Black Forest Gateaux

Updated black forest gateaux

FIL was celebrating his 80th birthday and Lorrine of Ganache, who makes the Most Delicious Green Tea Cake (no other name for it, Lorrine), was away for the weekend so she couldn't take my order. In-laws requested a black forest cake, something that went out in the 80s.

I decided to update the classic black forest cake now that cream rosettes and trimmings around cakes are considered dated. I wanted a glossy shiny finish to the cake, but was afraid to try new chocolate icing recipes because I find chocolate temperamental to work with. Okay, the truth is I haven't much experience with working with chocolate. I couldn't even make chocolate curls, upto that point. After making this cake, I not only can make choc curls but choc fans too. And it's so easy. Just buy a flat block of choc converture and slice a thin layer with a cheese slicer, then gather one side to make a fan. Freeze it quickly before it melts.

In the end, I stuck with chocolate ganache. The sides of my cake were not level, so ganache of pouring consistency would just show up the uneveness. I chilled the ganache until it was firm and then whipped it for a stiffer anf fluffier frosting. However, the color of the ganache turned from dark brown to a medium brown but that was okay. For the top of the cake, I preferred a shiny look so I added some butter to the hot ganache and when it cooled, poured it over the top of the cake. It still wasn't as shiny as I wanted. Any suggestions?

The cake was a huge hit at the dinner. I was embarassed at myself for kicking up a fuss about them wanting such a dated cake (I wanted a green tea or opera cake) but I have to eat my words: classics never go out of style because they are just too good. The cake took me nearly a whole day to make because the first chocolate sponge I made was a disaster--the bolt fixing the whisk attachment on my 20 year-old Kenwood Major came loose and I had to whisk the 12 egg whites by hand, which was impossible. I am a person who finds it hard to even switch to Astro so fixing the bolt was not an option. The cake came out flat and heavy. I called a friend who's handy with everything and he fixed the machine in time for me to bake another sponge. Seems like everytime I bake, some dramatic incident happens.

The recipe below was from Mrs (Fat) Liew (there was another teacher, 'Thin Liew'), the most popular cake baking teacher in KK years ago. I made 1 1/2 recipe and there was enough to generously feed 24 people.


The choc sponge was very light and moist, and not too sweet.

Black Forest Gateaux
'A' Ingredients:
8 oz Softasilk flour (or cake flour)
1 T double action baking powder
4 T cocoa powder (I used Valrhona)
3 oz caster sugar
4 oz corn oil
8 large egg yolks
6 oz water/milk
1 T choc emulco (optional)

'B' Ingredients:
8 large egg whites
1 t cream of tartar
3 oz sugar

Icing/Frosting:
Fresh cream (dairy or veg-based)
choc ganache (optional)
choc shavings or curls
1 large can black cherries
maraschino cherries (red cherries with stems)
3 T Bols Kirsch ( a cherry liquor, available in cake shops)

1. Preheat oven at 170 C. Get a 10" or 11" round cake tin. No need to grease. Sift cake flour and baking powder together.

2. Mix 'A' ingredients together with a hand whisk until smooth.

3. Beat 'B' ingredients with an electric mixer (best results if you use a stand mixer) until whites are stiff.

4. Pour 'A' into 'B' and mix well quickly (I was taught to use my hand to mix) and pour into the cake tin. Bake 1 hour. Test with a wooden skewer--if skewer comes out clean, cake is done. Cool by turning cake upside down over a cake board so that it doesn't sit on its weight.

5. Slice cooled cake into 3 layers. Put one layer on the cake board, sprinkle with 1 T Bols Kirsch and another T of the chery syrup. Spread whipped cream over the cake and scatter black cherries over it. Continue layering the cake until all 3 layers are assembled.

6. Now you can choose to cover the entire cake with whipped cream or choc ganache. Traditionally, black forest gateaux is covered with whipped cream, decorated with choc shavings and cream rosettes with maraschino cherries on top.

Choc Ganache
9 oz semi-sweet chocolate, in small bits
1 cup heavy(dairy) cream
1 T rum (optional)

1. Put the choc into a bowl. Heat the cream up over a pot of boiling water until it almost begins to boil. Pour the hot cream into the choc and let sit for 2 minutes.

2. Stir the cream-choc mixture with a spoon. If there are still choc bits, put the whole bowl back into the pot of boiling/hot water and stir until all the choc melts. Let ganache cool.

3. If you want a stiffer fluffier ganache, chill it in the freezer until it is thick and nearly firm, then whisk it with an electric mixer until fluffy.

Note: if you aren't good at making sponges, substitute the cake flour and baking powder with 6 oz Optima flour and 4 oz plain flour, remove all sugar because Optima flour is already blended with all the leavening agents and sugar. When you whisk the egg whites, use only 2 oz instead of 3 oz sugar.