Black Forest Cake - Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte

Step 1

Grease and flour a 10-inch springform pan and preheat the oven to 350F.

Step 2

Separate the eggs into two bowls.

Step 3

Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff peaks form.

Step 4

Beat egg yolks with sugar and vanilla extract until light and creamy.

Step 5

Place egg yolk mixture onto the egg whites and fold in.

Step 6

Combine flour, baking powder, corn starch and cocoa powder and sift on top of the egg mixture.

Step 7

Pour mixture into the springform pan and bake for 20-30 min.

Step 8

Remove the ring from the springform pan. Turn cake on a with parchment paper lined cooling rack and allow to cool completely.

Step 9

Place the bowl and the whisk that you will use for whipping the cream into the freezer and chill for about 15 min. before you will start with the cherry filling.

Step 10

Drain cherries and reserve the cherry juice.

Step 11

Mix corn starch and sugar with 1/4 cup of the cherry juice.

Step 12

Bring 3/4 cup of cherry juice to a boil. Add the corn starch mixture and simmer lightly for a couple of minutes while stirring.

Step 13

Place cheries into a bowl, let cool for a bit and stir in the Kirschwasser.

Step 14

Beat heavy cream with sugar, vanilla sugar, and cream stabilizer until stiff peaks form. Preferably you do this in 2-3 batches.

Step 15

Cut the cake twice horizontally to get three equal sized cake layers.

Step 16

Place one cake layer into the springform pan.

Step 17

Brush or sprinkle with Kirschwasser. (optional)

Step 18

Top with the cherry filling and a 1/3 of the cream filling. Usually Black Forest Cake has only 1 layer of cherry filling.

Step 19

Place the second cake layer on top. Brush or sprinkle with Kirschwasser (optional).

Step 20

Place about 3/4 cup of cream into a piping bag and place into the fridge.

Step 21

Spread half of the remaining cream topping on top of the cake layer.

Step 22

Place remaining cake layer on top. Place cake for about 15-30 min. into the fridge.

Step 23

Prepare chocolate shavings

Step 24

Cover cake with cream on top and the sides.

Step 25

Garnish with cream tuffs on top of the cake and place a cherry on each tuff.

Step 26

Cover top and sides with chocolate shavings.