Today I am sharing a super simple and easy recipe of Black Forest Cake – The national birthday cake of Pakistan. It is an easy bakery style cake that is made with pantry ingredients and doesn’t require any special tool or ingredient. This is the only cake my husband wants on his birthday every year.
What are the ingredients in Black Forest Cake?
Many people feel intimidated by the black forest cake while in real it is actually quite simple to make.
Here is a brief overview and in Make Ahead section you can find how to break this into 2-3 days process for easier execution.
For the Chocolate Cake Sponge
Dry Ingredients – Flour, Sugar, Baking Powder, Cocoa Powder
Dairy – Eggs
For soaking the sponge – milk
For frosting/icing – 35% fat whipping cream (also called double cream), icing sugar
For condiments – berries compote/jam, nuts praline/crunch, chocolate chips, chocolate ganache, fruits
Black Forest Cake Recipe – step by step
Step 1 – Make the sponge by whipping eggs and sugar for 8-10 minutes until triple in volume, fold in sifted dry ingredients
Step 2 – While sponge is baking, make you berry compote, nuts praline, chocolate ganache
Step 3- While sponge is cooling, whip up your cream
Step 4 – Assemble with the sponge, milk, condiments, whipping cream and ganache
Step 5 – Cool
FAQs
Substitutions and Variations
While the chocolate sponge is straight forward and simple to make, you can skip or alter the condiments. Seasonal fruits, choice of nuts and milk/dark or white chocolate can be used.
You can use simple sugar syrup instead of milk however milk remains my choice because it adds the fat content and flavor without adding sugar.
Serving Suggestions
There are so many ways to serve this delicious yet light cake suitable for any occasion or can be a center piece for any party.
If you feel intimidated by layering and frosting the cake, you can bake it in big glass dish and assemble it as a trifle. This is similar to the Tresleches cake recipe.
If you enjoy Pakistani bakery style cakes, you will love this Hyderabad Bombay Bakery Cake recipe.
Storage and make ahead
Baking the sponge and preparing the condiments a day ahead will save you lot of time and effort. You can keep the sponges well wrapped at room temperature.
I like to bake two 7 inches sponges and then slice the into halves for that tall 4 layered cake.
Recipe
This is a slightly different and easier version of my Genoise Sponge Black Forest cake.
Simple Black Forest Cake
Today I am sharing a super simple and easy recipe of Black Forest Cake - The national birthday cake of Pakistan. It is an easy bakery style cake that is made with pantry ingredients and doesn't require any special tool or ingredient. This is the only cake my husband wants on his birthday every year.
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Sponge
- 5 Eggs
- 100 grams Sugar, granulated
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
- 100 grams Flour
- 25 grams Cocoa Powder
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
For the Whipping Cream
- 2 cups Whipping Cream, 35% fat *
- 3/4 cup Icing Sugar **
For Assembling
- 1 cup Milk
- Strawberry Compote as required, recipe here
- Chocolate Ganache as required (100 grams chocolate, 100 grams whipping cream)
- Nuts Praline as required (1/2 cup nuts of choice like almonds, hazelnuts and 1/2 cup Sugar)
- Strawberries or seasonal fruit, optional
Instructions
For the Chocolate Sponge
- Prepare two 7 inches pans or place a collar of parchment paper around one 7 inches pan for added height of total 5 inches.
- Grease the pans well with butter/ oil and dust with flour. Discard excess flour. Or you can use the magic release here.
- Preheat oven to 325 F.
- In a bowl of a stand mixer ***, add eggs and sugar. Using a whisk attachment whisk for 8-10 minutes until triple in size. You will be able to draw an 8 without the ribbon disappearing. You can use electric hand mixer too, may be for a couple of more minutes.
- Add Vanilla, mix.
- Sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder.
- Fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture gently but don't whisk or deflate too much.
- Pour in prepared pans evenly (measure it if you require perfect layers) and tap for bubbles.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes until done.
- Take out from pans after 5 minutes and cool completely.
For the fillings:
- Caramelize the sugar by melting in a clean pan without stirring.
- When golden brown, add almonds/hazelnuts, pour on a greased surface, cool and grind coarsely in a food processor.
- Whip two cups of cream with ½ cup of icing sugar until stiff peaks form.
- For chocolate ganache, melt chocolate, add heated cream, mix and leave it to cool until barely warm.
Assembling:
- Slice the cake(s) so you have four layers, 1 inch tall.
- Place first layer on a cake board and soak with 1/4 cup milk.
- Spread the whipped cream and fresh diced strawberries.
- Place 2nd layer of sponge. Soak again with 1/4 cup of milk.
- Spread the whipped cream and sprinkle praline.
- Repeat for 3rd layer. This time place the prepared jam.
- Place the final sponge layer and soak with remaining 1/4 cup of milk.
- Frost the entire cake with whipped cream, pipe swirls on top with remaining cream and decorate the sides with praline, pour ganache on top.
- Chill and serve.
Notes
* it is also called heavy cream or double cream, it is unsweetened
** it is also called powdered sugar, confectioner's sugar, commercially prepared.
*** Wipe with lemon or vinegar to ensure no traces of water or grease to make sure this bowl is super clean.
The fillings and toppings are optional and just a guide, not a rule.
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