Black Forest Gateau

There is a show on Netflix called ‘The Great British Bake Off’. It features best amateur bakers from all over Britain and every week they are given a baking task. Debarshi and I are huge fans of this show. There are tons of new recipes and ideas with loads of helpful tips and tricks and if you love to bake, I would recommend to watch this show and try some recipes. You will be amazed what all you can do with a good recipe and step by step instructions. 

As you know, I love celebrating birthdays. Well, I don’t worry about mine because that is Debarshi’s department but when it comes to his birthday I try to do whatever I can to make it unique. Last month we were watching this baking show and it featured the Black Forest Gateau cake and immediately both of us said, “Oh! How I miss this cake”. Do you know why? Black Forest is one of the most common cakes sold in Indian bakeries! As I have told you before, you can see a lot of French and German inspired baked goods in any Indian bakery. Now if you are thinking, how is it possible because Black Forest is a boozy cake, then let me tell you, it is very common for the Indian bakeries to prepare and serve varieties of non alcoholic and even eggless cakes. This is done to cater all age groups and dietary preferences.

We also decided to go with a non alcoholic cake so that we can freely share the cake with whoever comes to our home to celebrate Debarshi’s birthday.

For a self taught baker trying new recipes is always fun however, this one turned out quite complicated. I actually had to throw away the first two sponges because they didn’t turn out right!  But I didn’t loose hope and I got it right the second time and I successfully baked the whole cake from scratch. If you have been following my blog, you know that I started this tradition of baking homemade cakes four years back when I baked my first cake from scratch - Pecan cake with Rum frosting for Debarshi’s birthday.

Next year I baked a delectable Chocolate Raspberry Cake with Chocolate Ganache. This is one of Debarshi’s all time favorite cakes and he loves eating the ganache so much that sometimes he asks me just to make some ganache as a dessert.

Last year Debarshi selected a delicious Chocolate Coconut Cake for his birthday. It was loaded with Coconut Pastry Cream and Chocolate Glaze. That cake was again a huge success and not only us but all of our friends absolutely loved it.

This Black Forest Gateau cake is actually the recipe of Mary Berry who is a British food writer. Now let me tell you, just copying the recipe was not enough because almost everything was different in the original recipe. Starting from the oven temperature to the quantity of ingredients to the ingredients themselves. Plus, I wasn’t making the original alcoholic cake so I had to make a lot of changes. I also tried to keep it budget friendly because I don’t like spending extra money for something which can be substituted. But I have to tell you, all that effort really paid off. The very first bite of the cake was so heavenly that I almost cried. I have baked a lot of different types of cakes in the last few years, but to recreate something which both Debarshi and I have had hundreds of times from our local Indian bakeries is sheer happiness. It brought back all those childhood memories and the joy was incomparable. Of course I have to thank all our friends who tasted the cake and liked it. Believe me I felt quite popular that day and above all Debarshi loved it! He loved having this decadent cake baked especially for him for his birthday.

Now whenever you are baking a complicated cake like this one, patience is the key. If you are planning to bake the entire cake in a single day, not only will you get immensely tired but also make silly mistakes. The key is to do one step at a time and that is done by approaching the goal in small steps.

For the convenience of everyone, I have uploaded the steps in separate links so that the images can easily load even on slower connections. I have uploaded photos so hopefully you will have loads of help if you do decide to try this amazing recipe.

Happy baking!

Whenever you decide to bake the cake, start with the Cherry Filling. I used dried cherries and you have to soak them for two days to obtain that delicious juice.

Make ahead:

• Dip 2 cups of Dried Cherries in equal amount of water (2 cups) in a medium bowl.
• Cover and refrigerate for 2 days. This will help the cherries to absorb water and they will become soft.
• Check the packet to see if the cherries have sugar, normally dried fruits have some sugar added in them.
• Make sure to complete this step before baking the cake layers. The dried fruits need time to soak properly.

Follow the below links to bake, fill and decorate the cake:

• Bake the Chocolate sponges and Vanilla Fruit cake layers
• Prepare the Cherry filling
• Whip the Cream
• Assemble the cake
• Chocolate work and piping

Tips:

• An offset spatula is one of the most useful tools in the kitchen. Use it to stir the melting chocolate and to apply filling and topping on the cake. 
• When working with Chocolate and whipped cream, work in a cool kitchen otherwise they will melt quickly.
• You can use Kirsch (the cherry liqueur) or prepare a non-alcoholic version of the cake like I did.
• Make sure everything is chilled before you start whipping the cream because it will whip better. I always keep my mixer bowl and whisk in the fridge beforehand to chill them before starting.
• Because of the whipped cream, this cake will not keep very long in the fridge. I would recommend to finish the cake within 2-3 days. Keep the cake inside the fridge at all times. 

Share and enjoy!

Recommended Reading:

• Basic Kitchen Measurements
• Remember the characteristics of a good quality Cake
• Chocolate Raspberry Cake with Chocolate Ganache
• Pecan Cake with Rum Frosting
• Chocolate Coconut Cake (with Coconut Pastry Cream filling and Buttercream Frosting, topped with Chocolate Glaze and Toasted Shredded Coconut)
• Make Homemade Butter from Spoiled Cream
• Boozy Christmas Fruitcake
• Mary Berry’s Chocolate Apricot Cake (Homemade Sacher Torte)
• Martha Stewart’s Classic Pound Cake