How did Black Forest cake become one of the world’s favorite desserts?
It’s a classic Trinidadian dessert — a chocolate cake soaked in overproof rum and topped with swoops of ultrapasteurized whipped cream.
But wait: It’s also a signature Pakistani cake, saturated with cherry brandy essence. And a Chilean cake, festooned with locally grown cherries. And a Lebanese cake — not too sweet, with little to no alcohol. And a Nepali cake. And a Zimbabwean cake. It’s even popular on the remote islands of Fiji.
What kind of dessert could inspire such a territorial dispute?
It’s Black Forest cake, named for a corner of Germany that still conjures images of fairy tales.
Try telling that to the rest of the world. The cake, long an adopted favorite in many countries, is more popular than ever — except perhaps in Germany. Thanks in part to a recent wave of ’90s-era nostalgia among younger generations, it’s found new life on social media and in restaurants across the world. Google searches for “Black Forest cake” have nearly doubled in volume over the last 10 years, most of them seeking a recipe.
The traditional version layers cherry brandyinfused chocolate spongecake with airy whipped cream and cherry ornaments. But Natasha Laggan, 40, who runs a Trinidadian cooking account on Instagram and YouTube and lives in Davie, Florida, long believed that the traditional liquor for the cake was rum — the spirit used in most of the restaurant versions she ate during her childhood in California, Trinidad.
Kudakwashe Makoni, 44, a chef from Harare, Zimbabwe, insisted that his nation’s cows lend a distinctly rich flavor to the cake’s cream. “Nobody does a Black Forest like Zimbabwe,” he said.
When his family moved to Dallas in 2000, he was shocked to see Black Forest cake at a local bakery. He wondered: Why was an
American shop serving a Zimbabwean dessert?
The cake’s very name proclaims its Teutonic origin. But some people said they thought “Black Forest” referred to the chocolate shavings on the cake.
Dessert trends come and go, yet Black Forest remains the cartoonish archetype of a celebration cake, with its eyecatching cherry garnish and contrasting blackand-white layers.
“It looks like the kind of cake you would draw if you were a child and you were drawing the perfect cake,” said Helen Goh, a cookbook author in London.
The same cannot be said in Germany, where the cake is seen as “sort of old-fashioned,” said Janosch Förster, a research follow at the German Archive of Culinary Arts.
Both its creator and birthplace are still a matter of debate. Some say it came from the Black Forest region; others say Berlin. But it is unquestionably a German invention, from sometime in the early 20th century.
“It is basically just a standard, not-sointeresting cake,” said Andreas Klöckner, CEO of Goldhahn und Sampson, a culinary store and cooking school in Berlin. “It has a different standing outside Germany as something special.”
Neither the flavors nor the appearance of Black Forest cake align with current pastry trends. Desserts today “are more sophisticated,” said Dorie Greenspan, the renowned cookbook author. “They are sparer. They are not so over-the-top.”
Black Forest Cake
Black Forest cake, which originated in the Black Forest region of Germany, is typically made with a light chocolate sponge cake, soaked with cherry syrup and cherry brandy (Kirsch), then layered with whipped cream and cherries. This version swaps the chocolate sponge for a denser, fudgier chocolate cake to delicious effect. But slicing a rich chocolate cake into four thin layers can be a bit tricky. To make the job a little easier, cool them completely before slicing. The cherry jam and syrup can be made in advance. Yield: 8 to 10 servings Total time: 1 1/2 hours, plus chilling
For the cake:
1 cup vegetable oil, plus more for greasing the pans
1 1/2 cups Dutch-process
cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups boiling water 1 cup buttermilk
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups packed dark
brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla
extract
3 cups all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon baking
powder
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
For the cherry jam:
4 cups (about 20 ounces) fresh or frozen dark sweet cherries, pitted 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1 teaspoon cornstarch 1/4 teaspoon almond
extract
1 to 2 tablespoons Kirsch
For the whipped cream and assembly:
1/3 cup powdered sugar 1 tablespoon cornstarch 4 cups heavy cream 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, shaved into curls
8 fresh or frozen whole dark sweet cherries, pitted
Heat the oven to
350 degrees. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans with oil, and line the bottom of each with parchment paper.
To prepare the cake, in a large bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder and boiling water until smooth. Add the buttermilk and 1 cup vegetable oil, and whisk to combine. Add the eggs, brown sugar and vanilla extract, then whisk to combine.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, then whisk to combine. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans.
Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer the cakes to a rack to cool for about 20 minutes, then flip the cakes out onto the rack and let them cool completely. Flip the cakes again, so the domed portion is on top, and trim a bit of the dome off each cake to flatten the top. Carefully cut each layer in half horizontally, creating four layers.
While the cake cools, prepare the cherry jam: In a small saucepan, combine the cherries and sugar over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally and breaking the cherries down with a wooden spoon or potato masher, until the fruit has released its juice, about 6 minutes.
Pass the cherry mixture through a fine-mesh sieve, reserving the syrup in a medium bowl and setting aside the cooked cherries. Measure out 1/2 cup of the syrup. (If you have more, store the rest in the refrigerator for another use). Transfer 1 tablespoon syrup from the 1/2 cup to small bowl, then stir the Kirsch into remaining syrup; set aside to cool completely.
Add 1 teaspoon cornstarch to the reserved 1 tablespoon cherry syrup in the small bowl; whisk to combine. Transfer it to the saucepan, add the cooked cherries and cook over medium, stirring, until the mixture has thickened, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl to cool completely. (You should have about 1 1/4 cups jam.)
Prepare the whipped cream: In a small saucepan, whisk together the powdered sugar, cornstarch and 1 cup heavy cream. Bring that mixture to a low boil over medium heat, and cook, stirring, until thickened to the consistency of thin pudding, reducing heat as necessary to avoid scorching, about 2 minutes. Transfer cream mixture to a large bowl to cool completely.
Assemble the cake: Whisk the cream mixture to loosen it, then add the remaining 3 cups heavy cream. Using an electric mixer on medium, beat the mixture until you have medium-stiff peaks, about 2 minutes. Set one cake layer on a serving plate, cut side up. Brush it with some of the cherry-Kirsch syrup, spread about 1 cup whipped cream over the top, then 1/3 of the cherry jam. Swirl the jam and the cream together a bit to spread it out evenly. Repeat this process two more times, and top it with the last cake layer, cut side down. Then cover the entire cake with a thin layer of whipped cream. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
To finish, frost the cake with the remaining whipped cream. Prepare the chocolate curls: Warm the chocolate bar in the microwave for 10 to 15 seconds, then use a vegetable peeler to create curled chocolate shavings. Press the chocolate shavings onto the sides of the cake and over a 1-inch of the border on top. Top with the 8 cherries. Store leftovers, well wrapped, in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
— By Samantha
Seneviratne