Black Forest Cake Recipe with Cherry

To prepare a day in advance: Sponge Cake: Preheat the oven to 175 degrees. Line a cake pan with parchment paper, DO NOT grease the sides. Whip the eggs, sugar, vanilla sugar, and hot water in a bowl for 10 minutes until a light cream is obtained. The volume of the mixture should approximately triple. Mix the flour, starch, baking powder, and salt, and sift it over the egg mixture. Carefully fold the batter using a spatula until everything is well combined.

Carefully place the batter in the cake pan. Bake in a preheated oven for 30-35 minutes. Remove the cake from the oven when it does not give in when lightly pressed with a finger. Let it cool completely. Remove the cake from the pan, wrap it in plastic wrap, and store it in the refrigerator overnight. This way, the batter will not crumble when sliced.

To prepare the day before: Chocolate Filling: Melt dark chocolate in a double boiler, then pour half onto parchment paper, spread it out a bit, and place another piece of parchment paper on top. Roll it out a little thinner with a rolling pin. The chocolate should not run over the edges. Then, roll the paper tightly and place it in the freezer for at least 1 hour. Repeat the same process with the other half of the chocolate. Remove the rolls from the freezer after at least 1 hour and unroll them. The chocolate will break and form pieces resembling tree bark.

The remaining preparations are done on the same day. Cherry liqueur: Heat the sugar and water in a saucepan until the sugar is dissolved. Then, remove from heat and let cool, then add the cherry liqueur.

Filling: For the cherry filling, drain the cherries and collect 200 ml of juice. Mix the juice with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and heat in a saucepan while stirring. As soon as the mixture thickens, remove from heat and fold in the cherries. For the cream mixture, place the cream in the freezer for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, soak the gelatin in cold water for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, gently heat the cherry liqueur in a small saucepan, squeeze the gelatin and dissolve it while stirring. Remove from heat. Whip the 500 ml of cream until it is firm, while adding 2 tablespoons of vanilla sugar. Mix 2 tablespoons of whipped cream with the gelatin mixture, then fold the gelatin mixture into the rest of the cream.

Cake Assembly: Place one layer of sponge cake on a cake plate and place a 26 cm diameter ring mold around it. Spread 1/3 of the filling on the sponge cake base, then place the prepared cherries on top, leaving about a 1 to 2 cm edge empty. Fill the edge with cream and place another layer of sponge cake on top. Again spread 1/3 of the filling on this cake base, then spread half of the cream on top and cover with the third layer of cake. Spread the last third of the filling on the third layer of the cake. Spread the remaining cream on top and cover with the final layer of cake. Chill everything for one hour.

Decoration: Whip 500 ml of cream until it is very firm, adding cream stabilizer and vanilla sugar. Cover the cake with 2/3 of the whipped cream. Pour the remaining cream into a piping bag fitted with a star tip and place small "dollops" on the cake. Place a larger amount of cream in the center.

To finish, decorate the edge of the cake with "chocolate pieces." Stack a few to form a "campfire" in the center of the cake with the remaining chocolate. Decorate the cake with cherries and sprigs of rosemary. Let the cake cool for at least 4 hours and take it out of the refrigerator about 1 hour before serving.