Black Forest cake is one of my favorite cakes, the flavor of chocolate mixed with the softness of whipped cream and the citrusiness of cherries, create a combination of flavors that, if we add the cold of the refrigerator, is perfect. To vary the recipe a bit and adapt it to the local product, change the cherries for strawberries, since the cherries I usually get come in syrup and are very sweet.

This cake is of German origin, it is known as Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte which means Black Forest cherry cake. Black Forest is a town in Germany where cherries and cherry products abound. It became so famous that nowadays it is prepared all over the world, either keeping the traditional or like me, varying the recipe with local products.

For this cake, I prepared a soft chocolate cake with a touch of brownie (in flavor), a strawberry syrup to moisten the cake, fresh strawberries and whipped cream. To decorate, use grated chocolate to stick it all over the cake. Let's get to work, find the ingredients, prepare your work table that we are going to bake.

Ingredients

• 250g of margarine
• 1 tablespoon of baking powder
• 1 tablespoon of vinegar
• 400g of sugar
• 6 eggs
• 400gr flour with leavening
• 50gr of cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons of vanilla essence
• 150gr of whipped cream powder
• 300mil of milk for the whipped cream
• 300mil of milk for the punch.
• Strawberries
• Strawberry syrup (Strawberries, water and sugar in equal parts)
• 1 bar of 200gr chocolate at 60%.

Note: You can duplicate the recipe if you are looking for a bigger cake. The photo of the cake is the duplicate recipe

Preparation

For the chocolate cake

• We will begin by preparing the cake, add the sugar along with the margarine and 1 tablespoon of vanilla. Mix well until it is quite creamy.
• Add the eggs one at a time until they are well integrated and we obtain a mixture where we do not see the sugar grains.

• Add half of the flour and mix well. Once the flour is integrated, add the milk together with the vinegar and mix well.
• Add the rest of the flour together with the cocoa powder to close with a dry product. Keep in mind that you can sift the flour and the cocoa to avoid lumps.

• In a 25x25cm mold, add margarine and flour to prevent the cake from sticking, add the mixture and take it to the oven, preheated in 200°C for 35-40min or until, when inserting a stick, it comes out dry.

Preparation of the filling and topping

• In a small pot, we put half a cup of sugar, half a cup of water and about 5-6 strawberries chopped into small squares. You can add the strawberries in a juice if you want. Let it boil for about 2 minutes and turn off the syrup. Let it cool down completely.
• With the strawberries clean and ready to use, I slice them thin and set aside for assembly.
• • With the help of a potato peeler, take a bar of chocolate at room temperature or about 26-28°C and pretend you are peeling a potato. This will be used to decorate the cake.

• I used powdered whipped cream, whatever whipped cream you use, follow the instructions to assemble it. I use powder because I like to control the liquid I am going to add and it allows me to get a firmer cream.
• The powdered whipping cream is prepared by mixing the powder with cold milk. I put the container and the hooks of the mixer in the freezer so that everything is cold. I mix and then keep the mixture in the refrigerator to keep it cold.

Note: If you grab the chocolate directly with your hands, it will start to melt. I recommend that you use aluminum foil to hold it so that it does not receive the heat from your hands.

Assembling the cake

• Once the cake is ready and cold, slice it to obtain discs. Depending on the layers you need, you should have more cake.
• • We place a cake disc and add syrup to moisten everything. Then we add the whipped cream and decorate with strawberries all over the surface.

• Repeat this process with all the layers you are going to make.
• Once everything is finished, cover the area with whipped cream and add the grated chocolate. Don't limit yourself with the chocolate, a bar of only 200gr will give you more than enough to cover everything.

• Take it to the fridge for at least 3-4 hours to accentuate the flavors. After this time, serve to your liking.

I like cold cakes that have fresh fruit and these are citrus. Perhaps you are reaching an age when you want that citrus contrast to cleanse your palate of excess sweetness. Black forest cake is perfect, it combines the sweetness, the citrus and the slightly bitterness of chocolate in every bite. If you are a lover of this cake, let me know in the comments.

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_{All pictures were taken by me, with a Xiaomi Redmi 7 phone, without any edition. They were only compressed to facilitate the visualization of the content.}