I've been wanting to share this recipe with you for ages. Unfortunately, exams came and went, i started complaining about all my grades, I baked more comfort foods that I just didn't feel like posting, and I kind of forgot about this beauty.
I think you know what I mean.
Apologies for the lack of photos. I had exams and oh well my mind slipped off. And sorry no photos of the inside, because we finished it too quickly hehehe.
I can't say this is a real blackforest cake. Because it doesn't look like one. Mainly because I'm not a big fan of plain whipped cream. Sorry, I'm that chocoholic gal that needs chocolate in everycake, in the cake and frosting and everything.
I made this for Mother's Day and my mum was all oohs and aahs about the roses, but she was like "Are you sure this is a blackforest cake?".
So let's just call this a chocolate blackforest cake haha.
The cake starts off with the layers. A rich chocolate cake made with all cocoa. I love all cocoa chocolate cakes. Firstly, because it saves me the trouble of having to melt chocolate, and secondly because it's packed with much more chocolate flavour and dark chocolatey goodness that melted chocolate.
Anyway, all you need to make this cake is a bowl and spoon. Really. It's very very easy. No mixer required!
I filled the layers with chocolate whipped cream and canned cherries that I gently smashed with a fork.
The frosting on top is my favourite chocolate cream cheese frosting. Super easy and not too sweet. You can adjust this frosting by adding more milk of cocoa. You need the frosting to be relatively firm to pipe the roses so they would hold their shape. You can use your favourite buttercream frosting, but I love my cream cheese frosting because it's firm, chocolatey and the best frosting ever.
Blackforest Cake Recipe
Chocolate cake
Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp espresso powder
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
Directions
Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius. Grease and flour 3 8-inch baking tins.
Sift together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and soda, salt and espresso powder.
Add milk, oil, eggs and vanilla to the dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Add the boiling water and beat for one minutes to add air into the batter.
Divide the cake batter evenly between 3 cake pans and bake for 25-30 minutes, until the toothpick inserted comes out clean. Leave the cool and chill until ready to assemble.
Filling
Ingredients
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4 tbs sugar
2 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup (240ml) heavy cream
1 can of canned cherries, in heavy syrup
Place the vanilla extract, 3 tablespoons of sugar, and cocoa powder in the cold bowl.
Stir in about 2 tablespoons of the cream to form a thick paste (this will dissolve the cocoa powder).
Then add the rest of the cream and beat just until stiff peaks form.
Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. Makes about 2 cups (480 ml) whipped cream.
Drain the cherries and reserve about half of the syrup. Lightly mash the cherries with a fork or potato masher.
Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1-1/2 to 2 cups of icing/ confectioners sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
Mix the cream cheese and until smooth and fluffy gradually add the cocoa poster and icing sugar until the frosting is thick and smooth.
Add the vanilla extract. Add 1 tsp of milk or icing suagr if mixture is too thick or thin.
To assemble
Place a layer of the chocolate cake on a 9-inch cake board. Brush the cake layer with the reserved cherry syrup.
Spread a thin layer of chocolate whipped cream and generously place the drained and lightly mashed cherries on top.
Place another cake layer on top and press lightly. Repeat with the cherry syrup, whipped cream and cherries.
Place the last cake layer on top. Crumb coat the cake with the remained chocolate whipped cream. Give it only a very thin layer of frosting just to seal in the crumbs and let the rose frosting stick to the cake. Chill for at least 1 hour, or until the whipped cream sets.
Place the chocolate cream cheese frosting into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip.
Placing the piping bag vertically to the surface of the cake, starting from the bottom, pipe circles from the inside spiralling outwards. Pipe a row of roses, then pipe another row on top in between the roses.
Continue piping roses until you cover the entire surface of the cake. Let chill to set the frosting and serve.
A stunning 3-layer cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting and cherries. I've been wanting to share this recipe with you for ages. Unf...
