Black Forest Cake Recipe For The New Year!

First off, Happy New Year everyone! I am very much looking towards 2012 and I’m excited for what this year will bring. I just want to say: be happy, love your family and friends, and live life to the fullest! If I only learned one thing last year, it is to not take anything for granted (especially true friendships and family) and live everyday like it’s your last.

To start off the New Year, this is a recipe post for Black Forest Cake! This recipe is incredibly simple (as my recipes always are) and I received a lot of great feedback on it at my Christmas party!

So first off, I used a regular Devil’s Chocolate Cake Mix and baked a 9’inch cake following the recipe on the back of the box.

I waited for it to cool down and then I cut the cake lengthwise to create two layers. I also used a serrated knife to cut the top of the cake to level it off a bit.

I bought a can of cherry pie filling (no name brands taste just as good) and took out about ¾ of the cherries. Spread a little bit of the syrup and place the cherries evenly onto the bottom later of the cake. I left most of the syrup in the can because I didn’t want to make the cake too soggy.

Then, take some freshly whipped or premade whipped cream and spread a generous amount onto the cherries. As for myself, I whipped my own whipped cream. I bought a 1L carton of whipping cream and whipped it all with an electric beater until soft peaks formed. In the process of whipping, I added about 250ml of sugar. I’m not a baker who likes to go by exact measurements so I actually eyeballed the sugar. Definitely adjust the sugar level according to your desired taste. Reserve 1/3 of the whipped cream.

Place the top layer of the devil chocolate cake on the whipped cream and cherry filling.

Here is where it gets kind of tricky. Use a tiny bit of the whipped cream and very lightly cover the entire surface of the cake by spreading it with a spatula. You do this to “glue” all the crumbs down before you actually start frosting the cake for real. This is called a crumb coat. Once the crumb coat is on and you let it dry for a bit, coat the entire cake with the remaining whipped cream in soft little stroking motions to create a pattern as shown in my picture. Then decorate the cake however you want. I used the leftover cherries from the can and shaved some chocolate around it.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe post, and as always, Happy Eating!

courtesy of http://horthappenings.blogspot.com/2011/01/happy-new-year.html