Fauzia’s Kitchen Fun

Black Forest Cake

Fauzia's Kitchen Fun

Servings : Serves 10-12

I’ve recently been experimenting with my Black Forest Cake recipe, and have landed on this awesome version whereby I have modified my Strawberry & Cream Sponge cake recipe for a chocolaty, moist, light and gorgeous version. The instructions may appear lengthy, it is only because they are detailed which will help guide you through each step so you end up with a moist perfect cake.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cups cake flour (150 gm) - instructions on how to make cake flour can be found below
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder (30gm)
  • 1 level tsp baking powder
  • 6 eggs (at room temperature)
  • 1 cup fine castor sugar (200gm)
  • 2 pinches of salt
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 2 tbsp milk
  • 2 tsp. vanilla

Ingredients for Syrup

  • 6 tbsp sugar
  • 9 tbsp hot water
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla

Ingredients for Frosting

  • 600 ml whipping cream
  • 2 tbsp icing sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence
  • 3 cups sliced strawberries for the layers
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • whole cherries or strawberries for garnish
  • chocolate shavings for garnish

Instructions

If you do not have cake flour, you can make your own by simply measuring 1 1/4 cups plain/all purpose flour, then remove 2 and a half tbsp from it and substitute with 2 and a half tbsp of cornflour/cornstarch.  Sieve together and use as per the recipe.

First prepare the syrup. Mix the sugar in hot water until dissolved and then add the vanilla. Set this aside for later. Also, macerate your sliced strawberries by sprinkling the 2 tbsp sugar on them, cover and refrigerate to make them soft and juicy for the cake filling later.

Preheat the oven at 170C.

Grease and line two 8″ round pans, then grease over the parchment paper and dust the inside of each pan lightly with flour.

Sift the flour with the cocoa powder and baking powder 3 times, then add the salt to it and set aside. These will be your dry ingredients.

Put the butter and milk in a small heatproof bowl and set aside.

Take a pan filled a quarter-way with water and put in on the heat, allow it to gently heat up but not come to a rolling boil.  We will need this to act as a double boiler in a little while.

Put the eggs and castor sugar in a large bowl and beat using a hand mixer for 1 minute. Then place this bowl over the prepared pan of simmering water and continue beating the egg mixture for 3 minutes. Remove the bowl from the double boiler and turn off the heat. Place the bowl with the butter and milk in this hot water so that it melts gently. Take care that the water does not go into the butter/milk mixture.

In the meantime, continue beating the egg mixture for another 5 mintues until thickened. Then take a hand whisk and whisk the egg mixture for a few seconds just to make sure everything is well combined.

Now put the dry ingredients in a sieve and sift ALL of it gently over the egg mixture. Using a spantula, fold the flour into the egg mixture using long gentle strokes, you can count the strokes, they should not exceed 40. Then add the vanilla and the melted butter/milk mixture. Again, fold the mixture with your spatula using gentle strokes, this time not more than 60 strokes to ensure everything is well mixed. Be very gentle and use a light hand to avoid deflating the batter too much.

Once done, pour the batter into the prepared pans. Tap the pans once on the counter to get rid of any air bubbles. Then bake in the preheated oven for about 23-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Careful not to over bake.

Immediately on taking the pans out of the oven, tap them on the counter (pick the pan and drop gently a couple of times) to prevent the cake from shrinking as it cools.

Now turn the cakes over on a rack but do not remove the pans.  Let the pans cool down until they are easy to handle with your hands without getting burnt.

In the meantime, whip your cream with icing sugar and vanilla and keep it ready.

Remove the pans, remove the greaseproof paper.  Slice each cake in half, drizzle or brush the sugar syrup all over the cut halves, then on each layer add sliced macerated strawberries.  Cover the strawberries with whipped cream, put the second half of the cake and cream that as well.  Continue until you have your 4 layers of cake stalked with strawberries and cream filling between the layers.  Cover the entire cake with more whipped cream. Decorate the top with chocolate shavings and whole cherries or strawberries. Chill until the cream sets and enjoy your yummy cake!

Enjoy!  🙂

25 thoughts on “Black Forest Cake”
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25 Replies

  • Wow…I liked this recipe. .
    Wow…I liked this recipe. ..I wanna make it…
    I don’t understand hand mixture…
    Please explain me on what’s hand mixture is it electric mixture….
    How can you take the plugged in wire reach the gas cooker to mix the eggs with the beater…I didn’t got you …please assist me

    • Thank you. Not a hand mixture
      Thank you. Not a hand mixture but a hand MIXER. It is an electric mixer for mixing cakes that you have to hold as you mix. I have a socket outlet right next to my cooker so it is not a big deal for me to move the mixer closer.

  • Salam fauzia,
    Salam fauzia,
    Hope you are in good health.
    I have tried almost every cake of yours and all of them are super moist and fantastic but the only problem i face is that bottom of my cake get burnt. i have tried placing them in all three racks but that is of no use. it always take more time in baking than you said. i have to bake it longer because the upper part didn’t get cooked.
    can you please tell me what is wrong because when i remove the bottom burnt layer rest of the cake is perfect.

  • i want to make different
    i want to make different designs of fresh cream icing..for trial purpose..can i make fresh cream icing without base cake ? any trick..no need to waste base cake..so asking

  • Dear Fauzia I love and tried
    Dear Fauzia I love and tried most of your recipes.Please guide me which fruit can be used instead of Strawberry bcs these are not available in these days? Jazaka Allah

  • Aoa Mam I HV bought whipping
    Aoa Mam I HV bought whipping cream in which I HV to mix milk and then whip it….will the stiff peaks form with such cream, I tried but it was not nailed.I need some tip to decorate the cream cake with cream.

  • As salaam waleikum how are
    As salaam waleikum how are you?

    I don’t remember if I posted my comments or not. If I did sorry.

    I will try this cake this week, I am a bit anxious as it will be the second time only that I am baking a cake by myself. the first time was your chocolate yogurt cake which turned out awesome.

    I am planning to make the cake a day ahead so I will have it for the next morning. Can I bake the cake, put the cream,etc. complete it all the day before? In your other black forest recipe, a girl asked you about putting the cream the next day and you said that the cake should be well wrapped to avoid losing moisture, if I put the cream and everything the day before, will it be moist?

    I have only one pan, so I will have to bake twice, any tips so that both of my cake would be quite the same height? If after making the dough in one bowl I separate it in two bowls of the same size, will it affect the mixture (like adding air to it or something). Also, while waiting for the first batch to cook and cool, will the batter of the other one be affected?

    For the strawberries, I think there will be some juice which will result from the maceration right? should we put the juice also on the cake?

    For the pan, if I understood well, I have to grease the pan first, then put parchment paper then grease again? Should I cover the whole pan with the parchment paper or only the bottom?

    Will a normal bowl that is not heat proof be ok to mix the eggs with sugar? I have only a normal big bowl. But I do have a small heat proof one for the butter.

    My hand mixer have only one mixer not two like I use to see on videos, so should I beat the eggs longer? Also I have two speed, I or II which one do you think I should use?

    • W/Salaam
      W/Salaam

      Yes you can make the full cake plus the cream the day before. The cream helps retain moisture in the cake so it will not dry out.

      I would not recommend letting the batter sit whilst the first cake bakes with this type of cake. Being a sponge cake that relies heavily on the beaten eggs, the batter will end up getting deflated over that amount of time, thereby resulting in a dense cake that will not rise as much as the first. So I would suggest you split the recipe in half and bake each batch as you go.

      Yes add the maceration juices to the sponge cake, it helps with the moisture. As I said this is a sponge cake and needs all the extra moisture it can get for best results.

      Yes grease the pan, put the parchment and grease that too so that it neither sticks to the pan nor to your cake. Just the bottom, the sides can be released with the blade of a knife if necessary.

      I would recommend a heatproof bowl so that it does not crack from the heat of the double boiler.

      Use the second speed settings, and sure you can give it an extra couple of minutes during mixing.

  • Hi Fouzia…I am new to your
    Hi Fouzia…I am new to your blog. Tried your white forest. It was superb. Now wanna to try your black forest cake. In my OTG I can put only 6.5″ pans together…can I try this ‘re ipe with this pans . What all things to be taken care if in that case… should I increase baking time

  • Hello dear i want to try and
    Hello dear i want to try and make the black forest cake but i dnt understand by the meaning use gentle strokes? Wat doez dat mean. Wat time shuld i wipe the cream? Cos its hot weather nw it wont melt while applying

  • Hi,
    1) i hv one 9″pan. Suggest how to use this to make this blk forest cake. Either divide the recipe equally, which seems difficult, or use the whole in 9″ n then cut layers acc to its final thickness.?

    2) how long should i keep egg n sugar mixture on double boiler while beating it ? How hot or warm should it turn? Why do v do this step? Wont it curdle?

    • Hi, I would suggest that you use 2 pans as using 1 pan will constrict the height of the cake. Or half the recipe and make just 1 instead of 2.

      As mentioned in the recipe, beat the egg and sugar together over the double boiler for 3 minutes. It will not curdle and the bowl should not touch the water. You will be using the steam that forms between the water and the bottom of the bowl to warm up the mixture as you beat it.

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