Black Forest Cake
Chocolate and cherry are a classic pairing in this traditional cake from the southwest region of Germany, which has inspired our own mile-high rendition.
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 cup Double-Dutch Dark Cocoa or Dutch-process cocoa
- 2 cups King Arthur Unbleached Cake Flour
- 2 cups sugar
- ½ cup buttermilk powder*
- 2 tablespoons Cake Enhancer, optional, for moist texture
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups water*
- 2/3 cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs
- *Or substitute 2 cups liquid buttermilk for the buttermilk powder and water.
Filling
- 28.5-ounce jar Sour Cherry Pie Filling, or 1 can cherry pie filling
- 1/8 teaspoon cherry flavor, optional
- 3 cups heavy cream
- ¼ cup confectioners' sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 ounces grated dark chocolate
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease two 9" cake round cake pans.
- To make the cake: Combine the cocoa, flour, sugar, buttermilk powder, cake enhancer, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the water, oil, and vanilla. Gradually beat the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating until well blended. Pour the batter into the prepared pans.
- Bake the cakes until a tester comes out clean, about 25 to 30 minutes. Cool the cakes in the pans for 15 minutes, then turn them out onto a rack to cool completely.
- To make the filling: If you're using a jar of sour cherry pie filling, strain the cherries from the syrup and reserve both; add the cherry flavor to the syrup. If you're using canned pie filling, don't drain; if you're using cherry flavor, simply stir it into the pie filling.
- Whip the cream, slowly adding the sugar, and then the vanilla. Whip until stiff peaks form.
- To assemble the cake: Cut each layer in half horizontally. Place the first layer on a cake board or plate and brush a coating of cherry syrup over the surface. If you're using canned pie filling and don't have cherry syrup, skip this step.
- Spread a 1/2" layer of cream onto the cake, and top with 1/3 of the cherries. Repeat with two more layers of cake-syrup-cream-cherries, and top with the final layer of cake.
- Use the remaining cream to coat the sides and top of the cake. Decorate with the grated chocolate. Refrigerate the cake until you're ready to serve, up to a few hours; the whipped cream in the filling will gradually deflate, so better to serve this cake sooner rather than later.
Tips from our bakers
- For a more traditional kirsch-infused cake, simply stir 2 to 4 tablespoons of kirsch liqueur into the pie filling before assembling the finished cake. This will also help the syrup soak more readily into the cake.
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Reviews
Made this gluten free using the KAF GF flour blend. I did use 1/4 cup of cornstarch and 1/4 cup less flour and no cake enhancer. It came out fantastic! No one knew it was GF as they gobbled it up. I did not use pie filling for the inside, used frozen black cherries with a little water and cornstarch, no sugar. Will definitely add this to our list of go to cakes!
Amazing. Make it. This is the 4th time I have made this recipe and everyone always loves it.
"PERFECTION CAKE" is what I nicknamed this recipe, I have it written down and taped up to the inside of my cupboard door. I do not believe there is a better, finer cake recipe in existence than this one. The texture is s fine, so cohesive that I may use it in making Petit Fours in future. The cake itself is not TOO sweet- just enough sweetness and no more. The crumb is very fine, yet it does not crumble - there is no dryness, yet no syrupy stickiness either. See what I mean? Perfect. I use real buttermilk and not the powder, I have not ever baked it with the powder. Instead of Cherry Pie Filling I went with Bonne Maman Cherry Preserves. You can use mini-chocolate chips instead of chocolate curls, if you don't grate any chocolate. I am so glad King Arthur people made this recipe, it is so wonderful. If you have company, and you wish to wow them then please make this cake. If you follow the recipe, you will not fail.
This was a big hit for an Oktoberfest party! I made the cake exactly as written (with liquid buttermilk and no cake enhancer). Used canned sour cherries and brushed cake with kirschwasser. I did use a bit more sugar in the whipped cream, 1/2 cup. The only change I will make next time will be to seek better quality cherries, and perhaps try to find clear jel.
Delicious! This is my favorite cake, but sometimes hard to find, so I was glad to have found this recipe. I made it yesterday for the first time, and loved it. I made a nonalcoholic substitution for the kirsch using cherry juice instead. It was still great.
I made this cake recipe and it came out wonderful. I used the buttermilk option rather than the powder. The moisture was perfect. I used mascarpone instead of whipped cream for the icing and added Kirsch to the cake. It's going to a birthday party and I hope everyone enjoys it.
I've made this cake recipe twice. Both times it has turned out delicious, moist, and tender. The first time I use it in the black forest cake recipe with cherries, the second time with raspberry filling and chocolate buttercream. My new favorite chocolate cake!
The cakes turned out tasty, but too flat to easily split in half for layering. I wonder whether there might be a mistake in the recipe regarding the order in which the ingredients are added? I read in the answer to a review from another reader that a flat cake can be the result of overheating the cake or adding too much flour. I was careful with the amount of flour, but followed the instruction when they stated to incorporate the liquid ingredients with the dry ones and THEN add each egg separately and mix well after each addition. While doing that I was wondering about overbearing. Wouldn't it make more sense to add the eggs to the wet ingredients, mixing well, and then add everything to the dry ingredients with less stirring? Please help with your input...Thanks for reporting back on your experience with this recipe, Susanne. Weâre glad to hear that you so enjoyed the flavor but sorry the layers came out too flat to split. There are many different paths to a tasty cake, as well as many reasons a cake can come out denser and flatter than intended. Over-creaming is one, measuring out a heavy cup of flour and/or an oven that runs cool are others. While weâve had good results with the instructions as written (despite the possibility for overbeating), weâre curious to see if thereâs more we can do to help ensure a full rise. If our additional testing leads to any changes or added tips, weâll be sure to report back in the recipe headnotes, so stay tuned! Mollie@KAF
I adapted this recipe to be gluten free and cupcake sized. I substituted the flour for a mix of KAF gf blends (I only had 1 1/2 c of the baking mix, so I used 1/2 c of the measure for measure, too) and added a tsp of xantham gum for good measure. They were awesome! The batter made more than 24 cupcakes, so I had some in a 3 cup baking dish on the side. I put the batter together before I preheated the oven since I like to let gf batters sit for a few minutes before I use them. Before I put them in the lined muffin cups I gave the batter another quick stir. It was thick, but really easy to work with and rose like a dream! They took about 25 minutes to cook. After they were cool I cored the cupcakes, filled them, and topped with whipped cream and Haribo cherry gummies. I filled half of them with straight cherry pie filling and half of them with a mixture of chopped cherry pie filling and booze soaked cherries (we keep a jar in the liquor cabinet). They were definitely a hit, and I'll be using this chocolate cake recipe for GF chocolate cupcakes in the future. Thanks, KAF!!!
I have many German friends and have made Black Forest Cakes with them. One thing that is always added is a sprinkling of Kirschwasser (cherry type of liquor) on each layer of cake before frosting. This adds a great authentic flavor to this cake.