Foret Noir (Black Forest) 2

I had 10-day christmas break last december and I was so excited to use those days to do some experiment on cakes that I've always wanted. I rarely have spare time to do some cake experimenting and I couldn't wait to get on it.

I've been wanting to create the ultimate black forest cake. I made two black forest cakes before and both were for a friend's birthday and they could have been better. I did some research on black forest cake before and there are different versions of this cake but they're all consists of 3 layers of chocolate sponge cake, 2 layers of fillings and topping (which is usually whipped cream) and decorated with chocolate shavings and red maraschino cherries. American BF usually has 2 layers of whipped cream with plain cherries. A lot of American bakeries would even use ready-made cherry pie filling. The French version seems to be a bit more complicated and sophisticated. It consists of 3 layers of chocolate sponge cakes, simple syrup that has been flavored with kirsch (cherry liqueur), brandy/kirsch soaked cherries and whipped cream/kirsch cream for the bottom layer, and chocolate mousse or chocolate whipped cream for the top layer. There are some people that would boiled the cherries and make compote out of it. The Indonesian version however, seems to be a little bit like both versions. It consists of chocolate sponge cake, rum simple syrup (instead of Kirsch), two layers of whipped cream and black cherries. A lot of people/bakeries would use buttercream instead of whipped cream since whipped cream can't stand in Indonesia hot and humid weather.

So, I tried to create my own recipe and think about what fillings would be best for BF cake. I also made the sponge cake using a recipe that I develop myself. It was Indonesian type sponge cake that uses a lot of egg yolks. I always avoid making American sponge cake or the French one (genoise) because the cake is way too dry even after being sokaed with syrup and it has rough texture. I have been trying out hundreds of different sponge cake recipes up to the point that I can now creating one (not modifying one). The cake consists of 3 layers of moist chocolate sponge cakes, rum simple syrup, brandied cherry compote, whipped cream, and also chocolate whipped cream for the top layer. I added "rum bakar" to the cake and to the cream that made the cake and the cream wonderfully flavored like rum without the taste of alcohol. It really made them taste like candy.

Enough said, so here it is. Need to work on how to make better chocolate shavings and the decorations though. Anyways, this goes to my permanent list of recipes and my long search for the ultimate Black Forest cake has ended :)



Cut: