CAKES MADE WITH CHOCOLATE SPONGE CAKE: The Black Forest cake is quite a spectacular cake to make at home. It will take a few practise runs to get it right, but the result will be well-worth the efforts.

BLACK FOREST CAKE:

 

 

 

1 chocolate sponge cake; see posted basic recipe

filling:

    2 cups whipping cream                               

    4 tbsp. icing sugar

    1 x 14 oz. can pitted black cherries            

    ¼ cup arrowroot or cornstarch

    1 ½ -2 oz. Kirsch liqueur                            

chocolate flakes and curls****

red Maraschino cherries to decorate

 

 

 

To make filling: Drain cherries and reserve juice. Put cherries in a saucepan. Mix arrowroot/cornstarch with enough cherry juice to make into a thick paste. Add rest of cherry juice to saucepan. Bring cherries and juice to a gentle boil over medium heat. Add in cornstarch solution, stirring continuously and continue to cook until mixture comes to a boil. Boil for a few seconds. If mixture is too thick, dilute it by adding in a little cold water. The mixture should be very thick, but not solid. Transfer cherries mixture to a bowl and allow to cool completely.

 

Whip cream until soft peaks form; then add in icing sugar. Continue to whip until stiff.

 

Slice cooled cake horizontally into 3 layers and place bottom layer on a serving platter or cake stand. Sprinkle 1/3 of the kirsch on top. Spread cherry mixture over this layer and top with a second layer of cake. Soak this layer with ½ of the remaining kirsch and spread a good layer of whipped cream on top. Top this with the top piece of sponge and sprinkle the rest of liqueur over it. 

 

Ice the sides and top of cake with whipped cream, saving enough cream into a piping bag with ½-inch star nozzle attached. Coat the sides of cake with chocolate flakes. Lightly mark top of cake into 8 portions and pipe a rosette of cream in the middle of each portion. Top each rosette with half a maraschino cherry. Sprinkle top layer of cake with more chocolate curls and flakes.

 

 

 

****To make chocolate flakes:  Melt 2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate. Spread it thinly over a cold surface, marble preferably, or on a couple of cold dinner plates.  Refrigerate slightly to set chocolate. When chocolate has just set, draw a long, straight-edge knife across the chocolate, pushing forward as you draw through. This should cause the chocolate to roll and flake. Refrigerate chocolate flakes until needed****