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Four chocolate layers filled with vanilla and brandy mousse, studded with Morello cherries and ganache drizzled over. Everyone needs their version of Black Forest Cake. Here is mine and I hope it will becomes yours as well!
Another one for the chocoholics! Take a look at my Honeycomb Crunch Chocolate Cake.
It’s no secret that cake is my favourite dessert and I like making my own. I don’t bake very often but when I do I make sure it’s something very special. The cake category on this website is quite extensive. So many different flavours to choose from. Which one is your favourite?
This Black Forest Cake is my husband’s favourite and he usually requests it for his birthday. It’s an easy enough cake to bake, so I am happy to oblige.
I’ve never been a fan of store-bought versions of the Black Forest Cake for two reasons: the artificial taste of the chocolate layers and the electric red of maraschino cherries.
I much prefer cakes that are made with more subtle flavours. I also love cakes that don’t go over the top with sweetness.
What keeps me going with this cake is that it is actually German and I LOVE German cakes. German baking is rightly famous, and they are masters of finding just the right combination of rich and decadent without being overly sweet. A small piece goes a long way!
I’ve kept my version of Black Forest Cake consistent with this traditional approach. Dark. Boozy. Delicious.
But what is it?
Black Forest Cake consists of four chocolate layers, which are filled with vanilla and brandy-flavoured whipped cream. The filling is studded with Morello cherries, which are the original Maraschino cherries before they turned bright red in America.
The top is glazed with chocolate ganache.
Although it’s a spectacular cake, I am happy to tell you that the cake is incredibly easy to make. It does require basic baking skills, but if you have baked cakes before, then this should be a very achievable cake to make.
How To Make It At Home
To start things off, all you have to do is to bake two chocolate sponge cakes. For this I am using my fail proof chocolate cake recipe.
The two sponges then need to be split in two. This way you get 4 thin layers filled with stabilized whipped cream, which is flavoured with vanilla and brandy
The photo guide belows will show you exactly how I did it.
How To Decorate It
Classically the cake is decorated with whipped cream rosettes, which are topped with fresh or maraschino cherries. I’ve followed the traditional approach but added a few personal touches as well.
Although it’s a source of debate in my house, I’ve always thought of Black Forest Cake as a Christmas cake. It must be the Black Forest itself, with its woodland creatures, makes me think of Christmas.
So I decorated it along those lines by sticking wooden Christmas tree cutouts to the sides of the cake. The little tree are gift tags that I purchased earlier.
I know that decorating a cake can be intimidating for beginners, but there are a lot of great resources you can consult. I suggest starting with Cake Decorating for Beginners from The Best Cake Recipes.
Recipe Tips and Notes
- What sets this Black Forest Cake recipe apart from all the others are the This is an affiliate link.amarena cherries. Amarena cherries come from Italy (you can see them in the collage above) and are demi-glacé cherries in a delicious syrup made with the sour cherry variety! You can buy them in an Italian deli or online, and they really are a cut above.
- I also used the Amarena cherry syrup by brushing the chocolate cake layers with a combination of the syrup and a splash of brandy. The result is nothing short of divine. It’s a small extra step that takes the cake to a new level!
Storage and leftovers
Once you have finished making and decorating the cake, store it in a fridge either under plastic wrap or in an airtight container until you are ready to serve. If you have a This is an affiliate link.cake box, this is the perfect time to use it! Take the cake out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before it’s time to serve to let it warm up a little.
This cake will freeze very well, although you’ll need to be careful to prevent messing up your lovely decoration. The way to do this is to let it sit in the freezer for a couple of hours before covering in plastic wrap. This gives the ganache time to become firmer so it can hold its shape.
More chocolate cake recipes
- Christmas Chocolate Cake with Cranberries
- Black and White Chocolate Cake with Blackberry Compote
- Malted Chocolate Cake
- Chocolate Truffle Cake
Black Forest Gâteau
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 220g / 1¾ cup all purpose flour
- 300g / 1½ cups white granulated sugar
- 90g / 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- 1½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 eggs, large
- 250ml / 1 cup whole milk, or 2%
- 125ml / 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 tsp This is an affiliate link.vanilla
For the filling
- 600ml / 2½ cups heavy cream/double cream
- 100g / 1/2 cup icing sugar
- 2 tbsp brandy
- 1 vanilla bean, or 2 tsp vanilla
- 3 tsp gelatine
- 3 tbsp water
- 250g / 1 cup cherries from Amarena cherry conserve, chopped
- 70ml / 1/4 cup Amarena cherry syrup
- 2 tbsp brandy
For Chocolate Ganache
- 125ml / 1/2 cup heavy cream/double cream
- 125g / 3/4 cup dark chocolate
- 8 fresh cherries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F/180C. In a large mixing bowl combine sifted flour and cocoa, sugar, baking powder and baking soda and salt. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour into two 8" pans. Bake at 350F/180C for 30 minutes.
- Remove the cakes from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.
- In a 250ml/1 cup glass measuring cup combine cold water and gelatin. Let stand for 2 minutes. Place measuring cup in a microwave and heat for 15 seconds until gelatine is completely dissolved.
- Run a sharp knife along the length of a vanilla bean, open it and with a blade of a knife scrape out the seeds.
- In a large mixing bowl beat whipping cream, icing sugar, vanilla bean seeds and brandy with an electric mixer on medium speed while gradually drizzling gelatin mixture over cream mixture. Continue beating cream mixture until stiff peaks form. (Adding gelatine to the filling gives it more stability.)
- Cut each cake layer horizontally in two. You will have 4 layers. Brush the cake layers with the mixture of cherry syrup and brandy.
- Fill the cake with the vanilla cream filling and chopped morello cherries. Leave 1/4 of the whipped cream for the sides and the top. Cover the sides and the top of the cake with the whipping cream.
To make the ganache
- Heat 1/2 cup of whipping cream in a saucepan and take off the heat just when it's about to come to a boil. Pour over chopped chocolate. Let it sit for a minute, then stir.
- Drizzle chocolate ganache over the edge of the cake. Pipe rosettes and decorate with fresh cherries. Sprinkle grated chocolate on top of the cake.
- Chill in the fridge for the mousse filling and chocolate ganache to set. Keep refrigerated.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Vikalinka, this is the best black Forest ever!!!
But nevertheless everytime I bake the cake it self rise and then the middle goes totally back down giving this concave hall in it… Any tip to prevent it from happening and having more a flat cake 🙂
Xxxx
Sophia
Hi Sophia, there are several reasons for why cakes fall in the middle. The cakes bake from the outside in, so it will rise at first but if not given enough time to bake all the way through, it will fall once you take it out of the oven. The reason for this is incorrect oven temperature. Household ovens vary in temperature vastly. They are often not what you set them to be. If your oven is too hot or too cool, the cakes will not bake in the amount of time stated in the recipe. I always buy a small oven thermometer to monitor the temperature, which is really important for baking. Another reason could be expired baking powder, not very precise measurements or overbeating the ingredients.
What type of chocolate are you using? Chopped Semi sweet baking chocolate bars?
I usually use dark chocolate bars, not baking chocolate. I don’t like using baking chocolate as the quality is not great.
Hello! Please may I ask if the cream rosettes are made from using the same cream you use in the layers? And how far in advance I can bake this cake? Thank you 🙂
Yes, the rosettes are made from the same cream. You can bake the cake a couple of days ahead but I wouldn’t assemble it until the day of serving or the night before.
I’ve made it today for my daughter’s birthday party, so no brandy. It turned out better than I expected and the birthday girl loved it. It’s also one of my favourite cakes, but the first time I gave it a go. Thanks for a great recipe that was easy to follow as well.
What a coincidence, Jelena, I also made it today for my son’s birthday! Happy birthday to your daughter! 🙂
It’s a happy coincidence indeed! Thank you and happy birthday to your son! 🙂
Hi , I was wondering if I can bake the cake few days in advance ?
Thank you
Hi Katie, you can bake it a couple of days in advance and wrap the layers in plastic wrap to keep the freshness. I usually assemble either one day before or on the day. It should be refrigerated.
Hi ,
I just want to know whether we can use 1 cup of buttermilk instead of milk to make the cake
Thank you
I think it will work, Jayani
Thank you Julia Frey for the recipe . Is very yummy, my family love it very much. The best recipe.
My pleasure!! 🙂
Just a suggestion: I cannot understand why but I always have better luck stabilizing whipping cream with granulated gelatin rather than sheet gelatin. It does seem to blend better into the cream. If you have difficulty with getting sheet gel to distribute, perhaps this idea can help you. It is such a gorgeous cake, it seems worth the experiment.
Great tip, Patricia. Thank you for sharing!
Do I have to put gelatin into/onto the cream? ( Is it a must)
No, you don’t have to add gelatine to the cream, Sherrie. It makes it more stable and mousse like but you can do without!
I started this recipe and was using the gram measurements. Something looked a bit off after I started putting them in the bowl before wet ingredients. You may want to check your cups to grams conversion. I think at least one is very incorrect. Didn’t have time to do conversion, so just did with cup measurements.
Do you mind sharing what seemed very incorrect, Melissa because I can’t see it and I’ve made this cake countless times.
Hi! Can we omit the brandy or use less? Kids will be eating it and not sure if it’s too strong for them
You can certainly reduce the amount of brandy to 1 tbsp or omit it altogether, Matilde.
Hi. I’ve been searching just for DECENT recipe for this cake. OH MAN you delivered a PERFECT one! I love this. I couldn’t find the cherries you used so I took fresh dark cherries, cut them, cooked in sugar with a little brandy and used them. So good…
HOWEVER, could you elaborate a little more on adding the gelatin to the whipped icing? I followed what you said to the letter and it globbed up all through my icing which isn’t that nice eating…Plus I then had to make a second batch (didn’t work then either) to cover the whole cake (Guess I’m an icing hog). What am I doing wrong? I used great value flavorless gelatin packets.
I am so glad you loved this cake. It is definitely one of our favourites! I am sorry you had trouble with gelatin but I don’t really have much to add besides what I already put in the instructions. That’s exactly how I do it, I just drizzle the gelatin dissolved in water over the whipping cream. I would suggest trying a different brand. I use Knox if that helps.
400g cacao, 90g sugar – is that right???
Not at all, Elize, the other way around! Thank you for catching that, not sure what happened there!I just updated the recipe by adding grams and must’ve typed in the wrong line.
Just came here to write that. I made the cake and unfortunately did not pay enough attention. So by the time I added the 400g of cocoa, I finally realised that that is a mistake. What a waste 🙁 . Had to run to the shops late at night and try again.
Oh well, mistakes happen to all bakers. Welcome to the club, Tanja! 🙂
I made this it was awesome!!!. My whole family enjoyed after taking it. Thanks for this amazing recipe………
That is great!!
Hey Vikalinka!
I am planning to bake this beautiful and delicious cake soon. 🙂
Just have a few questions for you: what do you do with the brandy liquid after soaking the cherries overnight? Can I soak the cake with it or will it be too mushy? Also, as for whipping cream, are you using unsweetened liquid cream or heavy whipping cream or the one that is already whipped and sweetened? If I have 12-inch pans, should I make 1.5 X of your portion?
Thanks so much for all amazing work you do online!!!
Oxy
Hi Oksana, You can definitely drizzle the brandy over the cakes, just not too much because these cake layers are very moist already. You can also use that brandy in cocktails. 😉 I use heavy whipping cream, which is called double cream in England. Finally, for 12-inch pans I would double the recipe. I hope this helps.
Cheers, Julia
Thank you for this recipe. I made it for Christmas. It was so delicious. I made it Christmas eve and put it in the refridgerater overnight. No need to put it back in on Christmas day as it disappeared. It’s a winner with my crowd. It will be the cake I make for Christmas now.
Wonderful, thank you so much for sharing!
Can I make the cake the night before serving it?
Yes, absolutely, Sylvia but it needs to be refrigerated as it has lots of cream.
I have cherry whiskey at home, but no cherry brandy. Do you think it’ll work the same? Can’t wait to make this for Christmas!
Anu, you can definitely use cherry whiskey as long as you like the taste of it. 🙂
Personally I think your cake is exceptionally pretty. Our local grocery store bakery makes cakes decorated similarly and yours is just as good if not better. Your outer mousse layer is really good! I can’t frost the outside of a cake to save anyone’s life. My family and I will be visiting an area with German grocery stores soon so I’m keeping an eye out for those cherries. Making this for Christmas as someone above mentioned is a great idea! I admit I’m a little nervous about splitting the cake layers in two, tho (Any advice on that part? Making cakes like this one make me nervous in general. Maybe it doesn’t matter if they’re not perfectly even layers?).
This is what I do when I want even layers- I score the outside of a cake with a sharp knife, then wrap a thread around the slit, bring the ends together and pull. Perfect every time. I hope it helps. Thank you for stopping by. 🙂
Thank you very much, that makes perfect sense!
Superb cake! Great pics 🙂 ela
I didn’t know and was just thinking I need to figure it out!! Thank you so much. 🙂
Wow! Simply wow! I’ve never made black forest cake because somehow it never really appealed to me, but your cake just sang to me right now)) I love how moist the chocolate layers look. I must make this soon!
Yum! I will be making this for Christmas!
I hope you love it Oksana as much as we did!
What a gorgeous and indulgent cake!
Your cake is stunning! I love messy cakes and I so agree that no five minute rule apply!
I believe I have everything except the preserves for decorating…
I always get stressed when things get messy but the end result is always delicious so who cares, right! 🙂
Oh man – black forest is my favourite cake ever. How can that much whipped cream be bad? HOW?
LOL it simply CAN’T.