Eggless Black Forest Cake..First attempt at a frosted cake

Hello everyone. Fall is finally here and we are enjoying the slight chill in the air and the beautiful colors around us. Its my favorite season of the year. It just makes saying goodbye to the summer so much easier. 🙂

As I mentioned in my last post, my daughter turned three a few days ago. Here is the cake I made for her birthday. She is very fond of cherries so I couldn’t think of a better one. Black Forest cake is one of my most favorite kind of cakes. I remember my dad always ordering this cake for my birthday and when I made this for my daughter’s birthday, it brought such warm memories. This is also my first attempt to make a frosted cake, so it is not so perfect but very special and hence deserve a post 🙂

Here is how I made it

Ingredients:

For the cake: All purpose flour – 1.5 cups

Cocoa powder – 1/2 cup

Sugar – 1 cup

Baking Soda – 3/4 tsp

Baking Powder – 3/4 tsp

Vanilla Extract – 1 tsp

Butter – 1/2 cup (You can use oil too)

Milk – 1 cup

Vinegar – 1.5 tsp

For the Frosting:

Heavy whipping cream – 2 cups

Powdered Sugar – 4 tbsp.

Canned Cherries – 1 cup

Chocolate shavings – 1/2 cup (peeled chocolate compound)

Sugar syrup – 1/2 cup

Method:

1. Lets start with making the cake first. Its better to bake this cake a day ahead because it can be frosted only after it has been cooled down in fridge for a few hours. Preheat your oven to 350F.
2. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder and keep aside.
3. Take the milk and add vinegar to it to form some butter milk. If you have butter milk available, you can just use that.
4. Now in a mixing bowl cream together the butter and sugar and add in the vanilla extract.
5. Finally mix in the milk and flour mix to the butter little at a time, making sure not to over mix.
6. Grease an 8 inch round cake tin and bake this mixture in a preheated oven for 30 minutes, or till a toothpick or knife inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
7. Let this cake cool down completely and then put this in the fridge for a minimum of 5 hours, preferably overnight.
8. We will work on the frosting now. Take the chilled whipping cream and beat it for at least 3 – 5 minutes till it has doubled in volume. Now add the powdered sugar and mix again for another 5 minutes till you see stiff peaks. Be careful not to over mix or you will end up with butter. Keep in the fridge to chill until ready to use.
9. Now use a peeler and peel the chocolate compound to get chocolate shavings. I had used a grater here but peeler works best. Keep it refrigerated till you need it.
10. Once the cake has cooled down, we can start frosting it. Cut the cake into two slices (or three layers, if you like)
11. Now add some sugar syrup on the first layer. This is done to keep the cake moist and spread a layer of whipped cream and top with some chopped cherries. You can also spread some cherry pie filling or jam here if you like.
12. Cover this with the other cake layer, spread some sugar syrup and cover the whole cake with some whipped cream, making sure to smooth out the edges in the process. Now let the cake rest in the fridge for another 15 minutes.
13. Finally, smooth out all the cream to ensure the cake is completely covered. Now pipe some cream in a piping bag and make rosettes on top of the cake. Place a cherry on top of each rosette. I made one in the center too.
14. Now use the chocolate shaving and cover the remaining portions of the cake, including the top and the sides.
15. Your beautiful cake is ready. Keep it in the fridge, until ready to serve.

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So that is how I made this delicious cake. I am hoping to work on my frosting skills so will let you know how that turns out.

Do give this a try and let me know if you like it.

Thanks for stopping by.

Love,

Ritu. 🙂