Blackforest cake
From time to time, I want to have a break from bread and make a cake. I started out baking with cookies and muffins, as they seemed less daunting. But the best cakes are the ones with cream, layers, jam and different flavours. Blackforest cake has always been one of my favourites and I wanted to make it. While the recipe is not authentic, I tried to make it the way I preferred, rich, chocolately, less sweet, and boozy. Some versions of blackforest cake also had a biscuit-like, crispy base at the bottom and I tried to replicate that with a chocolate short-crust pastry.
Ingredients
Base (Shortcrust pastry)
150g plain flour
15g cocoa powder
15g icing sugar
90g cold butter, cut into small pieces
a pinch of salt
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract, or half a vanilla pod
1 egg yolk
Bake 160 degrees C for 10 mins.
Cake (makes 2 thick layers, you can split into smaller layers if you like)
350g flour
350g caster sugar
60g cocoa powder
2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
a pinch of salt
200ml double cream
250ml milk
4 small / medium eggs (or 3 large eggs)
200ml vegetable oil
Bake 160 degrees C for 24-30 mins, until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake.
For assembling
300g Kirsch-flavoured Morello Cherries or cherry jam*
200ml Double / whipping cream, keep it cold until you need it
50ml Kirsch / Rum or preferred liqueur*
*you can use as much jam / liqueur as you like
The below is the exact order that I made the components, as I felt it gives time to do all the steps for resting the dough and preparations.
1. Firstly for the base, sift the flour, cocoa powder, icing sugar and salt together.
2. Then using your fingers rub the dry ingredients with the butter until everything is evenly mixed. It should take less than five minutes. Alternatively you can use a food processor to mix the things and buzz it a few times until it looks evenly mixed.
3. Then add the vanilla to the egg yolk and mix well before adding to the mixture.
4. Using your fingers, mix in the egg yolk until it is incorporated and pour out the mixture onto a clingwrap. It's ok if the mixture is still a bit crumbly.
5. Quickly press the "crumbs" together to form a dough and wrap it up. Put it into the refrigerator to chill for at least 1-2 hours.
While the shortcrust dough is resting, you can start making the cake.
1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, bicarbonate, salt together.
2. Mix the eggs, sugar, milk and cream.
3. Fold in the sifted dry ingredients with a spatula.
4. Stir in the oil until the mixture is shiny and smooth.
5. Line the baking tin with baking paper and pour in the mixture until about 3/4 of the baking tin. The mixture is for 2 cakes.
6. Bake for 24-30 mins at 160 degrees C.
7. Leave them on a rack to cool.
8. You may wish to slice the cakes in half to create more layers, or simply distribute the mixture into more baking tins to get more, thinner layers.
When the cake is baking, we can roll out the shortcrust pastry.
1. Unwrap the shortcrust dough and sandwich it between 2 sheets of baking paper.
2. Using a rolling pin, press and roll out the dough until it is about 3 millimetres thick. Just approximate the thickness, and ensure that the height is even throughout.
3. Then transfer the dough into a baking tin (line with baking paper) or a tart tin (don't need baking paper if using removable base). I used the same baking tin for my cake as I wanted the base to be the same size as my cake.
4. Press down the dough into the base of the baking tin with your fingers. Then poke holes in the dough with a fork, just like the picture above.
5. Bake for 10 minutes at 160 degrees C.
6. Also leave the baked crust aside to cool.
I had some excess shortcrust dough and they became cute bunnies and bears!
Assembling
1. Be sure to let the cakes and crust cool completely before doing the assembly. This is important as the cream will not remain set if it gets warm.
2. With a hand whisk, whip the cream until we get medium stiff peaks. If the weather is too hot (above 30 degrees C), stand the container with the cream in an ice bath and whisk the cream. I would discourage using an electric mixer to whip the cream as there is a high tendency to overwhip it if the motor is too strong / fast. Anyway it only takes a while to whip it by hand. Refer to SortedFood's video for tips on whipping cream!
3. Place the crust base on the serving plate (the plate that you want to present your cake on). Then spread some cherry jam and cream on the crust.
4. With a pastry brush, brush some rum / kirsch / liqueur on the cake. You can skip this part if you want an alcohol-free version.
5. Place the cake on the crust, then add more jam and cream on top. You can use a spatula or spoon to spread it.
6. Repeat with the other cake or the cake layers until done. You can also level off the top of the cake if required.
7. Keep the cake in the fridge until ready to serve.
Ingredients
Base (Shortcrust pastry)
150g plain flour
15g cocoa powder
15g icing sugar
90g cold butter, cut into small pieces
a pinch of salt
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract, or half a vanilla pod
1 egg yolk
Bake 160 degrees C for 10 mins.
Cake (makes 2 thick layers, you can split into smaller layers if you like)
350g flour
350g caster sugar
60g cocoa powder
2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
a pinch of salt
200ml double cream
250ml milk
4 small / medium eggs (or 3 large eggs)
200ml vegetable oil
Bake 160 degrees C for 24-30 mins, until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake.
For assembling
300g Kirsch-flavoured Morello Cherries or cherry jam*
200ml Double / whipping cream, keep it cold until you need it
50ml Kirsch / Rum or preferred liqueur*
*you can use as much jam / liqueur as you like
The below is the exact order that I made the components, as I felt it gives time to do all the steps for resting the dough and preparations.
1. Firstly for the base, sift the flour, cocoa powder, icing sugar and salt together.
2. Then using your fingers rub the dry ingredients with the butter until everything is evenly mixed. It should take less than five minutes. Alternatively you can use a food processor to mix the things and buzz it a few times until it looks evenly mixed.
3. Then add the vanilla to the egg yolk and mix well before adding to the mixture.
4. Using your fingers, mix in the egg yolk until it is incorporated and pour out the mixture onto a clingwrap. It's ok if the mixture is still a bit crumbly.
5. Quickly press the "crumbs" together to form a dough and wrap it up. Put it into the refrigerator to chill for at least 1-2 hours.
While the shortcrust dough is resting, you can start making the cake.
1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, bicarbonate, salt together.
2. Mix the eggs, sugar, milk and cream.
3. Fold in the sifted dry ingredients with a spatula.
4. Stir in the oil until the mixture is shiny and smooth.
5. Line the baking tin with baking paper and pour in the mixture until about 3/4 of the baking tin. The mixture is for 2 cakes.
6. Bake for 24-30 mins at 160 degrees C.
7. Leave them on a rack to cool.
8. You may wish to slice the cakes in half to create more layers, or simply distribute the mixture into more baking tins to get more, thinner layers.
When the cake is baking, we can roll out the shortcrust pastry.
1. Unwrap the shortcrust dough and sandwich it between 2 sheets of baking paper.
2. Using a rolling pin, press and roll out the dough until it is about 3 millimetres thick. Just approximate the thickness, and ensure that the height is even throughout.
3. Then transfer the dough into a baking tin (line with baking paper) or a tart tin (don't need baking paper if using removable base). I used the same baking tin for my cake as I wanted the base to be the same size as my cake.
4. Press down the dough into the base of the baking tin with your fingers. Then poke holes in the dough with a fork, just like the picture above.
5. Bake for 10 minutes at 160 degrees C.
I had some excess shortcrust dough and they became cute bunnies and bears!
Assembling
1. Be sure to let the cakes and crust cool completely before doing the assembly. This is important as the cream will not remain set if it gets warm.
2. With a hand whisk, whip the cream until we get medium stiff peaks. If the weather is too hot (above 30 degrees C), stand the container with the cream in an ice bath and whisk the cream. I would discourage using an electric mixer to whip the cream as there is a high tendency to overwhip it if the motor is too strong / fast. Anyway it only takes a while to whip it by hand. Refer to SortedFood's video for tips on whipping cream!
3. Place the crust base on the serving plate (the plate that you want to present your cake on). Then spread some cherry jam and cream on the crust.
4. With a pastry brush, brush some rum / kirsch / liqueur on the cake. You can skip this part if you want an alcohol-free version.
5. Place the cake on the crust, then add more jam and cream on top. You can use a spatula or spoon to spread it.
6. Repeat with the other cake or the cake layers until done. You can also level off the top of the cake if required.
7. Keep the cake in the fridge until ready to serve.
This is my cake! It looks a bit higgledy-piggledy but it tastes delicious! I should have added more booze! Haha... The cake is rich and chocolatey and the crust is crumbly. And what happened to the bears and bunnies? They were gone even before the cake was served!
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