Life Without Alu?: Chocolate work and Piping

I think a Black Forest Gateau is fit for a festive celebration. First you get chocolate sponges loaded with cherry filling then to top it all plenty of whipped cream! Since I was baking this for Debarshi’s birthday, I wanted to do something special. Mary Berry’s recipe was for Christmas and it displayed some beautiful chocolate trees. I thought may be I can make some chocolate buttons, with each button featuring a character of ‘Happy Birthday Dr. D’. I decided to bake another chocolate sponge and make some petite cakes because I had plenty of cherry filling and whipped cream left. The idea was to decorate the petite cakes in a layer below the actual cake. The original recipe did ask for piped cream and chocolate dipped cherries and all that decoration really brought out the beauty of the cake.

I am sure this Black Forest Gateau is going to make appearance in our home every year. Needless to say it is a super decadent affair that pleases everyone.

I have to say in our home, Debarshi is the piping and decoration master. Since our homemade cakes are always lavish, it is rather nice to have him participating and taking over the decoration part. Gives me time to do other important stuffs. If you have someone in your home who is interested to do certain jobs on the cake, let them have a go! You never know they may surprise you.

Now the decoration of the Black Forest Gateau does look like a lot of job but it gets easier if you can undertake one step at a time. You see all these decorations are pretty easy but you have to give your undivided care and attention to each element.

Ingredients for the decoration:

White Chocolate – 1 cup (I used Ghirardelli white chocolate bar 4 Oz)
Plain Chocolate - 2 cups (I had a huge bag of Chocolate Chips at home with 51% cocoa so I just used that)
Fresh Cherries with Stalks – 24 (I got this from Costco)
Parchment paper

Directions to make the Chocolate dipped Cherries:

Start by melting the White and Plain chocolate in two separate bowls set over two pans of gently simmering water. If at any point you can see steam coming from the pan it means the water is too hot. Use a spatula to stir them.

Clear a shelve of your fridge so that you can quickly transfer everything inside and the chocolate can set.
As soon as the chocolates melt, transfer them to smaller bowls.
Lay a piece of parchment on a tray or chopping board and once again work in a cool kitchen otherwise the chocolate will start melting away immediately.
Dip 12 of the fresh cherries into the plain chocolate and place on the parchment. Transfer to the fridge.
Dip the remaining 12 fresh cherries into the white chocolate and place on the parchment. Transfer to the fridge.

Directions to make the Chocolate buttons and drizzled Cherries:

Using a small bottle cap or ring, draw several rounds on a piece of parchment. I wanted to write ‘Happy Birthday Dr. D’ so I drew 20 circles (it’s always good to have some extra). Turn over the parchment and you are now ready to fill them with chocolate.
Spoon the remaining melted plain chocolate into a disposable piping bag. Attach the large plain round nozzle on it. Read my article - Assemble a Piping / Pastry / Decorating Bag, to know more.
Fill the rounds with chocolate and carefully transfer the sheet to the fridge.
Now change the piping nozzle to small tip.

Take out the chocolate dipped cherries and drizzle the plain chocolate over the white chocolate dipped cherries using the smaller tip.
Fill another piping bag with the melted white chocolate (if it started hardening, put it back on the pan and melt it till smooth). Attach a small tip to it and drizzle the plain chocolate coated cherries with the white chocolate.

Put them back in the fridge and take out the chocolate buttons. Use the white chocolate to write one character on each of the buttons.

Now is the time to get creative, use the remaining chocolate to draw varieties of shapes for your cake. Debarshi drew this butterfly and several stars using both the chocolates. He also drizzled them over the petite cakes which really brought out the look.

Now place everything back in the fridge so that they can set and harden up.

Directions to pipe the Cream:

Fill the remaining whipped cream into a clean piping bag and attach the star nozzle on it.
Pipe the cream all around the top edge and bottom of the cake.

Put everything together:

If the whipped cream starts melting put it back in the fridge.
Place the chocolate dipped cherries in the center of the cake.
Stick the chocolate buttons in the front and center.
Stick all the other decorations all around the cake and place the tall butterflies on the top and center.

Tip:

If the chocolate starts to harden while you are piping, seal the tip with a little tape, place the piping bag in a bowl and microwave for a few seconds.