Black Forest Cake

By Melanie Dupuis & Anne Cazor

Black Forest Cake | MiNDFOOD Online Recipes & Tips

This decadent Black Forest cake is the ultimate indulgence. 

SERVES 10

TIME TO MAKE

Preparation: 2 hours
Cooking: 15–25 minutes
Refrigeration: 30 minutes
Freezing: 1 hour 10 minutes

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT

Large serrated knife
24 cm dessert ring 5 cm high
Acetate cake band (used to prevent desserts from sticking to the cake tin when unmoulding)

CHOCOLATE GENOESE SPONGE

300 g egg (6 eggs)
190 g caster sugar
140 g plain flour
45 g cocoa powder

CHANTILLY CREAM

400 g whipping cream (30% fat)
60 g icing sugar
1 vanilla bean

CREAMY GANACHE

250 g milk
50 g egg yolk
50 g caster sugar
125 g dark chocolate

SHINY DARK CHOCOLATE ICING

120 g water
100 g whipping cream (30% fat)
220 g caster sugar
80 g cocoa powder
8 g leaf gelatine

FILLING

250 g Morello cherries in syrup or Amarena cherries

CHERRY SOAKING SYRUP

200 g syrup from the cherry tin
80 g caster sugar
80 g water

CHABLON

30 g cooking chocolate

DECORATION

chocolate shavings (page 274)
gold powder (optional)

  1. To make the cherry soaking syrup, bring the cherry syrup, sugar and water to the boil. Remove from the heat and set aside. Reserve fourteen cherries as decoration. Make the Genoese sponge (page 32) and let it cool. Sit the dessert ring on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Line the inside of the ring with a strip of acetate cake band.
  2. Using a large serrated knife, cut the cake in three horizontally. Add a chablon to the base of the bottom layer (page 280), then place in the prepared tin with the chablon side sitting on the baking paper.
  3. Douse this layer in the soaking syrup (page 278).
  4. Make the creamy ganache (page 72). Using a dough scraper or a silicone spatula, cover the bottom cake layer with 250 g ganache and half the cherries, pushing them in gently. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  5. Fill a piping bag (page 272) with 200 g Chantilly cream (page 62), and distribute the cream over the ganache layer. Lay the second cake layer on top and douse it in the soaking syrup. Pipe the remaining chantilly cream over this layer and add the rest of the cherries.
  6. Cover with the last cake layer, douse it in the remaining soaking syrup, and cover with the remaining ganache, setting aside 100 g for the end, and smooth out with a palette knife (page 274). Freeze for 30 minutes.
  7. Make the shiny dark chocolate icing (page 76) and let it cool. Take the cake out, remove from the tin and take off the acetate band. Using a palette knife, spread the reserved 100 g ganache around the sides and return to the freezer for 30 minutes. Place the cake on a wire rack over a baking tray, then pour over the dark chocolate icing and smooth it out with a palette knife to make a thin layer all over. Return to the freezer for 10 minutes.
  8. Collect the surplus icing and remelt it over a water bath or in the microwave. Fill a piping bag with the icing. Take out the cake, make a small hole in the bag and pipe lines of icing over the top of the cake. Garnish the sides with chocolate shavings (page 274), pipe fourteen little rosettes of Chantilly cream on top, and place a cherry in the middle of each rosette. Dust the cake with the gold powder (optional).

CREATING A CHABLON LAYER

A chablon is a thin layer of chocolate applied on a sponge or cake base, which hardens as it dries and stops the cake sticking. Use classic cooking chocolate. Don’t temper it. Melt it in a water bath, pour it over the cake and spread it out as thinly as possible using a palette knife. Leave to harden. During assembly, put the chocolate side down on a sheet of baking paper.

MAKING A SUGAR SYRUP

Use clean and dry utensils. Weigh the water then the sugar and pour them gently into a saucepan, without mixing. Clean any crystals from the side of the pan using a wet pastry brush. Heat over medium heat.

DOUSING DESSERTS IN SYRUP

Dousing a cake in alcohol syrup: dip a pastry brush in the syrup and tap on the cake to moisten it. It must be completely moistened without being soaked. To test: press on the cake with a finger; syrup should appear.

USING A PIPING BAG

PIPING BAGS

Disposable piping bags are ideal because they pose no hygiene problems. You can use a piping bag without a piping nozzle to fill a tart case cleanly, pass from one dessert piece to another or pipe fine lines with icing. Cut the end of the bag to the desired size, fill it, then pinch the end between your thumb and index finger to control the flow.

FILLING A PIPING BAG

Put the chosen nozzle in the bag. Mark or nick the end of the bag where the nozzle sits correctly. Lift the nozzle and cut along the mark. Put the nozzle in place, twist the bag just above it and push the twisted part into the bottom of the nozzle so the mixture doesn’t run out before you start piping. Fold the top of the bag back over your hand. Use a silicone spatula to put the mixture in the bag, scraping the spatula against the hand holding the bag. Fill to two-thirds maximum to avoid the bag overflowing. Pull the top of the bag back up and give it a quarter turn while pushing the mixture towards the tip. Pull on the nozzle to remove the ‘cork’ and turn the bag to make the mixture move down.

COVERING WITH CHOCOLATE SHAVINGS

The dessert must be glazed or covered with cream: the surface must be sticky so the shavings adhere. Manipulate the shavings quickly to avoid them melting. Sprinkle them uniformly over the top of the dessert. To cover the sides, take a handful and press them against the dessert.

MAKING A DOME WITH A PALETTE KNIFE

Pipe the cream from a piping bag fitted with a large plain piping nozzle. Smooth from the top to the bottom using a palette knife to make a dome, either rounded or pointed. The palette knife must be held completely flat to avoid dislodging the cream with each stroke.

GENOESE SPONGE

Preparation: 30 minutes
Cooking: 15–25 minutes

VARIATIONS

Chocolate sponge: replace 30g of the flour with 30g cocoa powder.
Lemon sponge: add the zest of 1 lemon to the dough.
Vanilla sponge: add the seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean to the dough.

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT

24 cm round cake tin 5 cm high, or 30 cm × 40 cm baking tray
Sugar thermometer

Baking

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease the cake tin and line the sides and base with baking paper.
  2. Prepare a water bath. Put the egg and the sugar in a stainless-steel bowl.
  3. When the water is simmering, place the bowl over the saucepan; the bowl must not touch the water. Whisk the mixture, trying to incorporate as much air as possible, until it reaches a temperature of 50°C.
  4. Remove the bowl from the water bath and continue whisking until the mixture has cooled. If the batter is well made, the mixture should be at ribbon stage. Fold in the flour using a silicone spatula.
  5. Immediately pour the mixture into the prepared tin, spreading it out with the spatula as necessary. Bake for 15–25 minutes, depending on the thickness of the sponge.

PREPARING A WATER BATH

A water bath (bain-marie) heats ingredients with steam rather than direct contact with a heat source. The heat on the mixtures is less intense, which means it heats them gently. This prevents chocolate from burning or eggs from coagulating. Take a large saucepan and a stainless-steel bowl that will rest on the edge without being in contact with the water. Put water in the saucepan and heat it (it must be simmering). Put the ingredient/s in the bowl and the bowl on the saucepan, double-checking it does not touch the water.

RECOGNISING RIBBON STAGE

For yolks: whisk the yolks and the sugar. The consistency should be silky and smooth for it to tumble from the spatula in a continuous stream. The mixture will fall like a ribbon folding back on itself. For whites: when a macaron base is well mixed, you will obtain a ribbon.

CREAMY GANACHE

Preparation: 30 minutes

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT

Sugar thermometer
Strainer

TIP

For some uses, slightly increase the quantity of chocolate in order to obtain a stiffer mixture.

  1. Blanch the egg yolk and sugar using a whisk.
  2. Bring the milk to the boil. When it rises to the top of the pan, pour half of it into the egg yolk and sugar mixture. Stir, then pour back into the saucepan.
  3. Return to the cooktop over medium heat, stirring constantly with a spatula, until the crème anglaise coats the back of the spatula (83–85°C).
  4. Strain the crème anglaise into the chocolate. Mix. Refrigerate until ready to use.

BLANCHING EGG YOLKS

Whisk the egg yolks with sugar to obtain a foamy mixture. It will double in volume. The process of homogenisation will take several minutes and is achieved faster with an electric whisk.

CHANTILLY CREAM

Refrigeration: 30 minutes
Preparation: 15 minutes

VARIATIONS

Praline chantilly cream: add 30 g praline.
Pistachio chantilly cream: add 10 g pistachio paste.
Mascarpone chantilly cream (thicker and firmer than classic chantilly cream): add 1 tablespoon mascarpone.

ORGANISATION & STORAGE

Cooling the utensils – whipping
Keeps for 3 days in the refrigerator; if it starts to sink, whip it again a little.

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT

Electric mixer with whisk attachment, or hand mixer

TIP

Have the cream and utensils very cold, to stabilise the fat content

AT WHAT POINT SHOULD THE SUGAR BE ADDED AND WHY?

To avoid the chantilly cream destabilising when the sugar is incorporated, it is preferable to add it at the beginning. That way, it will be dissolved in the cream.

  1. Refrigerate the utensils and the cream (utensils. For 30 minutes, cream for 2 hours). Put the cream, icing sugar and vanilla bean seeds in the bowl of an electric mixer.
  2. Whisk gently to mix the sugar and vanilla into the cream.
  3. Whisk at full speed to whip the cream to stiff peaks: it should not be at all shiny. Use immediately or set aside in the refrigerator.

SHINY DARK CHOCOLATE ICING

Preparation: 15 minutes

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT

Strainer
Hand-held blender

ORGANISATION & STORAGE

The icing can be reheated in a water bath if necessary. Keeps for 1 week in the refrigerator and for 3 months in the freezer.

  1. Hydrate the gelatine (page 270). Bring the water, cream and sugar to the boil. Stir.
  2. Remove from the cooktop and add the drained gelatine and the cocoa. Whisk to combine
  3. Blend with a hand-held blender to avoid lumps and bubbles of cocoa. Strain (page.270). Use warm.

HYDRATING GELATINE

Leaf gelatine has been dehydrated and must be rehydrated in order to melt it into a mixture. If it isn’t hydrated well, it will absorb any missing water from the mixture itself, causing it to shrink. Immerse the gelatine in a bowl of very cold water (it melts at low temperatures). Let it soak for at least 15 minutes, then drain it and squeeze it between your hands before adding it to the mixture. Gelatine ‘glues’ mixtures together; in other words, it gives them their structure. The setting time is quite quick. Use the mixture straight away, so that the gelling power kicks in as soon as the mixture is put in place, or set it aside and whisk it before using to restore its consistency.

This is an edited extract from Patisserie by Melanie Dupuis & Anne Cazor published by Hardie Grant $59.99 available in the MiNDFOOD Store now.  

 

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