I started making this cake a few years ago when my husband (though he wasn't yet at the time) told me it was his favourite and when I saw the store bought version he was referring to I was horrified! I did go more in depth on the cake but deleted it for fear of offending anyone who does like them. I also get mocked for calling it 'gateau', though that is what I have always called this version of cake, that is it's full name in my opinion. You are basically looking for chocolate cake, chocolate, cream and cherries in this.
I was very excited when Megan wanted this to be the birthday cake and asked for some assistance, who doesn't get excited about making pretty cakes right?!?
You start with making cakes. The recipe I found those years ago makes a really light (I think it uses about 10 eggs, and 6 of those just the whites so it whips up tonnes, hence the lightness of it) and not hugely chocolate-y cake, so from time to time I have made other chocolate cakes and used them instead. This was what Megan did this time. The original recipe also made a 3 layered cake but I find this messy and it always collapses so I advised only 2 layers.
Once you have the cakes you can start making a syrup to drizzle into them. It is made from Cherry Brandy and a little corn flour/starch to thicken it which you boil until you get a fairly thick consistency. I poke little holes in the cake so that it soaks in better, and then you get lovely 'goo' in the cakes. Not enough that they fall apart obviously. This time I may have over thickened it as we were able to spread it on. So, we spread some Cherry Brandy syrup on each cake. Then we melted some chocolate. The original recipe only calls for 1/4 cup of chocolate, I always way over shoot this! Megan had some dark, toblerone type chocolate to use so we used that. Once it has melted you carefully spread it over the cake too, gently so you don't tear the cake. Then you put them in the fridge to cool. This was the first major change to the cake, and the crunchy bits of almonds etc in the chocolate worked really well!
As the cake is cooling you whip the cream, lots of it. You put a little brown sugar in, I also add a dash more of the Cherry Brandy for good measure! Once the chocolate has set on the cakes, bring out just one of them. Megan had some raspberry pie filler in the fridge so we decided to use it up too, sort of like a raspberry puree. We spread this all over the chocolate layer. This was the second major difference to the original recipe and it also worked really well. Then we piled some cream in and spread it around too. You don't want to take the cream right to the edge because it will squirt out the sides when you put the lid on. Onto this we placed the cherries. You can buy them in a can, without their pits, the same dark ones you would eat fresh in the Summer. One can fills it just fine. Make sure you drain the liquid off properly first.
Now it is time to put the lid on. You are going to invert the second cake so that the syrup and chocolate side goes on top of the cream filled centre and you have a plain cake surface at the top. You can spread more cream on the top, maybe some cherries for decoration and either grate some chocolate or finely cut some up for on top too!
This cake is so decadent, and there are so many wonderful flavours running through it that go so well together; chocolate, raspberry, cherry, cream, you really should give it a try sometime. Or versions of it, depending on what you have in the house.
I think the original recipe I used just put chocolate in one layer, on it's own, and then 2 more layers of syrup, cream and cherries, hence the 3 layered cake. I found this too fiddly and that it tastes just great when you get it all in one layer and there is more chocolate too! I know there is room for experimentation here with assembling of the cake, though I don't know at what point the 'Black Forest Gateau' label would be inappropriate.
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