Black Forrest Cherry Cake

• Produce

  • 2 lbs Cherries, fresh dark
  • 1 Cherries, fresh
  • 1 Mint, fresh leaves

• Refrigerated

  • 2 Eggs

• Baking & Spices

  • 1 3/4 cup All-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp Baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp Baking soda
  • 1 cup Cocoa
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 4 1/2 cups Sugar
  • 2 tsp Vanilla extract

• Oils & Vinegars

  • 1/2 cup Vegetable oil

• Drinks

  • 1 cup Coffee

• Dairy

  • 3 cups Heavy cream
  • 1 cup Milk

• Beer, Wine & Liquor

  • 1/2 cup Kirsch

• Liquids

  • 2 3/4 cup Water

• Other

  • 8-12 ounces good bitter-sweet or semi-sweet chocolate for shavings or curls

Found on savorthebest.com

Description

Ingredients

• 1 cup (80g) cocoa (not Dutch processed)
• 1 cup boiling coffee
• 2 cups sugar (400g)
• 1 ¾ cup (254g) all purpose flour
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 pounds (3 cups) fresh dark cherries
• 2 cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup sugar
• ¾ cup water
• ⅓ cup Kirsch
• 3 cups chilled heavy cream
• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ cup Kirsch
• 8-12 ounces good bitter-sweet or semi-sweet chocolate for shavings or curls
• Fresh cherries, with stems and not pitted, for garnish
• Fresh mint leaves for garnish

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350°. Line the bottom of two 9 inch cake pans with parchment paper, grease and flour the sides. (The parchment paper will make the cake come out much easier than just grease and flour)
• In a medium bowl, whisk the boiling coffee and cocoa together until smooth. Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, add the sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Using a whisk, blend and sift the ingredients together.
• Add the eggs, milk, oil, vanilla, and the cocoa mixture to the dry ingredients. Mix on low speed for 30 seconds until the dry ingredients are moist. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and beat for another minute. The batter will be thin.
• Pour the batter into the two prepared pans and place in the center of the preheated oven. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean.
• Let cool in the cake pans for 5 to 10 minutes then run a knife around the edge of the pans to loosen the cake from the pans. Invert the cakes onto a cooling rack and remove the parchment paper. (At this point if you re-invert the cakes onto another rack and let them cool with their tops up, they will retain more height and the tops of the cakes will not stick to the cooling rack.)
• While the cake is baking and cooling wash, stem, pit the cherries, cut them in half and reserve while preparing the poaching syrup. Add the sugar and water to a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the prepared cherries and bring the saucepan back to a boil again, then remove from the heat and allow to sit in the syrup for 10 minutes. Pour the cherries through a colander and when the liquid has drained off, pour the cherries onto a plate or baking sheet that has been lined thickly with paper towels. Blot the cherries with additional paper towels to remove as much moisture as possible. Reserve the cherries until time to assemble the cake.
• Add the sugar and water to a small saucepan and bring it to a boil over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Boil, uncovered, for five minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to lukewarm. Whisk in the cherry brandy. Set aside.
• Add the cream to a large bowl that has been chilled, a stand mixer with the whisk attachment is best, beat the cream to a light thickness, sprinkle in the sugar and continue to beat the cream until stiff peaks form. Pour in the ¼ cup of kirsch in a thin stream while the mixer is running and mix only until it is blended.
• To assemble the cake:
• Slice each layer of cake in half horizontally by placing each layer of cake on a turntable and use a serrated knife to slice through the cake as you turn the turntable. This will give you 4 layers to fill and stack. Lay the layers out on parchment paper with the cut side up and drizzle with the syrup.
• Place the first layer on the cake plate with the cut side up. Add a thick layer of the whipped cream and one-third of the cherries. Repeat with the next two layers and finish with the last layer.
• Cover the top layer and the sides with the remaining whipped cream. Press chocolate shavings, grating or curls into the sides of the cake. Place the cherries with stems on top of the in the center and tuck in some pretty green mint.
• Refrigerate until ready to serve.