German Black Forest Cake

"From what I hear this is a pretty authentic German recipe. You can replace the alcohol with cherry juice if it's not your thing."
 
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photo by Wildflour photo by Wildflour
photo by Wildflour
photo by Quantum Polagnus photo by Quantum Polagnus
photo by drewablank photo by drewablank
photo by senoch37 photo by senoch37
photo by KristenWhatcha-Eatin photo by KristenWhatcha-Eatin
Ready In:
1hr 15mins
Ingredients:
19
Serves:
12
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ingredients

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directions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottoms of two 8-inch round pans with parchment paper circles. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda and 1 teaspoons salt. Set aside.
  • Cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Beat into flour mixture, alternating with 1 cup buttermilk, until combined. Pour into prepared pans.
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool completely. Remove paper from the cakes. Using a thin but sturdy string (dental floss works well), wrap the string around one of the cakes at the halfway mark, horizontally. Tie the string once and pull slowly, cutting through the cake forming two layers. Repeat on other cake. Sprinkle cut side of each layer with kirsch.
  • In a medium bowl, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add confectioners sugar, pinch of salt, and coffee, beat adding buttermilk as needed for consistency. Place first layer of cake on plate(cut side down works best for frosting). Spread with 1/3 of the filling. Top with 1/3 of the cherries. Repeat with remaining layers.
  • In a seperate bowl, whip the cream to stiff peaks. Beat in 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1 TBS kirsch. Frost top and sides of cake. Decorate with chocolate shavings made with a vegetable peeler on chocolate.

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Reviews

  1. This was hard to rate, because the stars only go up to 5!!!! ;) :) THIS deserves at least 10!!!!!! :) I only made a few very minor changes. I had to use all-purpose flour and it worked out just fine, I added in addition to the two eggs 1 extra egg yolk. Then for the whipped frosting I used 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 cup heavy cream, 1/2 Tbl. cocoa powder, and the vanilla and kirsch. And it made plenty to frost the sides and top. :) Then I just saved out a few cherries to decorate the top with. :) The cakes were done baking at exactly 35 minutes. :) And the dental floss worked PERFECTLY!!! This cake was truely OUTSTANDING!!! My hubby said it tasted exactly like the one he had in Germany!! Thank you so much for sharing!!! My neighbors thank you, too! ;) :) Made for Chef-I-Am's Cake-a-thon! :)
     
  2. This was a great recipe! The flavors blend together perfectly. I Served this with a German themed dinner I organized for a culinary arts class, and it was great. We did it in large rectangle sheet pans with only two layers to make it more efficient for our use, and ended up having to use 'cherry pie filling' for the cherries, which was a little runnier but still tasted great. We used all the exact ingredients for the rest, including the kirsch which we just diluted slightly with simple syrup. I will definitely be making this again myself, thanks for the recipe.
     
  3. Finally I have found a good Black Forest cake recipe. My husband was born and raised in Dortmund, Germany and always talks about his favorite cake, Black Forest cake. I did make the changes that Wildflour suggested. The floss worked like a charm. My husband says that what he used to eat in Germany had a hard chocolate shell on the outisde of the cake and the whip topping on top of that. I have nothing to compare it to and thought this was perfect. Thank you so much for sharing. I cannot wait to make it for his family when they visit us from Germany this coming September.
     
  4. I followed the recipe exactly except I had to use butter in place of shortening because I didn't have any. I would at least 1.5 times the recipe for the butter cream filling (not nearly enough for 3 layers) and the cake (with so little batter the layers were soo thin after cutting horizontally) next time. Thanks for the recipe
     
  5. Delicious! My husband requested this for his birthday, and gave it rave reviews! The only change I'll make next time is to use less sugar in the filing. It was a little too sweet for me even with having used canned tart cherries.
     
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

My name is Sara. I live in Portland, OR and I work at a retirement community in the Wellness department. I love to cook! I occasionally do cooking demonstrations at work and typically have over 40 people! This is a lot considering I have no professional training, and I never really cooked at all until a few years after high school. I try to focus on cooking healthy foods, though I believe if you're going to indulge you might as well go all the way (case in point: Black Forest Cake)! I'm always looking for new and unusual recipes and my main source is the net, currently 'zaar. I've been more successful here than anywhere else! I also subscribe to Light & Tasty (part of Taste of Home) and I highly recommend that magazine, it really proves that you can eat healthy and enjoy it. <img src="http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/susied214/projects/200_PACpic.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"> <img src="http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/susied214/projects/pacbanner.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"> <img src="http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/susied214/permanent%20collection/Adopted1smp.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"> <img src="http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/susied214/permanent%20collection/smPACp.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"> <img src="http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/susied214/permanent%20collection/PAC08Main.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"> <img src="http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/susied214/permanent%20collection/adoptedspring08.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"> <img src="http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/susied214/permanent%20collection/PACfall08partic.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"><img src="http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/susied214/permanent%20collection/IWasAdoptedfall08.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"> <img src="http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg271/MrsTeny/Permanent%20Collection/PACSpring09Participation.jpg"><img src="http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg271/MrsTeny/Permanent%20Collection/PACSpring09Iwasadopted.jpg"> <img src="http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j166/ZaarNicksMom/Animation6.gif"><img src="http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j166/ZaarNicksMom/PACsticker-Adopted.jpg">
 
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