Black Forest Cake

Total Time: 1 hr 30 mins Preparation Time: 1 hr Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 12
• 8 ounces milk chocolate candy bars
• 1 cup canned dark sweet pitted cherries, drained and juice reserved
• 2 tablespoons kirsch or 2 tablespoons cointreau liqueur
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2/3 cup cherry juice, from canned cherries
• 6 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, sifted before measuring
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 2/3 cup sweet butter or 2/3 cup margarine, melted
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 tablespoons kirsch (cherry brandy) or 3 tablespoons cointreau liqueur (orange liqueur)
• 3 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

Recipe

• 1 garnish:.
• 2 using a vegetable parer, scrape across chocolate to make curls; refrigerate until needed. loosely grate remainder of chocolate bar and refrigerate until ready to garnish.
• 3 glazed cherries:.
• 4 combine cherries with kirsch; let stand 1 hour. in small saucepan, mix cornstarch with cherry juice. bring to a boil, stirring constantly; simmer 5 minutes until thickened. let cool; add cherries and stir well to mix.
• 5 cake:.
• 6 prepare three 8-inch-diameter layer-cake pans by greasing and flouring.
• 7 preheat oven to 350°f.
• 8 in large bowl of electric mixer, beat eggs at high speed until light. add 1 cup granulated sugar gradually, beating well after each addition. beat 10 minutes or until very thick. add vanilla.
• 9 sift sifted flour with cocoa; fold into egg mixture in fourths, using a wire whisk or rubber spatula. fold in butter, in fourths, until just combined. gently turn into prepared pans. bake 15 minutes or until surface springs back when pressed with finger.
• 10 place pans on wire rack and cool 5 minutes; remove from pans and cool completely.
• 11 syrup:.
• 12 in a small saucepan, stir granulated sugar and ½ cup water over medium heat to dissolve sugar. bring to boil and boil 5 minutes. cool, and stir in kirsch.
• 13 assemble cake:.
• 14 using a skewer, make several holes in each cake layer; drizzle syrup over layers.
• 15 beat heavy cream with confectioners’ sugar until stiff.
• 16 invert one cake layer onto serving plate; spread with glazed cherries; top with 1 cup whipped cream. top with second layer and 1 cup cream.
• 17 add top cake layer; spread side and top of cake with whipped cream, decorating with 12 whipped-cream rosettes around top edge. refrigerate cake.
• 18 just before serving, arrange chocolate curls on top of cake and sprinkle side of cake with grated chocolate.