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Black Forest Cake

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Donna Hay's Black Forest Cake

We don’t really celebrate Halloween in Australia, which I think is a shame because it’s such a fun holiday.  My fiance and I decided to fully embrace Halloween this year, and went a little bit nuts this year buying decorations for our house – plastic flying bat decorations, glowing skulls, carved pumpkins, skeletons and fake hands, we have it all.

To get in the spirit of Halloween I also decided to do some Halloween baking.  Last year I made Chocolate Halloween Cookies and this year I decided to take the Halloween baking up a notch and bake a few different things.  The funny thing is though, this cake wasn’t actually supposed to be a Halloween cake, but as I was putting it together I thought the chocolate shards surrounding the delicious Black Forest Cake encased inside looked a little like an evil castle….or maybe that’s just me and my overactive imagination!

The recipe for this cake comes from Donna Hay’s latest magazine, and which is now available on the iPad.  As soon as I received an email letting me know the app was available I downloaded it right away, and I wasn’t disappointed.  There were so many delicious treats inside, as well as video content, but the recipe for little Black Forest Cakes caught my eye and I knew I had to make it.  I decided to make one big cake, and made a few other small modifications, but the cake is absolutely delicious.  When I served a slice to my fiance after I took these photos all I could hear was “Mmmmm” as he quickly devoured a slice.  After he finished he said “This cake is awesome”,  which is the word dejour for my fiance when he REALLY likes something, and it awesome it certainly is.  It’s rich and chocolatey and deliciously moist, with sweet juicy cherries hidden inside.

So tell me, will you be celebrating Halloween this year?  Have you got anything special planned?

By the way, I’d love it if you would vote for my Spice Roasted Pineapple Ice Cream in the King of Fruit recipe competition.  After you vote you will receive an email which requires you to click a link to confirm your vote.  Please don’t forget this step otherwise your vote won’t count.  Click here to vote.  

Also, have you entered my Brisbane Good Food Show ticket giveaway?  Head over here to enter.

Donna Hay's Black Forest Cake

Donna Hay's Black Forest Cake

Donna Hay's Black Forest Cake

5 from 6 votes
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Black Forest Cake

Recipe adapted from Donna Hay Magazine Oct-Nov 2011
Author Delicious Everyday

Ingredients

  • CAKE
  • 110 g of butter softened
  • 220 g of caster sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs
  • 150 g of plain flour sifted, all purpose
  • 35 g of cocoa sifted
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons of baking powder sifted
  • 1/2 cup of milk
  • 425 g tin of pitted cherries drained and syrup reserved
  • CHOCOLATE SHARDS
  • 400 g of 70% cocoa dark chocolate melted
  • CHOCOLATE GANACHE
  • 1 cup of cream
  • 300 g of dark chocolate chopped

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 160 celsius (325 Fahrenheit) and grease a 20 cm (8 inch) spring form tin.
  2. Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat until light and creamy.
  3. Gradually add the eggs and beat well between each addition.
  4. Fold through the flour, cocoa, baking powder and milk until combined.
  5. Scatter the cherries through the cake mixture and fold through. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking tin and bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Let the cake rest in the tin for 10 minutes before placing on a wire rack to cool.
  6. To make the chocolate ganache place the cream and chocolate in a saucepan over a low heat until melted and smooth. Set aside and let it come to room temperature.
  7. To make the chocolate shards collect some baking paper, a spatula and a ruler. Place 1 large sheet of baking paper on the kitchen bench and pour the melted chocolate over the top. Smooth with a spatula and cover with another sheet of baking. Use the side of the ruler to smooth out the chocolate to a smooth even layer, leaving a 2cm border at the edge. Carefully roll the baking paper into a roll and place into the refrigerator to set.
  8. Cut the cake in half and drizzle each half of the cake with the reserved cherry syrup. Note I used only half of the syrup, but it's up to you how much you use. Leave the cakes for 30 minute to allow the syrup to soak into the cake.
  9. To assemble the cake, spread ganache over the bottom half of the cake before topping with the top of the cake. Cover the outside of the cake with the ganache, using an angled spatula. Remove the chocolate from the refrigerator and unroll. This will crack the chocolate into shards. Arrange the shards around the cake, pressing into the ganache to secure.
  10. Serve with whipped cream.

Recipe Notes

Donna's recipe included adding a layer of cream between the layers of cake. I prefer to serve the cream on the side.

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Comments

  7. I LOVE Halloween too! Perhaps we should start a Brisbane Halloween revolution?
    I have already purchased my cupcake liners, jack o’lantern cookie cutter (complete with evil grin), and two sizes of spooky cat cookie cutters all in time for the Halloween baking fest that I shall surely be undertaking in my kitchen next weekend.
    Before that though, can I have a slice of that gorgeous cake ?
    Happy Halloween friend 🙂

    Reply

  8. This cake looks absolutely incredible – I love what you’ve done with the chocolate decoration and it’s spooky but sophisticated at the same time. I’ll be celebrating Halloween with a hollowed out pumpkin, pumpkin cheesecake brownies and lots of sweets and treats 🙂

    Reply

  12. This is GORGEOUS. It almost doesn’t look real, the lighting is so perfect. I love it. I’ve tried so many times to master the chocolate shards on the side of the cake and I’ve never been able to do it. I’m so using your method next time.

    Seriously gorgeous. I can’t get over it.

    Reply

  13. Such a mouth-watering cake;Looks incredibly delicious!And when I say mouth-watering,I so much mean it,since my mouth is watering!Hehe.Rather easy recipe,I am going to serve cream on the side as well rather than sandwiching it between layers.
    Thank you for sharing!:-) Great to discover your vegetarian blog.

    Reply

  16. I love looking at all the halloween decorations at the shops and am always so tempted to buy them…..but we don’t really celebrate it so there’s not much of a point 🙁 I’ve never even been trick-or-treating!! So I LOVE the pictures in this post- very halloween! The cake look delicious too- but it’s so good to look at, I probably wouldn’t want to eat it until halloween is actually over!! haha….

    Reply

  22. WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! <— I'm speechless! This looks great eventhough I am petrified of creepy crawlies, even those fake rubber ones! Well done Jennifer!

    Reply

  25. How ‘awesome’ is that cake?! Love how you’ve spooked it up. We don’t celebrate Halloween in Dubai either so it will pass like ay other day. Perhaps when M is older, we’ll do something together!

    Reply

  26. Wow, this cake is to die for! The photos and the decoration are stunning! I love it so much, I’m intrigued to make it myself :)))

    There are no Halloween celebrations in my country either, but last year we started a tradition for Halloween parties, so now I have a reminder on my phone – “Organize a Halloween party” which will blink every year from now on 🙂

    Reply

  27. Im not a massive cherry fan so dont normally go for BFC but OMG this looks amaaaazing! Your shards are fab :)!!!

    Reply

  28. Oh. My. Goodness… that cake looks TO DIE FOR!!!

    I think the scariest thing about it is that I could probably eat the whole thing myself if I had half a chance 😉

    Reply

  30. voted for your pineapple recipe!
    love this cake but i cannot possibly make it as i would eat it all in a matter of days…..
    tweeted comp entry again!
    jen

    Reply

  32. This looks amazing! I’m not sure if I’m up to the technicalities but I might give it a go. As it’s Halloween I can hide my mistakes as a pile of icky mud 🙂

    Reply

    • Hi Trish, the cake isn’t really that difficult. The most difficult part is the chocolate shards, but really it’s only a little bit fiddly, and if you have the Donna Hay iPad app there is a great video on how to make the shards. 😀

      Reply

  34. Loved the way you decked up the cake for halloween..looks so moist,decadent & spooky at the same time Boo!
    🙂

    Reply

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