first attempt at baking a cake from scratch since then. The night proceeded with minor complications, and we did bake a decent (and edible cake.) Minor problems included the cake sinking in when we removed it from the oven, which probably could be prevented by baking it for a couple minutes longer, and over whipping the cream. Amy and I worked around these obstacles, using chocolate to cover up weird frosting patches and stuffing cake crumbs in the areas where the cake sunk in a Frankenstein fashion. It was a little ratchet, but it certainly didn’t take away from the thing — my coworkers and family devoured the entire thing." Credits: Allrecipes Ingredients: 2 1/8 cups all-purpose flour 2 cups white sugar 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 3/4 teaspoon baking soda 3/4 teaspoon salt 3 eggs 1 cup milk 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 1 (20 ounce) cans pitted sour cherries (recipe suggests 2 cans, but we only used about 1) 1/2 cup white sugar (recipe calls for 1 cup) 1/8 cup cornstarch (recipe calls for 1/4 cup) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 3 cups heavy whipping cream 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar Instructions: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9 inch, round, cake pans; cover bottoms with waxed paper. 2. In a large bowl, combine flour, 2 cups sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add eggs, milk, oil, and 1 tablespoon vanilla; beat until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pans. 3. Bake for 35 minutes, or until wooden toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool layers in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Loosen edges, and remove to racks to cool completely. 4. Drain cherries, reserving 1/2 cup juice. Combine reserved juice, cherries, 1 cup sugar and cornstarch in a 2 quart saucepan. Cook over low heat until thickened, stirring constantly. Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla. Cool before using. 5. Combine whipping cream and confectioner's sugar in a chilled medium bowl. Beat with an electric mixer at high speed until stiff peaks form. 6. With long serrated knife, split each cake layer horizontally in half. Tear one split layer into crumbs; set aside. Reserve 1 1/2 cups Frosting for decorating cake; set aside. Gently brush loose crumbs off top and side of each cake layer with pasty brush or hands. To assemble, place one cake layer on cake plate. Spread with 1 cup frosting; top with 3/4 cup cherry topping. Top with second cake layer; repeat layers of frosting and cherry topping. Top with third cake layer. Frost side of cake. Pat reserved crumbs onto frosting on side of cake. Spoon reserved frosting into pastry bag fitted with star decorator tip. Pipe around top and bottom edges of cake. Spoon remaining cherry topping onto top of cake.
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January 2022
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