Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Black Forest



I am not as good a baker as I would like to think.  I do love desserts and cakes, pastries, tarts and the list goes on but am not sure if I can whip up a cake which is perfectly frosted the same way I can whip up a curry. I would love to and I really enjoy creating desserts but am just not an expert. When I see perfectly frosted cakes and glossy tarts and pies - I am in dessert envy mode, and admire the creators.  There is something romantic about desserts, there is no doubt that food brings people together, but desserts brings hearts closer. And I think chocolate tops the list when it comes to romance.   Good old black forest pastries with dark chocolate and red cherries -   a cliché but I guess nothing says I love you better than this . This is for my other half, and even thou I want to say more, some times silence does express a lot more :)) . I did not want to do the heart shape, it would be just too mushy for me....but the heart-shaped cookie cutter was staring at me almost daring me to. I fell for it....!! Well the outcome was adorable ! What do you think ?

I think this recipe is from cooks.com or allrecipes.com ( am not too sure) I did alter the recipe, instead of hot water I added hot espresso and that too a dark roast ( bitter) My other half is not so fond of very sweet desserts so I replaced some amount of sugar with pudding mix. The result was just FABULOUS !! Well it was very soft and it was a bit challenging to cut it into heart shapes. I did not add much sugar to the whip cream and I used gelatin as a stabilizer. I just loved creating this desert and the best part, my picky dessert eater (my other half) loved it. I can't wait to see what you guys are planning for V-Day. Please feel free to leave a link.


2 cups dark roast hot coffee ( you can use a light or medium roast, the dark gives a nice intense favor)
1 cup unsweetened coco powder
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup ready chocolate pudding mix
4 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Pre heat oven to 350 F. Grease cake pans or line it with parchment. I prefer parchment as it is easy to get the cake out.

In a bowl mix the hot coffee and coco powder till it dissolves and let it cool. Mix all the dry ingredients except sugar ( all purpose, baking soda, baking powder, pudding mix and salt) If you do not have pudding mix you can increase the sugar by 1/4 cup. (total sugar then being 2 1/4) The original recipe calls for 2 1/4th sugar, I replaced 1/4 sugar with 1/4 pudding mix. I loved the result, the cake was very moist and not too sweet.

Cream the butter and sugar till light and fluffy, beat in the eggs one at a time, add the vanilla, now add the flour mixture  and the coco and coffee liquid alternately  a bit by bit, till done.

Spread batter in the pan, bake for 30 - 35 min.

For the whipped cream filling 

 1 can /bottle of maraschino cherries ( preserve the liquid)
 2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup water
2 tsp unflavored gelatin
2 tbsp white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Chill mixing bowl and whisk in freezer for at least 15 min. Mix the gelatin and water and microwave for about a min, till the gelatin is dissolved. let it cool, at least 10 min, gelatin is still a liquid.

Remove the mixing bowl and whisk from freezer and add, sugar, whipping cream and vanilla extract  and beat till the beat marks began to show.

Pour the gelatin in a steady stream while mixing and beat till stiff peaks form and use immediately.

Most often at least with me, when I use whipped cream frosting, it does not stand well and if not served immediately the whipped cream collapses into an ugly mess. You need to stabilize the whipping cream so it stays for longer and does not collapse , there are various stabilizers you can use and different methods of doing it, I think this technique and gelatin as a stabilizer really works for me.

Now in a bowl take about half of the whipped cream and cut some cherries (about 1/2 of the bottle) into it and mix well.  It really depends on how much cherry you like, again  I did not want my cake to be very sweet so I went easy on the cherries.


For the assembly 

Make sure the cake has cooled for at least 2-3 hours or more. It should be cold to touch. Maybe there is a better way of doing this but with the limited knowledge and equipment...this was the best i could do. Place the cake on an aluminum foil. Dig in the heart shape cookie cutter into one side of the cake, ( you want to get as many hearts as you can ). Tuck your hand below the foil and push the heart shaped cake along with the cutter up. Slowly remove the cutter from the cake and cut the cake in half ( lateral) make sure you don't have a broken heart but cut it so you can layer it with whipped cream filling. Cut as many hearts as you can from the main cake.  Keep aside. You can use the cake crumbs for cake pops. 

You can use a cherry liquor to dunk the pastry in or you can use the sugar solution the cherries came in.
So sprinkle the solution/liquor liberally over the cut hearts.

With help of a butter knife spread the cherry mixed whipped cream frosting over one half of the cake, place the other half over it and then with a butter knife spread plain whipped cream frosting, place a cherry on top and garnish with chocolate shavings ( it will also hide any imperfections ;)) Enjoy!





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22 comments:

  1. looks amazing.....so tempting...fabulous clicks dear..

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  2. Why would you doubt your baking abilities? Such a lovely cake

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  3. Hi could you please let me know where should the pudding mix used and if we can replace it with something....thanks n I love ur blog :)

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  4. Anonymous - the pudding mix is mixed in with the dry ingredients, incase you don't have pudding mix increase the sugar by 1/4 - total sugar is 2 1/4 then . That was the original recipe - i replace part of sugar with pudding mix. Thanks anyway as I updated the post with that info :))

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  5. Fabulous...i love mini desserts, you get to eat the whole thing :-)

    And these beauties definitely don't look like the work of a 'not so great baker'! You're awseome girl, be confident abt that!

    Regards,
    Manju
    http://manjuseatingdelights.blogspot.com/

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  6. Your black forest cake looks beautiful. You are perfect baker no doubt.

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  7. ooh lovely! noted...will try my hand at it sometime!

    http://aalayaminspiration.blogspot.com

    deepa

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  8. Whoever said you are not good at baking!! the cake looks beautiful......... in fact beautiful is an understatement

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  9. Love BFC and top of that it's so cute ....yum ..lovely pics

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  10. lovely mini cakes... they just look so awesome... :)
    http://sweettoothraf.blogspot.com

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  11. Wow...looks so beautiful & romantic.. :-)

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  12. these mini hearts are perfect for Valentines

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  13. Four forks for this lovely creation!! It looked as gorgeous in person as it looks in these beautiful captures and tasted heavenly too. Mom tested - kid double approved ;) Happy valentines day!!

    Sudhakiran

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  14. lovely black forest in heart shaped perfect for valentines day!!

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  15. Thxs Sudha, am glad the little one liked it :))

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  16. Love those hearts....they r cute and yum...perfect treat for V'day....

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  17. I'm the opposite - I can probably whip a better cake than curry. I do make curry, but I make more cake. I guess that's what the difference is - practice in making.
    But honestly, your black forest cakes look delicious - nice fluffy-moist cake, pretty heart shape, and you did a great job with the frosting and decor.

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  18. Lovely mini heart cake...... :)D

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  19. This is perfect! Certainly ideal for Valentine's day!

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  20. I wanted to make one too. Seems very tricky. Black forest cake brings memories of me and mum.

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Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to browse. I appreciate all your comments, feedback and input. Hope you enjoy your stay :))

hugs!
simi

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