Skip to main content

Black Forest Gateau

Husband #1 loves cherries and, no matter what I bake, he prefers they be included. This cake satisfies his craving. And it has alcohol, which I always add more of than the recipe calls for. Don’t know if that’s a bad habit or a good one.

So, what is a gateau you ask? It's a cake, technically one with a rich filling between the layers, often with fruit. Call it whatever you like. Here is the link:

https://www.butterandbrioche.com/home/black-forest-gateau

Changes I made

If you’ve been reading this blog regularly, you know I tend to use what I have in the house and make all kinds of substitutions. I took some liberties with this cake, though I did send Husband #1 to the store for mascarpone. However, I would have been happy to blend heavy cream, cream cheese, and sour cream instead.

To start, I halved everything, including the filling and the topping, since I was bringing this cake to someone’s house for dinner and there were only four of us. I baked it in a single round cake pan, then sliced the cake horizontally when cooled.

Dry ingredients

I used frozen sweet cherries and chopped them into large pieces so that more bites would have them. For some reason, I had something called Cherry Pie Liquor on hand (no idea why that is in my house) and used that in lieu of kirsch. 

Cooking the cherries

For the ganache, I heated the cream in the microwave and then poured it over the chocolate. If you are new to melting chocolate in cream, do not let the cream boil; you just need it hot.

Cake batter

I froze the layers before filling them to make it easier to spread the mascarpone. Since I was doing two, instead of three layers, I put a layer of ganache on the bottom cake, then mascarpone filling and cherries. I repeated the mascarpone and cherries on top.

Cake Layers

Review

·         Were the ingredients easy to find? Surprisingly, or maybe not, the grocery store clerk had no idea what mascarpone was; it’s in the cheese section.

·         Were the directions easy to follow? The directions are clear and the measurements are in grams and cups (I prefer grams). As far as I can tell, the ingredients are not listed separately from the ingredients, so read all the way through the recipe first. However, everything is straightforward.

·         Did it come out as expected? Having not made this before, I only had a vague idea of what to expect. I would add more cream to the mascarpone so that it’s a little more spreadable.

·         How did it taste? Yummy. This recipe  is a keeper. The filling was delicious, and the cake was a huge hit.      

·         Will I make it again? I’ll be experimenting with this recipe. When our tree (sour) cherries are ripe, I’ll use them with added sugar. I might try a very creamy mascarpone substitute. At some point, I think these would be good cupcakes with the filling inside and the ganache & syrup on the top, garnished with chopped cherries.

 


 

Labels

Labels:

Comments

  1. UnknownMay 3, 2021 at 8:32 AM

    Love your column, thanks for the recipe! How does Husband #1 like his title?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Salted Peanut Caramel Tart

 This salted peanut and caramel tart was fun to make if you don’ t mind a bunch of moving parts, which I don’t. It’s a layer of crust, then meringue, and finally topping, all with timing you’ll need to pay attention to. The base is easy because it is pressed into the tin rather than rolled out (I used a small glass to get it smooth), but the topping needs to be used within seconds. It’s a Milk Street recipe; mine is in a cookbook, but the recipe is available online: https://www.177milkstreet.com/recipes/salted-peanut-caramel-tart . I’m guessing it could be made gluten-free, but dairy-free would be difficult as the recipe calls for whipping cream and butter. This isn’t a last-minute dessert. The crust is chilled for at least fifteen minutes, then baked for an hour, then cooled. The whipped egg whites and hot syrup for the meringue need to be ready concurrently, with the melted peanut butter soon after. The peanut topping will harden almost as soon as it’s off the heat, so it has...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jeweled Chocolate Cake

This recipe is listed as one of Ruth Reichl’s favorites. In case you’re not familiar with her, she is a chef, was the food critic for the New York Times and then the editor of Gourmet magazine. She’s written a number of books, two of which I own because she’s a splendid writer. Here’s the link to the cake recipe: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ruth-reichl-save-me-the-plums-memoir-recipes/  and the filling recipe: https://www.food.com/recipe/orange-citrus-cake-filling-147364.  This cake totally reminds me of the kind of chocolate cake you might have for a kid’s birthday party, topped with frosting and all kinds of decorations. The cake is light, not overwhelmingly chocolate, can be cut into two layers, and could likely take on anything you put with it, including ice cream. The cake takes about 1 ½ hours, start to cooling and the accompanying brittle can be made while it bakes. I love cakes that can be mixed by hand with a whisk and this cake fits that bill. Praline choppe...
Post a Comment
Read more

Chocolate Amaretto Cake

This recipe comes from The Fiddlehead Cookbook  via the Fiddlehead restaurant in Juneau, Alaska, though I’m not sure the place is still there. I purchased the cookbook on a visit during an Alaskan cruise in 2007. The cookbook was published in 1991. Here is a similar recipe, but the one I made did not use a cake mix, as many on the Internet do: https://www.cooks.com/recipe/rz3zb64n/amaretto-chocolate-cake.html I imagine it would be a copywrite infringement to include the recipe verbatim here but let me know if there’s a way around that.   The ingredients are interesting and include mayonnaise, buttermilk, sour cream, and almond flour and it is baked in an angel food or Bundt pan, something with a hole in the middle. This cake could likely be made gluten-free using a gluten-free flour mix, but I don’t think there’s a way around the dairy. This cake is stirred by hand and I always appreciate not getting out the mixer. You’ll need a couple of hours start to finish, and that incl...
Post a Comment
Read more