Black Forest Cake

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. 

Would you like to save this recipe?

We’ll email this recipe to you, so you can come back to it later!

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.

Name *

Email *

Save

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. 

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

4.75 from 12 votes

Black Forest Gâteau

By Julia Frey of Vikalinka

Prep: 1 hour hr

Cook: 30 minutes mins

Total: 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Servings: 10 -12

SaveSaved Pin Print

Four chocolate layers filled with vanilla and brandy flavoured whipped cream, studded with Amarena cherries and ganache drizzled over.

Save this recipe!

Get this sent to your inbox, plus get new recipes from us every week!

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.

Email *

Save Recipe

Ingredients 

1x2x3x

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

Calories: 804kcal | Carbohydrates: 89g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 48g | Saturated Fat: 31g | Cholesterol: 135mg | Sodium: 482mg | Potassium: 445mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 60g | Vitamin A: 1165IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 150mg | Iron: 4mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!