Black Forest Cake for Norm

 This is the delicious cake I made for Norm's 70th birthday. It's a special-occasion, three-layer cake. Make it for yourself, or for the Norm in your life whatever his age. 

Substitutions/Alternatives: 

1. Use 1/3 cup less cherry syrup from the jar and mix in 1/3 cup Kirsch (cherry liqueur). 
2. Instead of buying superfine (aka caster sugar), you can make your own by processing regular white granulated sugar in a blender or food processor until superfine.
3. Use purchased powdered icing sugar for the whipped cream, do not substitute.
4. Spread melted chocolate over a pan bottom, refrigerate and use a knife to make chocolate shavings or chocolate curls to decorate the top of the cake instead of merely dusting with grated chocolate.
5. Use a piping bag and a star icing tip to pipe whipped cream blobs on the top of the cake, then add a maraschino cherry in the middle of each. I merely spread the whipped cream smooth and placed cherries around the edges, for a more minimalist look.

Ingredients 

• 6 large eggs at room temperature
• 1 tsp real vanilla extract
• 1-1/4 cup superfine sugar
• 1/2 cup dutch processed cocoa powder*
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 10-1/2 Tbsp melted butter (about 2/3 cup)

Cherry Filling/Syrup

• 1 796 ml (28 oz) jar red sour pitted cherries in light syrup*
• 1/2 cup superfine sugar
• 4 tsp cornstarch

* I used Rodelle organic cocoa powder and S & F red sour cherries from Hungary, purchased at No Frills grocery store.

Whipped Cream

• 1 litre (4 cups) 35% cream (heavy whipping cream)
• 2 tsp real vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup icing (powdered) sugar

Decoration

• 8-12 maraschino (cocktail) cherries, drained OR fresh sweet cherries, pitted
• Milk chocolate bar or semisweet chocolate

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Grease three 8-inch round cake pans, line bottoms with parchment paper.
3. Sift into a bowl: 1/2 cup cocoa powder and 2/3 cups flour.
4. If using regular white granulated sugar, blend sugar until superfine and measure out 1-1/4 cups. Set aside.
5. Melt butter, measure 10-1/2 Tbsp and set aside to cool.
6. Crack 6 large room-temperature eggs into a measuring cup (yolk and whites should equal about 1-1/4 cups.) Using whisk attachment in large bowl of stand mixer on speed 6 (medium), beat eggs 30 seconds.
7. Turn mixer to low while gradually add 1-1/4 cups superfine sugar, then 1 tsp. vanilla. Turn off mixer and use spatula to wipe down inside of bowl if necessary.
8. Increase speed to 8 and beat egg mixture for 7 minutes more or until mixture is foamy and has tripled in volume, beating the eggs properly ensures the cake layers will rise.
9. Take bowl from stand mixer and with a spatula, gently fold in the flour mixture until just combined.
10. Fold in the cooled, melted butter, stirring as little as possible.
11. Pour the batter into prepared cake pans evenly.
12. Place pans in preheated oven. Bake 25 minutes or until cake springs back when touched and a cake tester inserted into the centre comes out clean.
13. Remove pans from the oven and let cool 10 minutes before turning out onto racks to cool completely.

Cherry Filling:

1. Drain cherries into a sieve over a bowl, reserving the cherry syrup from the jar in the bowl.  Put drained cherries in a separate bowl.
2. Take 1/4 cup of the reserved cherry syrup and mix in a small bowl with 4 tsp. cornstarch.
3. Into a medium pot, pour 2/3 cup of the cherry syrup in the bowl (use only 1/3 cup of the cherry syrup if you will be adding kirsch.)
4. Over medium-low heat, stir 1/2 cup superfine sugar into the cherry syrup in the pot. Bring to a gentle simmer and when sugar dissolves, stir in the cornstarch mixture. Continue to stir, cooking a minute or so more until the mixture thickens into a thin syrup.
5. Remove from heat.
6. If using, stir in 1/3 cup kirsch.
7. Pour the cooked syrup mixture over the drained cherries in the bowl.
8. Set aside to cool completely.

Whipped Cream:

1. Refrigerate large mixer bowl and the whisk attachment until cold.
2. Whip the cream when you are ready to assemble the cake.
3. Pour the litre of cold whipping cream into the cold bowl with 1/3 cup powdered (icing) sugar and 2 tsp vanilla. Whip on high speed 4-5 minutes until the cream thickens and forms peaks when you lift the whisk. Be careful not to over-whip or you will make butter.
4. Reserve 1-1/2 cups of whipped cream to put in an icing bag for piping, if desired.
5. Refrigerate all the whipped cream until needed for assembly.

Assembly:

1. Remove parchment paper from cake layers.
2. Place one cake layer upside down on a cake plate that will fit in your fridge.
3. Use a slotted spoon to separate the cherries from the syrup in the bowl they're soaking in, put the cherries in a sieve over a separate bowl so they drain, don't squeeze them dry.
4. Brush the top of the cake layer with cherry syrup to moisten it, using up to 1/4 cup.
5. Put 1 cup of whipped cream on top of the cake layer, spreading it evenly to within 1 cm (a half-inch) of the edge of the cake.
6. Arrange half the cherries in a single layer on top of the whipped cream.
7. Put a second cake layer on top, brush on cherry syrup, spread with 1 cup whipped cream, arrange remaining cherries on that.
8. Place the 3rd cake layer on top (rounded edge up.) Spread remaining whipped cream over top and sides of cake. (If you've reserved 1-1/2 cups to pipe blobs of cream on top, put the whipped cream in a piping bag with a star tip and squeeze blobs of whipped cream evenly around the cake, top each with a cherry.) If you're not piping cream, just arrange the drained maraschino or pitted fresh cherries (8-12 as desired) evenly around the edges of the cake.
9. Grate a few pieces of a cold chocolate bar over the top of the cake for a dusting of chocolate (this leaves room for birthday candle decorations in the centre.) If you're not adding birthday candles you can pile chocolate curls or shavings in the centre of the cake.
10. Use a damp paper towel wrapped around your finger to clean the cake plate around the edges of the cake. If desired, using cold hands or wearing chilled food service gloves, press cold shaved chocolate around the bottom of the cake.
11. Refrigerate the finished cake at least 4 hours, ideally overnight for best flavour.  If the cake seems very cold/firm, it might be hard to cut, so remove from fridge and let stand 30 minutes on the counter before adding a birthday candle and slicing. But my cake was on the top shelf of a bar fridge for about 18 hours and it wasn't necessary to remove it early.