What a lovely day for a garden party!

As promised in this post, here are some pics of what I ended up doing with that lovely fresh cherry filling I made earlier in the week.

*Confession: would you believe after all the work I put into buying those cherries in a famous open market the weekend prior, and hand-pitting them, I FORGOT THEM AT HOME!?! I had to go out and buy and pit another 3 lbs. all over again. Me Sho Speshul…*

AANYWAY…

I made a lovely Black Forest Cake for the Birthday Boy, my stepfather who turned “39 Again!” last week. My sweet sister arranged a lovely luncheon in the backyard of their home, and we all had many party trays of various delicious foods to choose from, and then the cake for a finale!

Below you will see the recipe and tutorial for making this delicious Black Forest Cake; in the next post, I will show the recipes and some pics of my sister’s amazing salads.

But first, we cake!

Black Forest Cake

You will need:

1. A chocolate cake, torted into at least 3 layers
2. Kirsch (cherry brandy) or Vanilla simple syrup
3. 5-6 cups Chantilly Cream (whipped cream with icing sugar and vanilla)
4. 5-6 cups cherry preserves or pie filling
5. Several real cherries for garnish
6. Chocolate flakes for sides and top

Chocolate Cake

Yield: Makes two 9”x9” rounds (I doubled this recipe to get the size of cake I needed)

• 3 cups AP flour
• 2 cups light brown sugar, pre-sifted to remove any lumps
• 8 tbsp Dutch-process cocoa
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
•  1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp white or cider vinegar
• 1 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 2 cups soured milk (homogenized/whole milk is best), lukewarm <–important!

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Sift all dry ingredients, stir well to blend. Make 3 hollows in mixture; place vanilla in one hole, vinegar in second hole, and melted butter in the third. Pour buttermilk over all, stir and blend until smooth, and no flour is showing.
3. Pour into pans quickly and smooth, then bake in oven for approximately 30 minutes. Cool in pan for 15 minutes, then de-mould on rack to cool completely.

Vanilla Simple Syrup

• 1 cup cold water
• 1 cup white granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp vanilla extract

1. Add cold water and sugar to heavy-bottomed pot and stir until combined.
2. Heat over medium-high heat until starting to boil; turn up to high heat and do not stir (causes crystals to form in sugar syrup).
3. When the syrup has started to thicken slightly (you can tell by the thickness of the bubbles forming on top), remove pan from heat, let cool 5 minutes, and stir in vanilla extract.
4. Allow syrup to cool completely before use. Can be stored in the refrigerator,covered, for up to 2 weeks.

 Assembly Instructions:

• Torte cooled cake into as many layers as you desire.
• Using a clean pastry brush, gently brush each layer’s top with an even coating of Kirsch or cooled Vanilla simple syrup.
• Arrange the bottom-most layer on an appropriate cake board or platter, and spread a portion of Chantilly cream over top, leaving 1/2″ space from the edges. Remember to save enough to cover the assembled cake.
• Gently spread a portion of the cherry filling over the whipped cream, staying back from the edges of the cake.
• Carefully place second layer over the first, press down gently in centre of cake to reduce doming, and repeat until all layers are used.
• Cover filled cake with a crumb-coating of Chantilly cream and let set in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill.

• Cover with final layer of whipped cream, decorate as desired, and serve immediately!