Black Forest Dessert 1st Place Winner Recipes

BLACK FOREST CAKE I

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9 inch, round, cake pans; cover bottoms with waxed paper.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Combine whipping cream and confectioner's sugar in a chilled medium bowl. Beat with an electric mixer at high speed until stiff peaks form.
• 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.

BLACK FOREST CAKE RECIPE

Steps:

• To make the chocolate cake: Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C. Generously butter two 8-inch cake pans that are at least 2-inches high, and dust with cocoa powder, tapping the ramekins slightly to remove any excess.
• In a large bowl, place flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Mix until combined. Set aside.
• In a medium bowl, mix together eggs, oil, vanilla, buttermilk, and water (pour the water slowly so it won't cook the eggs). Whisk until smooth. Add egg mixture into flour mixture and mix until smooth. Don't overbeat - batter will be lumpy at first, but mix gently and eventually stir with a whisk just until smooth. The batter will be thin and liquid. That's ok.
• Scrape batter into prepared pans. Bake cakes for 30-35 minutes (depending on your oven - this might take longer), or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan before unmolding, then let cakes cool completely on a wire rack. I recommend wrapping the cakes in plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze them for several hours before cutting them. Cut each cake layer in half horizontally.
• To make the syrup: place drained cherries in a medium bowl, and add to the bowl ¼ cup Kirsch and ½ cup cherry juice from can. Leave to soak at room temperature for 30 minutes or more, then drain cherries in a sieve over a bowl, keeping both the cherries and syrup. Add more cherry juice to the syrup to get 3/4 cup syrup (you won't need the rest of the juice, discard it or save for another use). This will be the soaking syrup for the cake layers.
• To make the whipped cream: Using a stand mixer or hand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat heavy cream and powdered sugar until stiff peaks form. Read more about making perfect whipped cream here.
• Assembly: Place one cake layer on a cake stand or plate and brush with 1/3 of the cherry syrup. Cover top with a thick layer of whipped cream frosting (about 1 cup) and top with 1/3 of the cherries. Repeat twice more with remaining layers and top with the last cake layer (there's no need to soak the top layer with syrup). Frost the top and sides of the cake with whipped cream. If you want, reserve some of the whipped cream, about 1½ cups, for decorating the top. Use a pastry bag with a large flower tip, and pipe rounds around the top. Top with whole cherries. Cover the sides and top with chocolate shavings, if desired. Store cake in the fridge, covered, for up to 4 days.

BLACK FOREST CHOKECHERRY PIE

Steps:

• Divide juice into 1/2 cup and 1-1/2 cup portions.
• Mix cornstarch and 1/2 cup juice.
• Heat 1-1/2 cup juice with sugar in a non-reactive saucepan and bring to a boil.
• Add cornstarch-juice mixture; cook to thicken.
• Add salt and almond extract.
• Set aside to cool.
• To make the first layer: beat together cream cheese, powdered sugar, and whipped topping; spread in shell.
• For the second layer: reserve 1/2 cup of cooled chokecherry pudding and pour the rest over the cream cheese mixture.
• For the third layer: beat reserved 1/2 cup of chokecherry sauce into six ounces of the whipped topping.
• Spread onto pudding sauce carefully, using a spoon for best results.
• Mound the rest of the whipped topping around the edges or all in center.
• Sprinkle with slivered chocolate for garnish and place chokecherries on for decoration.
• Serve chilled.

BLACK FOREST CAKE (SCHWARZWäLDER KIRSCHTORTE)

Steps:

• Oven and cake pans: Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F (160°C fan). Grease 3 x 20cm (8") cake pans with butter, line with parchment / baking paper.
• Sift dry ingredients: Combine dry ingredients by sifting the cocoa and plain flour into a bowl. Set aside.
• Beat eggs: Beat eggs for 30 seconds on speed 6 of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, or hand beater.
• Slowly add sugar: With the beater still going, slowly pour the sugar in over 45 seconds, then add the vanilla.
• Beat 7 minutes: Beat for 7 minutes more on speed 8, or until tripled in volume and pale in colour. Don't shortcut this step; this is what makes the cake rise (there's no baking powder used).
• Fold in dry ingredients: Add the flour and cocoa mixture to the batter, folding in with a spatula until just combined (a few streaks of flour remaining is fine). Be gentle here, we don't want to knock out the air bubbles.
• Fold in butter: Add the butter and fold gently through until just combined. Once you can no longer see any flour, stop stirring.
• Fill cake pans: Pour the batter into the three prepared pans. The batter should be fairly thin and pourable.
• Bake: Place into the oven and bake for 25 minutes, until springy to the touch and a skewer inserted into the cake centre comes out clean. (Note 5 regarding shelf placement)
• Cool: Remove from the oven. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning the cakes out onto a rack to cool completely.
• Drain cherries: Drain jar of cherries, reserving liquid.
• Cherry cornflour slurry: Measure out 1/4 cup (60ml) of the reserved cherry juice and mix with the cornflour to make a slurry. Set aside.
• Make cherry syrup: Place a medium pot over medium-low heat. Add the sugar and another 1/3 cup of reserved juice. Bring to a gentle simmer to dissolve the sugar. Stir in the cornflour slurry and bring to a simmer. Cook for 1 minute, stirring, until it thickens into a thin syrup.
• Soak cherries, cool: Remove from the heat and stir in the kirsch. Pour the syrup over the drained cherries and allow to cool completely before using.
• Melt chocolate: Break up the block of chocolate and place in a microwave-safe bowl. Gently melt in microwave by heating over three 20 second bursts, stirring in between.
• Spread: Pour the melted chocolate over the back of a baking pan and spread out with a spatula as thinly as possible. Refrigerate for 3 - 4 minutes until the centre is just set.
• Scrape curls: Using something with a sharp, straight edge (I use a bench scraper, spatula or the back of a knife also works), hold it at a 45 degree angle and scrape along the tray away from you to create curls. Do a small test patch first. If the chocolate is too hard, the curls may break or flake (leave to soften slightly and try again). If the chocolate is too soft, the curls sag and won't roll (refrigerate more to harden).
• Having problems?? Don't worry! Just scrape to make shavings instead - it still looks amazing!
• Refrigerate: Carefully place curls on a plate and refrigerate until ready to use.
• Just prior to assembling, place cream, icing sugar and vanilla in a large bowl. Whip into pretty stiff peaks - about 5 minutes on high. Refrigerate until needed.
• Place one cake layer upside down on a serving platter (or cake decorating turn table, if you're a pro! :) ).
• Brush with cherry syrup: Brush the cake layer with 1/4 cup of the cherry syrup the cherries are soaking in.
• Cream layer: Spread with 1 cup of whipped cream, leaving a 1cm (1/2") border (the weight of the next cake layer gently pressed will push cream to edge).
• Layer cherries: Top the cream with half the cherries (in a single layer), using a slotted spoon to drain well (but don't pat dry, want the cherries juicy!).
• Repeat: Top with another cake layer, brush with 1/4 cup syrup, spread with 1 cup cream, top with remaining cherries, and place 3rd cake layer on top.
• Cover with cream: Reserve 1 1/2 cups whipped cream for piping cream decorations. Spread the remaining cream over the top and side of the cake. Pipe dollops around the edge of top using a large star-tipped nozzle. Top each dollop with a maraschino cherry.
• Chocolate shavings: Pile large chocolate curls in the middle (I stack in a tent shape like building a fire!). Use the smaller broken shavings to coat the base of the sides of the cake (using cold hands, scoop up shavings, press on side).
• Rest 4 hours+: Leave cake in the fridge for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight, to allow flavours to develop and syrup to really soak into the cake.
• Take out of fridge: Remove from fridge 30 minutes prior to serving (but be mindful of cream melting on hot days). Slice and serve proudly!

BLACK FOREST DESSERT 1ST PLACE WINNER

Steps:

• Mix cake as directed. Pour into 2 greased and floured 13x9 inch pans. Bake 20 minutes at 350°F Cool. Beat pudding and milk until creamy. Set aside.
• Beat cream cheese. Blend pudding into cream cheese, a little at a time. Pour over cakes.
• Pour pie Filling on this, and then spread Cool Whip on top.
• Top with Hershey Bar, that has been grated. Refrigerate. Freezes well.
• Wonderful to make ahead of time, and take out of freezer on the morning you plan to serve. Keep leftovers refrigerated. Can cut each cake into 8 or 12 pieces, depending on amount of guests. A crowd pleaser! They will ask for more!

VEGAN BLACK FOREST CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 355°F (180°C) and line the bottom of a 7-inch round baking tin with parchment paper.
• Mix the flour, corn starch, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl. Add oil and sparkling water and mix with a whisk to combine, add the baking soda and apple cider vinegar last. Fill the batter into the baking tin and bake for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely, then cut into 3 equal cake layers.
• (Optionally, you can divide the batter in 3 baking tins and bake for about 15 minutes).
• Drain cherries and collect the juice.
• Stir 2-3 tbsp of the cherry juice with sugar and starch. Bring the remaining cherry juice to a boil in a pot, stir in the starch mixture using a whisk and bring to a boil again while stirring constantly. Then remove from the heat, let cool a bit and gently fold in the cherries.
• Beat cream with an electric hand mixer on high speed for about 1 minute, then add cream stabilizer and continue beating until stiff. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, until ready to use.
• Spread half of the cherry compote evenly on the bottom cake layer, then spread over a thin layer of cream. Top with the second cake layer, spread over the remaining compote followed by another cream layer. Top with the third cake layer and frost the top and sides of the cake with remaining cream (save a small portion of the cream for the decoration and fill into a piping bag).
• Pipe 7 rounds of cream on the top of the cake and place a cherry over each one. Sprinkle with grated chocolate and refrigerate cake for at least 1 hour- before serving.
• Enjoy!

BLACK FOREST TRIFLE

Steps:

• For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 13-by-9-inch baking pan. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, salt and baking powder. Add the buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Stir until just combined. Add the coffee and mix well. Pour into the pan and bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 40 minutes.
• Cool the cake completely. Crumble the cake into medium chunks, cover, and then set aside.
• For the pudding: In a large saucepan set over medium heat, combine the cocoa, sugar, cornstarch and salt, and mix well. Whisk in the milk. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon while the mixture comes to a low boil and thickens, 7 to 9 minutes. Reduce the heat to very low. Stir a couple tablespoons of the hot mixture into the egg yolks, then stir the egg yolks back into the hot mixture to temper. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens to the consistency of pudding, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding to prevent a skin from forming, and then cool.
• For the whipped cream: Using an electric mixer set on high speed, beat the cream, sugar and vanilla until stiff peaks form.
• Place half of the cake crumbles in the bottom of a trifle dish. Top with half of the pudding, then half of the cherries, and half of the whipped cream. Repeat the layering with the remaining cake, pudding, cherries and whipped cream. Save a few cherries or cake crumbs to garnish the top layer. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 1 day.