Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte

Dr. Oetker describes Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte as a famous cake of Germany. Its chocolate sponge is divided into three layers and filled with a cooked sour-cherry mixture and whipped cream, with two separate Kirschwasser portions for filling and soaking.

Baking paper is fitted into a twenty-six-centimetre springform. Five whole eggs are beaten in a bowl with mixer beaters at high speed for a minute. The mixed sugar and branded Vanillin sugar are sprinkled in over a minute, followed by another two minutes of beating. The wheat flour, branded Backin and Gustin, cocoa and supplied ground cinnamon are mixed and briefly stirred in at low speed. The batter is smoothed into the form and bakes on the lower third for about thirty-five minutes at 180°C with upper and lower heat. It is released and turned onto a paper-lined cake rack to cool.

The supplied sour cherries drain in a sieve and their liquid is collected. Two hundred millilitres are measured, with water added if needed. About sixteen cherries are reserved on kitchen paper. In a small pot, the branded red Tortenguss and filling sugar are mixed with four tablespoons drawn from that same liquid, then the remainder is added and briefly boiled. The cherries and the filling Kirschwasser are stirred in, and the cherry filling cools.

The supplied cold whipping cream is beaten stiff with its separate sugar, branded Vanillin sugar and Sahnesteif. A little more than three tablespoons of this cream are reserved in a piping bag with an eight-to-ten-millimetre star nozzle. The sponge’s paper is removed and two horizontal cuts make three layers. The bottom is placed on a cake plate, covered with cherry filling leaving a centimetre at the edge, then spread with a little less than a third of the cream.

The middle layer is placed and lightly pressed, then brushed with half the separate soaking Kirschwasser and covered with half the remaining cream. The top is placed and lightly pressed, then soaked with the rest of that Kirschwasser. The remaining cream covers the top and sides. The reserved piping-bag cream, supplied dark-chocolate shavings and the reserved cherries decorate the cake, which stays refrigerated until serving.