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.