Black Forest Cake

Cake

• 4 oz (100 g) butter
• 8 oz (225 g) brown sugar
• 4 oz (100 g) plain chocolate
• 7 oz (200 g) self-raising flour
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ pint sour cream
• 3 tablespoons strong cold black coffee
• 2 eggs
• 1 pinch of salt

Pastry base

• 4 oz (100 g) cream flour
• 1 pinch of salt
• 2 oz (50 g) icing sugar
• 2 oz (50 g) Irish butter
• 1 egg yolk
• a few drops of vanilla essence

Misc.

• 1 pint cream
• 1 tin (1 lb) black cherries
• 4 tablespoons black cherry jam
• brandy or cherry juice
• 4 oz (100 g) grated chocolate

Cake

1. Cream the butter and sugar together well.
2. Melt the chocolate and beat into the creamed mixture, then beat in the eggs.
3. Sift flour, salt and cinnamon together.
4. Fold the dry mix lightly into the liquids, then fold in the sour cream and cold coffee.
5. Pour the mixture into a lined and greased 9-inch round, deep cake tin, and bake for 1 hour and 25 minutes.
6. Set to cool on a wire rack.

Pastry base

7. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and bind until the mixture stiffens.
8. Roll the pastry onto a floured board worktable until pastry is about the same size as the base of the cake tin.
9. Lay out on baking sheet and bake for 20–25 minutes at 350°F, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Assembly

10. Whip cream until it holds its shape.
11. Put some whipped cream into pastry piping bag with a star tip attached, and reserve this for the decoration.
12. Slice the cake horizontally into 3 equal-sized layers.
13. Drain the cherries, reserve 8 for decoration and remove the stones from the remainder.
14. Put pastry on serving plate and spread the pastry with black cherry jam.
15. Soak the cakes with brandy or cherry juice.
16. Put one layer of cake on top of coated pastry.
17. Spread a layer of cream on the cake, and top with half the stoned cherries.
18. Add the second layer of cake, then another layer of cream and cherries.
19. Top with the final layer of the cake.
20. Cover the entire cake with the remaining cream, and press on the grated chocolate.
21. Decorate the top with piped rosettes of cream and the reserved whole black cherries.