Black Forest Cake Recipe

Perfectly moist and sweet, this Black Forest Cake Recipe will have you craving one more bite. With layers of cake filled with homemade sweet cream and chocolate ganache, what more could you ask for in a decadent dessert? How about topping it with sweet cherries for starts? Literally one of my best cake recipes, ever.

Try my Cherry Dump Cake next. Find all Chocolate Dessert Recipes on the blog here.

TASTE AND TEXTURE:

• Decadent moist yet fluffy cake layers
• Perfectly sweet and light with homemade whipped cream 
• Topped with rich chocolate ganache
• Dotted with loads of cherry flavor

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:

Chocolate Cake Ingredients:

• all-purpose flour - This is the base of the cake so give it texture.
• cocoa powder - Using cocoa powder adds a flavorful chocolate flavor. Both unsweetened or dutch cocoa can be used here.
• granulated sugar - To sweeten the cake.
• leaveners - For lift and rise in the cake.
• canola or vegetable oil - Either oil is fine so just use what you have at home.
• eggs - Make sure the eggs are at room temperature.
• buttermilk - If you don't have buttermilk, you can make your own. Add 1 Tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to a liquid measuring cup and then fill the rest with milk till you reach one cup mark.
• hot water or coffee - Hot liquid blooms cocoa and allows it to mix well in the batter. Add coffee in the cake batter for an extra kick of chocolate flavoring. You won't taste any coffee in the baked cake.

Cherries and Syrup:

• Cherries - You have two options here-
  1. Use canned dark sweet cherries in heavy syrup. Then reduce the heavy syrup with cherry liquor for brushing cake layers.
  2. Or if you want your cherries to look even prettier in these layers, add bright red ones in the layers and make simple syrup using sugar, water and cherry liquor.
• cherry liquor - This is optional but adds a wonderful cherry flavor.

Chocolate Ganache:

• heavy cream or heavy whipping cream
• semi-sweet chocolate: If you want a sweeter chocolate ganache, reach for milk chocolate chips.

How to make homemade Whipped Cream:

Add a few tablespoon of confectioners’ sugar to very cold whipping cream and whip it with a teaspoon of pure vanilla extract. Take care not to over whip it or the cream may curdle. Just whip till stiff peaks are formed. 

HOW TO MAKE BLACK FOREST CAKE:

1. Start by making the cake. Whisk together the ingredients (full directions are found below) using a mixer. Combine the wet and dry mixtures.
2. Add the cake mixture to your baking pans. Bake your cake till they pass toothpick test.
3. Make the tops of the cakes flat. In order to top with the ganache and cherries, you'll need a smooth surface for the ingredients to stay on.
4. Prepare the syrup topping. Mix together the syrup ingredients and brush on top of all the baked cakes.
5. Create the homemade ganache. Make the ganache following the recipe steps and then set aside to cool down completely.
6. Make homemade whipped topping. Beat together whipping cream, confectioners' sugar and vanilla until stiff peaks have formed.
7. Start to assemble the cake. This three-layer cake has a process that is outlined below to get constructed and once you have all the components created, it's time to start creating the cake masterpiece.
8. Top with ganache. Top the cake with the chocolate ganache, chocolate shreds and cherries for your completed dessert!

What is the difference between chocolate cake and black forest cake?

Traditionally, Black Forest Cake is layered with a lot of cherries. The layers of chocolate cake are soaked in cherry liqueur syrup. Instead of any heavy frosting, the cake is covered in whipped cream filling.

CAN CHOCOLATE CAKE BE MADE AHEAD OF TIME?

You can make this cake recipe ahead of time so that you can assemble it in stages. If you want to make cakes first, you can easily create the batter and bake them ahead of time. 

Store the cake layers covered tightly overnight at room temperature until you're ready to assemble and use.

HOW DO YOU MAKE CHOCOLATE GANACHE SWEETER?

You can change up sweetness of homemade ganache by changing up the sweetness of chocolate that you're using. I like the semi-sweet chocolate because it pairs well with the other added sweeteners on the cake.

QUICK TIPS TO MAKE BLACK FOREST CAKE:

1. Make sure that you're using canned cherries for this recipe. The heavy syrup that is added to them will flavor this cake.
2. There is also an option to add a tad bit of corn syrup in the ganache to make it look all shiny. This is an optional step but a fun one!

MORE CAKE RECIPES FOR YOU:

• Easy Chocolate Cake
• Easy Banana Cake Recipe
• Chocolate Bundt Cake
• Chocolate Layer Cake

If you liked this recipe, give it a star review. Also, tell me in the comments below, how did this turn out for you! And don’t forget to share your creations with me on Instagram at #greedyeatsblog And lets be friends on Pinterest and Facebook too! 🙂

Recipe

Black Forest Cake Recipe

This is the best homemade cake recipe that looks like it was actually created by a professional baker!

5 from 16 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes minutes

Cooling Time: 2 hours hours

Total Time: 2 hours hours 55 minutes minutes

Servings 10 Slices

1x2x3x

Calories: 436kcal

Author: Neha

Equipment

• Electric beater/mixer

Ingredients

To make the cake:

• ▢ 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ▢ ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used dutch processed)
• ▢ 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
• ▢ 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ ¾ teaspoon baking powder
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon salt
• ▢ 2 large eggs (Room temperature)
• ▢ ¼ cup oil (vegetable or canola)
• ▢ ¾ cup Buttermilk (Room temperature)
• ▢ ¾ cup strong brewed coffee or hot water
• ▢ 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 1 can (15 oz) cherries (to place between cake layers)
• ▢ ½ cup Shredded chocolate (for topping on frosted cake)

For Syrup:

• ▢ ½ cup water
• ▢ ½ cup sugar
• ▢ 2 tablespoon cherry liquor

To make the chocolate ganache:

• ▢ ½ cup heavy cream
• ▢ 4 ounce semi-sweet chocolate bars (finely chopped)
• ▢ ¾ teaspoon corn syrup (optional)

To make the whipping topping:

• ▢ 2 cups heavy cream
• ▢ ¼ cup confectioners’ sugar
• ▢ 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions

• Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350°F. To make this recipe as written with the ingredients listed, grease three 6-inch pans and then add parchment paper. Once the parchment paper is added, grease the top of that as well. .
• Whisk together the cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Set the bowl aside. Grab your mixer and beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and buttermilk. Once mixed, combine the dry and wet ingredients together, add in the hot water or coffee, and beat until mixed.
• Take and divide the cake batter between your three greased baking pans evenly. Pop them in the oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes or till they pass toothpick test. Once they're done baking, take them out of the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack. They will need to cool for about 15 minutes in their baking pans and then you'll want to take them out of the baking pans and allow cooling on the rack.
• Once the cakes have cooled down completely, take a serrated knife and cut off a thin layer of the tops of cake layers. This will create a flat surface.
• To make the syrup: Add water and sugar to a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium/high heat. This will take about 2-3 minutes. Turn off the heat and add and cherry liquor. Cool down and then use that liquid to brush over the tops of all the cakes.
• To make the chocolate ganache: add the corn syrup and chocolate bits into a bowl. Put the cream into a small saucepan and heat it up on the stove. Once it starts to simmer a bit (no boiling - that's too much heat!) you can take off the heat and pour over the top of the chocolate. Let this sit for about 3 minutes and then stir slowly. *You can also make this chocolate ganache in microwave, using small increments.* Set the melted chocolate aside to let it cool for about 10 minutes.
• To make the homemade whipped cream: grab an electric mixer and whip the sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla on medium high. You're wanting to create sift peaks which will take about 3 minutes of time or so.
• Now is the time to assemble the cake! Put the first cake layer on your cake plate. Grab 1 heaping cup of the homeamde whipped cream and spread it carefully on top of the cake. Add some cherries and then put second layer of cake and repeat the same exact process. Then add the third cake later and use the remaining whipped topping on the top and around the sides of the cake. Make it as smooth as possible.
• Grab the ganache that was made earlier and pour it on top of the cake. Spread it around gently so that it falls down over the sides of the cake. Make whipped cream swirls and add your whole cherries on top and put the frosted cake in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes before slicing.

Notes

Storing Information:

You can store leftover cake at room temperature covered tightly at all times for 1-2 days or it can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Cherry syrup:

• Use canned dark sweet cherries in heavy syrup. Then reduce the heavy syrup with cherry liquor for brushing cake layers.
•  Or if you want your cherries to look even prettier in these layers, add bright red ones in the layers and make simple syrup using sugar, water and cherry liquor.

Buttermilk - If you don't have buttermilk, you can make your own. Add 2 teaspoons of vinegar or lemon juice to a liquid measuring cup and then fill the rest with milk till you reach ¾ cup mark.

hot water or coffee - Hot liquid blooms cocoa and allows it to mix well in the batter. Add coffee in the cake batter for an extra kick of chocolate flavoring. You won't taste any coffee in the baked cake.

Cocoa Powder: Both natural unsweetened or dutch processed cocoa will work well in this batter. You can even use a combination of both.

Cherries: I used red glazed cherries. You can find them here- not affiliated. Canned dark sweet cherries in heavy syrup, fresh dark sweet cherries or even  maraschino cherries can be used here..

 

 

Nutrition

Serving: 1Slice | Calories: 436kcal | Carbohydrates: 45g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 23g | Sodium: 282mg | Sugar: 35g

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