Black Forest Cake
Every year my family typically celebrates Father’s Day in conjunction with my grandpap’s birthday since it always falls within a few days of the holiday. Last year when I made dessert I wanted to make a cake that incorporated one of my his all-time favorite desserts/snacks: Oreo cookies. So, I served up the Cookies and Cream Oreo Cake to much fanfare. It was a huge hit and everyone loved it. This year I didn’t want to go the Oreo route again (after all, variety is the spice of life, right?), so I started thinking about the other sweets he enjoyed. A light bulb went off. He loves chocolate-covered cherries. And what fabulous cake combines chocolate and cherries? Black Forest Cake! Easy, done. Plus, I could cross it off of My 100 list. Gotta love when you can kill two birds with one stone! In all honesty, I am not a huge fan of the chocolate-cherry combination, but this cake was phenomenal! It had just the right balance of flavors and the whipped cream kept it from being too heavy-tasting.
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Once I decided to make Black Forest Cake, I set off to find some recipes. I immediately turned to both The Cake Bible and Baking Illustrated, and both had fabulous-sounding recipes for multi-layer, torte-style Black Forest Cakes. Those are the type of recipes that usually make me do a kitchen jig. But not this time. The problem? I had been under the weather (aren’t summer colds the worst?!), and had two cookie orders that needed to be finished. So, shockingly, I didn’t want to spend much more time in the kitchen. The bare minimum, actually. And while both recipes sounded insanely fantastic (and I will try at least one of them eventually), they were involved and time-consuming. So I used the general ideas of chocolate cake, cherries soaked in Kirsch, and whipped cream to create a much more time-friendly version that is pretty darn amazing, if I may say so myself.
Enjoy!
One year ago: Chocolate-Dipped Coconut Macaroons
Two years ago: Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Black Forest Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 2 cups (400 g) sugar
- 1¾ cups (218.75 g) all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup (64.5 g) cocoa powder
- 1½ teaspoons (1.5 teaspoons) baking powder
- 1½ teaspoons (1.5 teaspoons) baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup (244 ml) whole milk
- ½ cup (109 ml) vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup (250 ml) boiling water
For the cherries:
- 20 ounces (566.99 g) cherries, drained
- ¼ cup (60 ml) Kirsch or other brandy
For the whipped cream:
- 1½ cups (357 ml) heavy cream, chilled
- ½ cup (60 g) powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.
- 2. Whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Divide batter between the two prepared pans.
- 3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until thin knife inserted into center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.
- 4. Reserve 12 cherries for decorating. Combine the remaining cherries and the Kirsch; set aside.
- 5. To make the whipped cream, combine the heavy cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract and whip until soft to almost-stiff peaks form. Refrigerate whipped cream until ready to use.
- 6. Once the cakes are cool, level the tops and place one layer on a serving platter. Using a slotted spoon, remove the cherries and place on the cake layer. Top with about ½ to ¾ cup whipped cream, spreading over cherries (that's an estimation, as I didn't measure, just covered the cherries and spread into an even layer). Place the second layer on top, and frost the entire cake with the remaining whipped cream. Decorate as desired. (I used a 1M tip to pipe on top and placed the reserved cherries on top of each decorative star, and then lined a bottom border with chocolate shavings.)
- * Note: If you do not have Kirsch or brandy, or would rather not use alcohol, reserve ¼ cup of the juice/syrup from the canned cherries before draining.
- * Note: To make chocolate shavings, scrape a melon baller across a block of chocolate (or back of a candy bar). To attach them to the cake, lift them with an offset spatula and gently touch them to the sides of the cake.
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Hi!
I made this on Christmas Eve with a few twists. I made the whipped cream from scratch as you suggested, and it came out great! I didn’t have kirsch, but we had rum. My crafty husband made a reduction of rum, cherry sauce from the canned cherries, chocolate truffle stout, chocolate chips, and bits of apple and pear. I spread this concoction and the whipped cream between the layers. As for chocolate shavings, I grated a chocolate bar and spread them on top of the finished cake. Traditionally, rum cakes are part of holiday desserts, and this one was super delish! Very decadent, and heavy on the rum. I’ll make a “regular” non-alcoholic one later…
I want to take the cake to work but don’t have a fridge to put it in will the whip cream stand up for the day without being refrigerated?? Or will it melt?! :-(
Hi Meredith, As long as the cake won’t be sitting out in a warm room, you should be just fine, it shouldn’t melt.
Hi, I’m going to attempt this for Christmas dessert this year since my husband LOVES black forest cake. I have a question – can I substitute fat free cool whip instead of making it from scratch?
Hi Nana, You could use Cool Whip, but it won’t have the same flavor as freshly whipped cream, and it really only takes about 2 minutes to make from scratch.
Hi, thanks for the feedback!! After thinking about it some more, I’ll be making your whipped cream. Fat free whipped cream might not work with the consistency of your decadent recipe!
I grew up in Germany and Black Forest Cake was a staple birthday cake for us! I’ve only made it once before from scratch since moving to the States and it was a veeeeery long and difficult recipe, so when I decided I wanted to make a cake for my dad’s 50th birthday, I stumbled upon this gem. This was probably one of the best cakes I have ever made, hands down. So much so, that the recipe has led me to read through ALL of your archived recipes and am looking forward to baking up some goodies! But this was the easiest recipe for Black Forest cake I’ve ever seen, and it was a HUGE hit with all of my family!!!!!
Hi Katarina, Thanks so much for your feedback, I’m so happy to hear that you and your family enjoyed this cake. A big Happy Birthday to your dad!
Hi! Im going to try out this lovely recepie on the weekend one question though, using the whipped cream can you pipe roses instead with the wilton 1M tip and decorate around the cake with it?
Yes, you definitely can!
Lovely and easy recipe!! I hope to try it very soon. Btw, I have some questions. Why do we need to add boiling water? Is it advantageous to have a thin cake batter? Also, according to your recipe (I plan to use the cherry syrup), should the syrup be thrown away or sprinkled on the layers? I got a bit confused about that.
Hi Samira, You would discard the syrup, just as you drain the canned cherries. And yes, the boiling water is to thin the batter, which creates a tremendously moist cake.
That makes sense. If you don’t mind, I have some more questions since I’m new to baking :). Is there any specific pan size that we should use for this recipe? Also, do we have to use 1.5 teaspoons of baking powder and baking soda because of the thin batter, to make sure it rises properly?
Hi Samira, Yes, you still need to include the baking powder and baking soda.
Thanks so much for the recipe! I made this for my friend’s birthday party yesterday and everybody raved about it. I was unable to find canned cherries and just removed the stems from some maraschinos, and used their juice rather than the kirsch. The maraschino cherries were very sweet, but I didn’t use a ton of them so it wasn’t overpowering. All my friends commented that the cake was so moist.
This was my first time making a layer cake, making my own whipped cream, icing a round cake, and using my new piping tips! This was a fun and relatively easy place to start which produced great results!
I made this cake for my grandmothers 87th birthday and it was a hit! It tasted amazing! The only variation I made was I soaked the cherries in whiskey instead of brandy at the request of my grandma! Thank you for sharing your recipe! I think this is the second one of yours I have used and they were both amazing.
Hi Michelle,
I made the black forest cake last weekend and froze the cake one week prior as per your advice and it came out perfectly! The cake was nice and moist, even after being in the freezer. I thawed the cake overnight in the fridge after removing from the glad wrap and I had no problems assembling it the next day. The whipped cream definitely made the cake much more delightful to eat as I received plenty of praises from everyone.
The only thing I did differently was that I brushed each layer of cake with some of the juice that was left over from the cherries. This made the cake even more moist and brought the cherry flavour out. I think next time I attempt this cake I’ll probably combine the cherry juice with some kirsch before brushing the layers. Thanks for the beautiful recipe Michelle :)
Can I make cupcakes with this? How long to bake?
Hi Michelle, Yes, you could make these cupcakes. You would want to reduce the baking time and start checking them for doneness around the 18 minute mark.
I made this cake and it came out fabulously. The only problem I encountered was that I used a buttercream icing for the cake and in the end the cake ended up tasting too sweet. Even my dad who has a sweet tooth found it too sweet to eat without generous amounts of pouring cream to balance the sweetness.
Should making the cake with the traditional whipped cream instead solve the problem? 2 cups of sugar still seems like a lot though, did anyone else find it to be too sweet? Comments would be appreciated :)
Hi Tania, Buttercream is usually pretty sweet, while a sweetened whipped cream is lighter and not nearly as sweet. I would probably try it with the whipped cream instead and see what you think. I don’t think the issue is the 2 cups of sugar in the cake; that’s pretty standard for most cakes.
Hi Michelle,
Thank-you for your reply. I’ll definitely try the whipped cream instead this time.
Should there be any problems with freezing this cake one week prior to when it’s required? I’m actually making it for my fiance’s birthday as he loves black forest! I’ve never tried freezing a cake before, any tips would be very appreciated.
Hi Tania, You could freeze the cake layers (wrapped in plastic wrap, then in foil), until you need it, and then I would assemble. I wouldn’t freeze the whole, assembled cake as I’m not sure how the cherry filling and whipped cream would hold up to thawing.
Too easy. Thanks Michelle you’re truly amazing.
I made this cake for my 4 year old’s birthday and came out really well.thank you for all your recipes.
Thank you for this recipe! My boyfriend adores black forest cake, and I plan to make black forest cupcakes as a birthday treat for him.
Loved this recipe!! Made 24 cupcakes with the Cherries in the center!! Amazing!!
hi .. its looks amazing can i use this frosting on the rinbow cake ?? and do u ahve to put any kind of syrup on the rinbow cake to keep it moist ??
Sure, you could use this frosting. I don’t use any syrup.
This looks AMAZING i’ll have to try it for my boyfriend since it’s his favourite kind of cake! One quick question though, do you think I could use just a commercial type whipping cream from the grocery store instead of making my own? If so what would you recommend> cool whip? or one from a aerosol can perhaps? Thanks!!!
Hi Emme, You could definitely substitute a ready-made whipped topping. I would recommend using Cool Whip, as you’d likely have to use a TON of the whipped topping in a can (multiple cans).
Thank you so much for the advice (and of course the recipe!) I tried it out by halving the recipe-which was kind of hard and a lot of approximations- but it still turned out wonderfully! I used cool whip as you suggested and my goodness, it was delicious! Thanks again! :)
I made this for my birthday today. The chocolate shavings on the side look really hard but they’re so easy! YUM! Can’t wait to enjoy it.
Just finished making this for my daughter’s birthday cake – AWESOME! Finding the Kirsh Brandy was a little difficult, but well worth the search.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! Made this for a friend’s birthday and posted it on my blog. It was so yummy, but easy enough to make! Thanks so much!!!
http://sweettoothlulu.blogspot.com/2011/09/black-forest-cake.html
Made this for my daughter’s birthday this weekend. Wonderful!!! This was my first time I using whipped cream as a frosting. It was absolutely delicious.
But I had a heck of a time trying to get chocolate on the bottom of the cake. What’s the secret technique??
Hi Leticia, It’s not the easiest thing, but I used an offset spatula, and loaded up the shavings on the spatula, then pressed it against the bottom of the cake to get them to stick. It takes a little patience, but it does work!
Thank you for the wonderful cake recipe. This is the first home made layer cake I made that was a huge success. I poached my own cherries(12 oz) for 5 minutes in 1/2 cup sugar and same amount water. I also used 2 cups cream….was a bit much, could have made do with 1.5 cups easily.
wow the black forest is amazing!! i really loves it..they are 100% delicious..what cocoa did you use?is it natural or dutch process?thanks and waiting for your respond..i love ur blogsite!!
Hi Anne, I used natural cocoa powder. Enjoy the cake!
I’m a bit confused about what canned cherries are. All I can find are maraschino cherries in a jar (which look similar to what are in your pictures) or canned cherry pie filling. Which would be more appropriate? Or is there another option? Frozen or fresh cherries?
Hi Zoe, canned cherries are actually neither maraschino cherries or pie filling. They can be found at the grocery store in the aisle with canned fruit – stuff like the Dole cans of sliced pears, fruit cocktail, etc.
After seeing many recipes for black forest cake on the internet, I was a bit confused, but then I found this recipe and tried it. It was easy and turned out, as everyone said, amazing!
Karen, so happy you found it as easy and delicious as I did!
Awesome recipe!! Made it today for my inlaw’s anniversary. Everybody loved it and said it tasted much better than store bought!
Boy oh boy was this fantastic. I used cherries that we had pitted and frozen last year. I heated them up on the stove, added some sugar, cornstarch and a bit vanilla and thickened it up. Then when I put the cherries on the middle layer I made sure to add some of the yummy thickened sauce too, and it made the cake all the much more moist. SO GOOD! Thanks!
Mmm this looks amazing! I know my fiance would love it.
I adore black forest cake. That is a thing of beauty.
What a gorgeous cake! I want a piece of this for dessert tonight!
It’s Black Forest Week! I saw this over at Passionate About Baking too but if I saw it a million times, it wouldn’t be too many, I mean chocolate and whipped cream, say no more. Found you through Smith Bites’ #FF ^_^