Who doesn’t love a good old chocolate cake? I mean, come on! Throw in some cherry liqueur, fresh cherries and whipped cream and I’m soldddd!! You need to make this cake for the next birthday in your house or the next family dinner, cause it’s going to blow your mind how well this cake turns out!
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Ingredients breakdown:
Plain flour: This is your regular all-purpose flour or maida as we call it. I use what I buy locally.
Brown sugar: This is sugar that has molasses. It just makes the cake moister and adds a deeper, intense flavour. However, if you do not have access to it, you can just use plain sugar.
Caster sugar: This is just regular sugar but it is finer in texture. This helps it to dissolve in the batter so you don’t get a batter that is grainy. It leads to an even texture in the baked cake.
Note: You can use regular sugar available at home, however, if the granules are bigger, you should grind it to a fine powder. This will help it to dissolve in the batter.
Cocoa powder: Use any cocoa powder that you like. I however, do recommend reading the label of your cocoa powder pack. I like to use 100% Cocoa without any other additives. Anything else tastes bad in my opinion and maybe that’s just me. But I had to say it. Dutch process cocoa is just darker in colour and has a very slight flavour difference, which is not noticeable unless you eat two cakes made Dutch & regular cocoa each side by side. BUT, the 99% cocoa and 100% cocoa powder taste is very noticeably different.
Coconut milk: You don’t have to use coconut milk, you can use regular or any other vegan milk of choice. Unsweetened of course.
Apple Cider Vinegar: I somehow always use this but you can use plain vinegar or even lemon juice, without any other additives like – chilli vinegar or sweetened lemon juice.
Vegetable oil: I use refined sunflower oil. You can use any flavourless refined oil of your choice that you know has no strong taste.
Eggs: I use fresh, locally available eggs.
Vanilla: No harm in using extract, essence, the real bean, paste, etc. whatever you have and already use is fine.
Instant coffee: This is a wild card ingredient that I always urge people to not skip. You will never taste the coffee but this takes any chocolate recipe to the next level. I use Nescafe or Bru or any instant coffee that you have and like to use is good enough. Please try it, I promise you, you won’t taste the coffee in the cake.
Whipped cream: If you do have the real thing, the dairy cream with 35% fat content, it is THE BEST. But if you don’t, you can use the frozen whipped cream. In case you cannot find it, trust me, if you have a bakery near your place and if they sell any kind of pastry (this is India I am talking about), ask them where you get the whipped cream, they will help you out.
Cherry liqueur: This might be hard to find, I like to buy different liqueurs when I travel but if you do not have access to this ingredient, you can use any red wine. I like the flavour so it is just a suggestion. OR ELSE, another alternative is to use the liquid from a tin canned cherries.
Cherries: If you don’t have access to fresh cherries, you can always buy canned cherries on Amazon.
Black Forest Cake:
Ingredients:
- 275 g plain flour
- 280 g brown sugar
- 60 g castor sugar
- 65 g Dutch processed cocoa powder or regular cocoa powder
- 2 tsp Baking soda
- 1 1/4 tsp Baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 250 ml coconut milk/regular milk (Use full fat)
- 1 1/2 tsp Apple Cider vinegar
- 120 ml flavourless vegetable oil (I used sunflower)
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 200 ml water + 2 tsp instant coffee granules
Frosting:
- Whipped cream (according to your preference)
- Cherry liqueur (optional and according to preference or add the liquid from the pack of canned cherries if using)
- Chocolate shavings
- 250 g fresh cherries
- Preheat your oven to 175°C and grease and line three 7 inch round cake pans. In a large bowl mix the coffee into the warm water, add the oil and sugar and mix well.
- Once the liquid is not hot, add the eggs one by one, mixing after each addition. DO NOT add the eggs to the hot liquid or else they will scramble. Then add your vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, sift your flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder and baking soda then add this to your wet mixture in three stages alternating with the milk. Lastly add the vinegar.
- Bake your cakes for about 25 minutes, keep checking after 20. Let the cakes cool on a wire rack before taking them out of the pan.
- Brush your cakes with the cherry liqueur and layer them up with freshly whipped cream and chopped cherries (you can also use canned cherries) add some chocolate shavings and voila!
- Refrigerate the cake for about an hour and serve!
Notes:
- If your cake is a little domed on top and seems too delicate to level before layering and decorating, I recommend chilling the cakes in the fridge before slicing the domes to make it flat for layering.
- You can also bake this cake in two 8 inch pans to make a two layered cake. The baking time may increase by 5-10 minutes.
This cake works everytime for me, and I love the way it is soft and melts in the mouth! Do give it a try and do give your feedback. Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook to join our amazing food journey!
Love,
Bakesalotlady❤
Bakesalotlady™ 