Black forest cake - easy recipe with cocktail cherries

It was indeed a dream come true that I finally managed to whip up this beautiful cake without going through much of a hassle. The whole process of making this cake felt quite a daunting task some months before, however, my passion and never diminishing grit presented me with very impressive results!   By the way, the pretty bottle of Cocktail Cherries came to my rescue as I realised I do not have to make the cherry syrup from scratch with fresh cherries but use the cherries from the bottle straight away. 

I personally feel using cocktail cherries in this recipe is very practical and in turn, the cherry syrup in the bottle gives an addictive deep flavour to the cake as well as the cherries soaked with cherry liqueur are so yummy, you cannot stop popping them to your mouth one after the other.

My tips:

• Go through the list of ingredients carefully and make a list of what you need.  Buy the best brands so that the cake will come out flawless
• Read the whole process make mental notes of vital points.  
• Opt for a relaxed time during which you will not get distracted or else the whole effort will be spoilt
• Place all the ingredients on the worktop so that you will not miss any
• Do not pre-heat the oven too long. Up to 15mins is more than enough. And also, never bang the oven door shut after placing the cake inside. The air inside will get disturbed and make the cake flop from the middle
• You can bake the two cakes, make the frosting, grate the dark chocolates on the previous day and keep them ready so that what is left is just decorating the cake
• Before frosting/icing  make sure the cake is completely cooled
• Once done, place the cake in the fridge because the double cream frosting could go stale.

IngreIngredients:

FOR THE SPONGE CAKE
Self-raising flour or plain flour	315g
Sugar	250g
Corn flour	1 1/2 tbsp
Baking powder	2 tsp 2 1/2 tsp if plain flour is used
Bicarbonate of soda powder	1 tsp
Cocoa powder	1/4 cup or 30g
Salt	1/4 tsp
Eggs	6
Vegetable oil	1/2 cup
Nescafe	2 tbsp
Hot water	1/2 cup
Lemon juice	1 tsp
FOR THE FROSTING
Heavy cream/Double cream/ Whipped cream	2 cups or 300ml
Icing sugar	1 cup or 150ml
Dried milk powder	1 tbsp
Vanilla essence	1tsp
FOR THE SUGAR SYRUP
Water	10 tbsp
Sugar	10 tbsp
FOR DECORATION
Morello cherry	1 bottle
Dark chocolates	1 bar

Let's start making;

1. Bake the cake

Whisk egg yellows

• Separate the eggs (Even a tiny drop of egg yellow could spoil the batter, so be very careful while separating the eggs)
• Whisk the egg yellows until frothy
• Add oil. Continue whisking
• Add 1/2 the amount of sugar and whisk until the sugar dissolves. Keep the other 1/2 of sugar
• Pour 1/2 cup of hot water into 2 tbsp of Nescafe and make coffee. Let cool. Add to the egg yellow and whisk gently
• Sift flour with cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and bicarb. Add into the egg yellow mixture and combine all together
• Mix all together until a smooth batter is formed

Beat the egg whites

• Drop the egg whites into a clean and dry bowl (Any wetness in the bowl will not allow the egg whites to stiff well)
• Beat on high speed until heavy and stiff ( Pls see the picture above)
• Add in the remaining 1/2 of sugar three times while beating on high speed
• Drop 1tsp of lemon juice
• Beat a few rounds and keep aside

Combine both

• Now, pour the egg white mixture into the egg yellow mixture and gently combine until everything incorporates producing a smooth batter

2) Into the oven

Two trays of this size are perfect 

• Preheat the oven to 180 C for 10mins
• Line up two round trays
• Divide the batter and pour into the trays
• Place the trays on a wide rectangle tray filled with water
• Place it in the oven and gently close the oven door (do not bang the oven door shut as the cakes can drop from the middle)
• Bake for 20-25mins
• Stab a skewer into the middle of the cakes. If the skewer comes out clean the cakes are ready. If not, leave 5 more mins in the oven
• Take out from the oven and let cool on a cooling rack

3) Make the sugar syrup

• Mix 10 tbsp of sugar and 10 tbsp of water and make the sugar syrup

4) Make the Frosting

• Keep all the ingredients needed for frosting on the worktop. Double cream should be taken out of the fridge just before using it. Chilled double cream makes beautiful snow-like peaks
• Take a clean, dry bowl. Wipe clean if any wetness is left. Pour in the 2 cups of chilled double cream
• Beat on high speed until the cream turns thick and stiff
• Add the icing sugar in three times and continue beating for 2-3 mins
• When the pins are lifted they must hold beautiful stiff peaks. Stop beating
• Add in milk powder and lemon juice
• Beat a couple of rounds and check the taste. If the sweetness is not enough, you can add a bit more icing sugar and mix
• Cover the bowl with a cling film and refrigerate until needed

5) Decorate the cake

• Peel off the baking paper of completely cooled cakes. Try baking the cakes on the previous day
• If the sides and the tops of the cakes are hard and crusty, scrape them off neatly. Otherwise its perfectly alright to take the cakes as they are
• Now stab both cakes all over with a skewer and make several tiny holes
• Pour the sugar syrup all over both cakes
• Now pour the cherry syrup/liqueur in the bottle of cocktail cherry on to both cakes liberally
• Place one cake on the cake stand. Cover with frosting. Place cocktail cherries around and in the middle
• On top place the other cake
• Pour some cherry syrup/liqueur from the bottle of Cocktail cherry
• Cover the top and around with the frosting
• Fill some of the frostings into a piping bag and using the rose nozzle make a dainty line of roses
• Place a cherry on each rose
• Shave the dark chocolate with a vegetable peeler and pat on the sides of the cake
• Done!
• Place the cake in the fridge overnight or at least 3hrs before serving
• Enjoy!