Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte or Bavarian Black Forest Cake

By Lsweetnell

Yield: 12 servings

Ingredients

• For the cherry filling:
• 1 recipe Perfect Chocolate Cake, baked and cooled
• for the cake-
• 2 cups almond milk {or regular milk} + 2 teaspoons white vinegar
• 2/3 cup canola oil
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder, sifted
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 cups frozen tart cherries + extra for garnish
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• For the whipped cream:
• 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 6 tablespoons chocolate syrup, divided
• 1-4 oz. bar of bittersweet baking chocolate (suggest Ghirardelli}

Details

Adapted from laurenslatest.com

Preparation

Step 1

For the cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 8-inch round cake pans with parchment paper. Lightly spray with non stick cooking spray and set aside.
In a large bowl, whip oil and sugar together. Stir in vanilla. In a measuring cup, stir almond milk and vinegar together. Set aside to curdle. In a different bowl, stir all dry ingredients together until evenly mixed. Alternate mixing in wet and dry ingredients to the batter starting and ending with dry.
Pour evenly into prepared pans and bake 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs after being inserted. Cool 15 minutes, then remove cakes from warm pans to cooling rack. Cool completely.
After cakes are cooled, make a batch of chocolate frosting. Be sure to whip it well, scrape the sides well and use room temperature butter.
To assemble, stack baked cakes one on top of the other, filling with frosting. Using remaining frosting, cover the entire outside and top of the cake. Cover the edges with mini chocolate chips and serve.
To bake in 9x13 pan, spray glass pan with nonstick cooking spray and bake 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean once inserted.
To bake cupcakes, line 24 muffin tins with paper liners, fill 2/3 of the way full and bake 15 minutes.

For the cherry filling, stir sugar and cornstarch together in a cold small pot until combined. Add in cherries and toss. Place over medium low heat to melt frozen cherries. Once a paste has formed around the cherries, increase the heat to medium and keep stirring until all the liquid has come out of the cherries and mixture is boiling. Continue to stir until it becomes very thick, about 4 minutes or boiling. Be careful to not walk away from this mixture because it can burn easily. Remove from heat and stir in butter and almond extract. Cool completely.
For the cream, whip heavy whipping cream, sugar and vanilla until stiff peaks form. Refrigerate until ready to use.

To assemble cake: slice one 8-inch round in half and place onto cake plate. Drizzle the inside of cake with 3 tablespoons of chocolate syrup and spread using the back of a spoon. Top with the other half of cake. Add on cooled cherry filling leaving a 1 inch border. You will not use all of it...fyi! I had about 2 tablespoons left.} Place another half an 8-inch round on top of cherry filling. Drizzle with remaining 3 tablespoons of chocolate syrup and spread. Top with remaining cake. Spread entire cake with whipped cream. I find it always better to add way too much and then as I clean up the cake, I remove the excess. This helps ensure not a ton of crumbs get into your cream.

If desired use a vegetable peeler to create chocolate shavings with the chocolate baking bar. Freeze 5 minutes before applying to the sides and top of cake.

Garnish with cherries if desired. Serve!