Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, Black Forest Cake

 

For our last German class of this year, our instructor mentioned he wanted to buy a Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte.  He told us how much the cake was going to cost, and that he would have to drive about an hour to pick it up.  We also decided as a class, that we needed a non-alcoholic version of the cake, because our class meets at a local high school. I'm not much of a cake baker, but I volunteered to make one anyway.  My husband found a recipe online, and I made a test cake just to make sure I could make one.  I accidentally made extra batter for the test cake, but it turned out perfectly.  A week later, I made the cake for class and followed the recipe exactly.  One of my layers was so thin that it fell apart, and I had to remake it.  This recipe is my accident version, with extra batter and frosting, so your layers will not be too thin.  An awesome cake, that tastes great too!

Cake:
2/3 cup butter, softened
1 3/4 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups water
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups of flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Cake Directions:  Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Beat in water until blended.  In a microwave melt chocolate, stir until smooth, then stir in vanilla until blended. Combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda and add to creamed mixture alternately with chocolate mixture beating well after each addition. Pour into four greased and floured 9-in. round baking pans.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

Chocolate Filling:
5 ounces German sweet chocolate
3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Chocolate Filling Directions:  Melt chocolate in a microwave and stir until smooth.  Stir in softened butter until smooth, then add almonds.

Cream Filling:
4 cups heavy whipping cream
3 Tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla

Cream Filling Directions: Beat cream until it begins to thicken.  Add Sugar and vanilla, beat until soft peaks form.

Topping:
1 can cherry pie filling
3 cups sliced almonds

To assemble cake: place one cake on a serving platter, spread with a fourth of the chocolate filling and a fourth of the cream filling.  Repeat layers.  Top with remaining cake and chocolate filling.  Place 2 cups of the remaining cream filling in a pastry bag with a large star tip.  Pipe around top edge of cake.  Fill center with cherry pie filling.  Spread remaining cream filling over sides of cake; press almonds into sides.

Note: Allow to chill for several hours or overnight to allow the cream to set.  Otherwise, the layers will slip a bit as you are trying to cut it.