Black Forest Cake

This Recipes takes about 1 hour to prepare.I have not included the detailed pictures since I had to make this cake for my Father in law for Fathers Day within a short span of time.

Preparation time: 1 hour

Serving: 8 slices

Ingredients

Baking Flour - 2 cups

Sugar -2 cups

Unsweetened Cocoa powder - 3/4 cup, unsweetened

Baking soda - 1 1/2 teaspoons

Baking powder - 1 teaspoon

Salt - pinch

Milk - 1 cup

Vegetable Oil - 1/2 cup

Vanilla essence - 1 teaspoon

coffee powder - 1 1/2 tablespoons(I used Bru)

water - 1 cup

Eggs - 2

Whipped cream - 2 cups (see recipe below)

Maraschino Cherries-1 Tin

Chocolate Shavings- 1/2 cup

Procedure:

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour two 9" cake pans.

2.Heat the water and add coffee powder to it, boil and keep aside.

3.In a large bowl, sieve the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

4.Beat the eggs and keep aside.

5.Mix the sugar, milk, oil, vanilla essence and beaten eggs.

6.Combine the dry and wet ingredients and hot coffee water and mix only until all ingredients are combined. Over beating the mixture can cause your cake to become hard.

7.Transfer the cake batter onto the cake pans and bake in the middle rack of the oven for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

8.Let the baked cake sit in the pan for 30 minutes on a wire rack and then invert the cake onto the wire rack and let it cool completely.

9.For the icing and layer the cake needs to have a flat top. You can take the risen part off from the cake by slicing off the top layer with a serrated knife.

10.Take the can of tinned cherries and drain the liquid into a pan. For every one cup of syrup add 3 tablespoons of powdered sugar and warm it a little until sugar is melted. Do not boil.

11,On a turntable, place a cake board (available in micheals).Place 1 layer of cake on it with the flat side on top.

12.Pour 5 to 6 tablespoons of cherry syrup over the entire cake layer covering the entire cake. Too much syrup will make the cake mushy.  

13.Using an angled spatula spread a cup of whipped cream, leaving the edges. Spread cherries on top.

14.Place another layer of cake over the  cream, pour cherry syrup on top.

15.Place 1 cup of whipped cream on top.Spread it out.Lay your angled spatula such that the tip is in the center of the cake and the flat part is touching the cake from centre towards the outside rim.

16.Rotate the turntable slowly never allowing the spatula to touch the cake surface or to pull already spread icing from the cake surface. This will give you a smooth surface of whipped cream.

17.Spread half cup of whipped cream on the side. Smooth sides by holding the spatula upright with the edge against the icing and slowly spinning the turntable without lifting the spatula from the icings’s surface. Return excess icing to the bowl and repeat until sides are smooth or you can use a cake comb for lines on the side all around the cake.

18. Place cherries in a circle on top of the cake or you can pipe whipped cream into peaks and place the cherry on top of that.You can decorate as you please.

19.Sprinkle Chocolate shavings on top and all along the sides.

20.Place the cake in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours for the icing and flavors to set before serving.

Whipped cream recipe

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups heavy cream

1/2 cup powdered sugar(more if you want it sweeter)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Procedure:

1.Chill the clean bowl of a stand mixer and the whisk attachment in the freezer for 10 minutes.
2.Add all of the ingredients to the bowl and whisk with a hand mixer on high speed until medium peaks form, about 1-2 minutes.


Whipped cream is very gentle and for it to hold its shape for cake decorating we can add 1 tablespoon of gelatin stabilizer(see recipe below) or agar-agar(vegetarians) in the same quantity to the above heavy cream before whipping.
Gelatin Stabilizer:
Plain Powdered Gelatin 1 packet(1/4 ounce)(I used knox)
Cold Water 1/4 cup 
Boiling Water 1/4 cup
Procedure:
1.Place the gelatin in the cold water. Let it stand for about 5 minutes.
2.Add the boiled water to the gelatin mixture and stir to dissolve.

                               

Tips

Do not let the cake batter sit after mixing as it will not rise and you will have a hard cake.

It's better to ice after the cake has completely cooled and in a cool room, the whipped cream is very sensitive to temperature and can melt on your cake if it is hot or if the room is too hot.

You can buy the store bought whipping cream like cool whip to avoid the hassle of preparation, just place it in the refrigerator the night before to thaw.

I used Maraschino cherries in light syrup so the dark color. You will get bright red ones in the stores.

The trick to keeping crumbs out of your cream is gliding your spatula over the icing and never allowing it to touch the surface of the cake and also placing a large amount of easily spreadable icing on the center of the cake and spreading it.

Always Refrigerate any cake or dessert that is made with whipped cream as it is highly perishable.

Do not store whipped cream for more than a day, it will lose its volume.