German Black Forest Cake

I made this cake for a German themed potluck. It was very well received. Not only was the cake gorgeous, it was also very tasty. One of my friends said it was like "German Tiramisu". I made the cake one night, cut, filled and put together the layers the next night and then frosted with whipped cream and decorated the next morning. It held up well in the fridge for until it was served that night. I was afraid the whipped cream would not hold up which is why I did that part as close to serving as possible. I made the cake nearly exactly as written. The only changes I made were that I soaked the cherries in a kirsch/water mixture overnight and I added some chocolate pieces (ground up chocolate chips) to the butter cream filling. The recipe for the butter cream did not have enough wet ingredients. I tried to make it as written and it would not come together. I ended up adding about 1/4 cup more butter. Next time I make this I will add even more butter (probably a total of a cup) as it was still quite stiff. I had to warm up my frosting spatula periodically while applying the butter cream because it was so stiff that it didn't want to spread. Warming up my spatula in hot water helped considerably. I applied chocolate shavings to the sides and decorated the top with whipped cream rosettes, cherries and chocolate shavings. I think next time I make it I will be more liberal with the kirsch than I was this time. I thought the cake would taste too much like alcohol but it actually could have benefitted from more of the liqueur. Overall this cake was a crowd pleaser and I will be making it again.

Wow, what a gorgeous cake, one that was not only beautiful but that everyone loved. Two days before, at a German restaurant, my husband shared a piece of his German Chocolate birthday cake with 4 of us. At the time, we thought it was the best cake we had ever eaten but we all agreed that the Black Forest Cake was the winner. I did make several changes though; I did not add the orange zest nor the icing and used 1 cup cherry liquor instead of 1/2 of a cup. I split layers, drizzed each with 1/4 cup of liquor, spread with whipped cream and 1/2 can of Extra Cherry, Cherry Pie Filling (well worth the extra money) and, on top layer, made chocolate curls. The only changes I would make would be to make whole cake day before and possibly put 1/4 cup of chocolate drizzle on each layer, before the whipped cream. I did not ice sides of cake. You'll never regret the extra time it takes to making this cake as it will rival any on the dessert cart of an expensive restaurant.