This easy black forest cake is a delicious dessert, perfect for enjoying in the Winter months as it’s full of subtle Christmas flavours.
5 from 5 votes
Prep Time 20 minutesmins
Cook Time 45 minutesmins
Icing Time 30 minutesmins
Total Time 1 hourhr35 minutesmins
Course Bakes, Cakes, Sweet Treats
Cuisine British, English
Servings 12people
Calories 240kcal
Ingredients
220gunsalted butter
450ggolden caster sugar
4medium eggs
350gplain flour / all purpose flour
60gcocoa powder
½tspbicarbonate of soda
tiny pinch of salt
350gcherry yoghurt
4tablespoonscherry jamchunky jam works really well
60gchocolate chipsmilk or dark chocolate
Buttercream
600gunsalted butter
1400gicing sugar / confectioners sugar
3tbspmilk
purple colouring paste
Decorating
12glacé cherries
100gdark chocolate
1jarcherry jam
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 180 (150 fan)
Grease and line 2x 6 inch cake tins.
Cream together (in a mixer or by hand) the butter and sugar until fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time and mix.
In a separate bowl measure out and sieve the flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
Add the yoghurt and jam/conserve to the butter/egg mix.
Add the flour mix slowly stir in until all the flour has been incorporated.
(If the jam you used is runny you might need to add a tablespoon extra of flour to stop the mix being too runny.)
Stir in the chocolate chips.
Divide the cake between the two tins and bake for 40-50 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean it's done. Leave to cool for 30mins and then remove to a cooling wrack until cold.
Making the buttercream
In a stand mixer beat the butter gradually adding the icing sugar and the milk until light and fluffy and well incorporated.
If you want beautifully white buttercream add a tiny amount of purple food colouring paste. The purple will neutralise the yellow tint of the buttercream. Be careful to add a tiny amount at a time otherwise it will go purple.
Add a large round nozzle to a pipping bag and fill it up with the buttercream.
Assembling the Cake
Level off the cakes and cut them in two horizontally into two equal pieces. So you have 4 layers altogether.
On a cake plate or turn table start assembling the layers. On the first layer of cake spread on a tablespoon of jam.
Pipe the buttercream on top of the jam and add the next cake level.
Repeat with the next 2 cake layers and finish with the top layer (don't add jam to the top layer).
Pipe buttercream around the cake and across the top. Use a palette knife or spreader to spread it out evenly.
I used a little palette and dragged the buttercream upwards gently to give it a texture.
Melt the chocolate and allow to cool slightly before adding it to a piping bag or squeeze bottle. Gently add chocolate drips around the cake. I just added the chocolate around the edge and left the centre of the top of the cake free as a design.
Add the remaining buttercream to a piping bag with a star nozzle. Pipe 12 blobs on the top and add a glacé cherry.
Serve and Enjoy.
Nutrition
Calories: 240kcal
Please note that the nutrition information provided above is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
I would love to hear what you thought about this recipe. Please leave a comment on the blog post.