Black Forest Cake

By ctozzi

Ingredients

• Cake:
• 1 cup (240 ml) milk
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) vinegar
• 1 3/4 cups (220 grams) all-purpose flour
• 2 cups (380 grams) granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup (75 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon (5ml) baking powder
• 2 teaspoons (10 ml) baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon (2 ml) salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) vegetable oil
• 1 cup (240 ml) strong brewed coffee, cold
• 1 teaspoon (5ml) vanilla extract
• Black Cherry Filling:
• (Makes about 5 cups)
• 2 pounds frozen black cherries, thawed, drained, and juice reserved
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons kirsch
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• Whipped Cream:
• 3 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation

Step 1

Cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 8 inch cake pans.

Combine milk and vinegar to make sour milk; set aside.

Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Whisk together the eggs, oil, coffee and vanilla in a large bowl. Stir in the sour milk. Gradually beat in the flour mixture, mixing just until incorporated.

Pour batter into prepared pans. Place pans on center rack and place a cookie sheet on lower rack just in case there are spill-overs.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Cool completely before filling.

With long serrated knife, split each cake layer horizontally in half. Tear one split layer into crumbs; set aside. For finer crumbs, you can pulse the cake layer in the food processor.

To assemble, place one cake layer on cake plate. Spread with about 1 cup whipped cream; top with about 3/4 cup cherry topping. Top with second cake layer; repeat layers of whipped cream and cherry topping. Top with third cake layer. Frost side of cake with remaining whipped cream. Pat reserved crumbs onto frosting on side of cake. Arrange a bit more filling on top in a decorative way.

Black Cherry Filling:
Whisk reserved juice, sugar, kirsch, and cornstarch in a small saucepan until smooth.

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 8 minutes.

Let syrup cool slightly. Combine syrup and cherries in a medium bowl. Refrigerate until ready to use, up to 2 days

Whipped Cream:
Combine whipping cream and confectioner’s sugar in a chilled medium bowl. Beat with an electric mixer at high speed until stiff peaks form. Beat in vanilla.