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This Black Forest Cake is my version of the famous German chocolate cake, aka “Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte.” It has 4 chocolatey layers, 1 lb of kirsch-infused cherries and a light whipped cream.
It is a stunning and decadent cake but it’s fairly simple to make with just 11 ingredients (which is peanuts for a cake!). The chocolate shavings make this Black Forest cake very forgiving in terms of decoration for those of us who are cake styling impaired :).
This black forest cake is an adult cake as it has kirsch (a cherry liqueur) and isn’t overly sweet. The kirsch is not overpowering but you can tell it’s there. I figured if you slice it into 12 generous pieces, each would have 1 tsp of kirsch. If making this cake for children, omit the kirsch and add a 1 Tbsp sugar to the cherry syrup for more flavor.
*Recipe Tips: You can use thawed frozen cherries or canned cherries. If using canned cherries, select cherries in water or juice, omit the 1/4 cup additional water and use the juice from the can instead. Also, maraschino cherries can be used for the topping/decor. A golden rum would taste good too, but kirsch is more authentic. Watch our easy video tutorial on how to measure correctly!
*Note:
Recipe for the Black Forest Cake updated 4/22/16 to be more fail proof. Several of you mentioned your cakes did not rise as much as mine. I heard you and re-baked the cake. After some testing, I noticed the best results when increasing the mixing time to 8 minutes (rather than 5) and using 4 Tbsp butter (rather than 8). It rose beautifully and perfectly. Enjoy!
Ingredients for Chocolate Cake Layers:
9 large eggs, room temp
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour *measured correctly
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 Tbsp (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled (not hot)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
What you’ll need:
Two 9″ cake pans and flour sifter or fine sieve
Ingredients For the Filling:
4 cups (1 lb) bing cherries, pitted, plus 12 whole cherries for decor (If not in season, see *Recipe Tips)
3 Tbsp kirsch (a cherry liqueur)
1/4 cup cold water
For the Frosting/Topping:
3 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup Confectioners sugar
1 Tbsp kirsch (cherry liqueur)
4 oz good quality dark chocolate
How to Make Black Forest Cake Layers:
If you’ve never made a European Sponge Cake, watch the video before you get started to see what the batter should look like.
Prep: Preheat Oven to 350˚F. Line bottoms of two 9″ round pans with parchment paper (don’t grease sides).
1. Beat 9 large eggs with the whisk attachment for 1 min on high speed. With the mixer on, gradually add 1 cup sugar and continue beating on high speed a full 8 min. It will be thick and fluffy.
Tip from reader, Hilda: “How do you know u get the right consistency? Lift up your beater (whisk) from the batter. Make a figure “8” using the batter that drip off the beater. Then count to 10 seconds. If the figure 8 still remains on top of the batter, then u have the right consistency. If the figure 8 sinks into the batter before 10 secs, then u need to beat it longer.”
Tip: the mixture it should fall off the whisk and still ‘stand up’ on the cake mixture
2. Whisk together 1 cup flour and 1/2 cup cocoa powder and sift in thirds into the batter, folding with a spatula between each addition. Once all flour is in, continue to fold just until no streaks of flour remain, scraping the bottom of the bowl to get any pockets of flour hiding at the bottom; do not over-mix or you will deflate the batter.
3. Gently fold in 1/2 tsp vanilla and room temp butter, folding as you add butter in a steady stream and scraping from the bottom to make sure you don’t have butter pooling at the bottom. Fold just until incorporated. Divide batter equally between two prepared cake pans and BAKE RIGHT AWAY in fully preheated oven at 350˚F for 20-25 minutes (my oven took 22 min), or until a toothpick comes out clean. Note: Once the butter is added, it must be transferred to baking pans and put into the oven immediately or the batter can deflate quickly.
4. Let cool in pans for 10 min then run a knife or thin edged spatula around the edges to loosen cake. Transfer to a wire rack and remove parchment backing. When cakes are at room temp, and you’re ready to assemble, slice cake layers in half with a long serrated knife.
Making the Syrup for Black Forest Cake:
1. Roughly chop pitted cherries and place in a medium bowl with 3 Tbsp kirsch. Let sit at room temp for at least 30 min, stirring a couple times, then drain cherries in a sieve over a bowl. Keep the cherries and syrup. Add 1/4 cup cold filtered water to the syrup to get about 3/4 cup total syrup.
Making the Cream:
For best results freeze bowl and whisk attachment 15 min before using.
1. Beat 3 1/2 cups heavy cream with whisk attachment on high speed until soft peaks form, add 1/3 cup powdered sugar and 1 Tbsp kirsch and beat on high until stiff and spreadable (1-2 min). Refrigerate until ready to use (tip: keep whisk attachment in the bowl – you can whip it another 30 seconds if it seems slightly loose after refrigeration).
Assembling your Black Forest Cake:
1. Place first cake layer on a cake stand and brush with 1/4 of the syrup. Cover the top with about 3/4 cup frosting (3 ice cream scoops’ worth) and top with 1/3 of the chopped cherries. Repeat with remaining layers and top with the flattest layer. Transfer 1 1/2 cups frosting to a pastry bag with a large flower tip and refrigerate until ready to use (don’t handle the bag too much or the cream will soften). Fill the cracks along the sides of cake with frosting then frost the top and sides with remaining frosting.
2. To make chocolate shavings, you can either melt chocolate in the microwave, spread it thin over the back of a baking sheet with the help of a food scraper, then refrigerate a few minutes and use a food scraper to create bark-like shavings. This is the more authentic way. Alternatively, you can use a potato peeler to shave a chunk of chocolate, It will still be pretty but it won’t have the same “black forest cake” feel to it.
3. Cover sides and top of cake with chocolate shavings leaving a 1″ perimeter on top for piping frosting. Pipe rounds of frosting around the top of the cake and place a whole cherry over each one. Refrigerate cake for at least 4 hours or overnight before serving for the flavors to meld.
Black Forest Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Ingredients for Chocolate Cake Layers:
- 9 large eggs, room temp
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled, not hot
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
What you'll need:
- Two 9" cake pans and flour sifter or fine sieve
Ingredients for Cherry Filling:
- 4 cups 1 lb bing cherries, pitted, plus 12 whole cherries for decor (see *Recipe Tips)
- 3 Tbsp kirsch, a cherry liqueur
- 1/4 cup cold water
For the Frosting/Topping:
- 3 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1/3 cup Confectioners, powdered sugar
- 1 Tbsp kirsch, cherry liqueur
- 3 oz good quality dark chocolate
Instructions
How to Make Cake Layers: Preheat Oven to 350˚F. Line bottoms of cake pans with parchment (don't grease sides).
- Beat 9 eggs with the whisk attachment for 1 min on high. With the mixer on, gradually add 1 cup sugar and continue beating on high speed a full 8 min. It will be thick and fluffy. Tip: the mixture it should fall off the whisk and still ‘stand up’ on the cake mixture
- Whisk together 1 cup flour and 1/2 cup cocoa powder and sift in thirds into batter, folding with a spatula between each addition. Once all flour is in, continue to fold just until no streaks of flour remain, scraping the bottom of the bowl to get any pockets of flour; do not over-mix or you will deflate the batter.
- Gently fold in 1/2 tsp vanilla and room temp butter, folding as you add butter in a steady stream and scraping from the bottom to make sure you don't have butter pooling at the bottom. Fold just until incorporated. Divide batter equally between two prepared cake pans and BAKE RIGHT AWAY in fully preheated oven at 350˚F for 20-25 minutes (my oven took 22 min), or until a toothpick comes out clean. Note: Once the butter is added, it must be transferred to baking pans and put into the oven immediately or the batter can deflate quickly.
- Let cool in pans for 10 min then run a thin edged spatula around edges to loosen cake. Transfer to a wire rack and remove parchment backing. When cakes are at room temp, and you're ready to assemble, slice cake layers in half with a long serrated knife.
Making the Syrup:
- Roughly chop pitted cherries and place in a medium bowl with 3 Tbsp kirsch. Let sit at room temp for at least 30 min, stirring a couple times, then drain cherries in a sieve over a bowl. Keep the cherries and syrup. Add 1/4 cup cold filtered water to the syrup to get about 3/4 cup total syrup.
Making the Cream: For best results freeze bowl and whisk attachment 15 min before using.
- Beat 3 1/2 cups heavy cream with whisk attachment on high speed until soft peaks form, add 1/3 cup powdered sugar and 1 Tbsp kirsch and beat on high until stiff and spreadable (1-2 min). Refrigerate until ready to use (tip: keep whisk attachment in the bowl - you can re-whip if it seems slightly loose after refrigeration).
Assembling your Black Forest Cake:
- Place first cake layer on a cake stand and brush with 1/4 of the syrup. Cover top with about 3/4 cup frosting and top with 1/3 of the chopped cherries. Repeat with remaining layers and top with the flattest layer. Transfer 1 1/2 cups frosting to a pastry bag with a large flower tip and refrigerate until ready to use (don't handle the bag too much or the cream will soften). Fill the cracks along the sides of cake with frosting then frost the top and sides with remaining frosting.
- To make chocolate shavings, you can either melt chocolate in the microwave, spread it thin over the back of a baking sheet, then refrigerate a few min and use a food scraper to create bark-like shavings. This is the more authentic way. Alternatively, you can use a potato peeler to shave a chunk of chocolate.
- Cover sides and top of cake with chocolate shavings leaving a 1" perimeter on top for piping frosting. Pipe rounds of frosting around the top of the cake and place a whole cherry over each one. Refrigerate cake for at least 4 hours or overnight before serving.
Notes
♥ FAVORITE THINGS ♥
Shown in this post: (no one paid us to write this; just affiliate links for stuff we love):
*The lovely turquoise Fiesta Cake Plate with Server.
*The OXO strainer/sifter is totally multi-purpose!
* This OXO Cherry Pitter (works for olives too!)
*Ofcourse the “workhorse” of the kitchen: KitchenAid Pro 6Qt
*We sure enjoy our Wusthof knife block set. Great knives are essential.
Visit our Shop to see all the tools we use and love.
Admit it, you want a slice! 🙂 What’s your favorite cherry dessert (besides this one of course)?
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
This is an excellent recipe and my cake turned out beautifully! I made a couple of adjustments to the recipe as follows: I omitted the kirsch and used some of the cherry juice that my preserved cherries came in for the cake and the frosting. I used a bain marie to combine the eggs and sugar for the genoise and they fluffed up incredibly when whisked. I also used clarified butter (to reduce lactose) and it didn’t change the taste. I did find that I didn’t have enough whipped cream for my four-layer cake, so I used another 2 cups of cream and it was perfect. Overall great recipe!
I’m so happy that you enjoyed it! I love the bain marie idea. Thank you so much for sharing that with us! 🙂
Hi Natasha, would love to make this cake for the weekend. Can I not use kirsch (cherry liqueur) or anything i can substitute for it? Thanks
Hi Ntaliya, it would still work if you omit the kirsch and use juice or sugar water instead – you won’t have the same depth of flavor but it will still be good. You can also substitute with golden rum if you have that on hand 🙂 P.S. If you do end up buying the kirsch, I have a new recipe coming next week that uses it and it’s A-MAZING!!
Hi😃Natasha this is Shameera I made it thank you soooo much I will send some pictures is it ok I couldn’t cut or eat but my daughter said everybody ate it so quickly it was that good I grew up eating this cake often but making it for first time thanks my only difficult y was folding in the flour since my first attempt so cake didn’t rise that well but it was fine it was bit dry is it supposed to be like that any way this is a fantastic recipe if I can make it anybody can it is that good😘Again THANKYOU.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for sharing that with us 🙂
Natasha, I read your article several times before I attempt to make black forest cake. It was my brothers graduation last week, and black forest is something we grew up eating back home in Nepal from a expensive bakery stores. Your instruction were perfect, and I have to come back to your page and thank you . The cake turn out perfect, I was so proud of myself. Thank you so much. I will be definitely coming back to your page for more recipes. Thank you again.
I’m so happy for your success! That is a great feeling when a cake turns out really really good! 🙂
Hi
I’m glad I found your beautiful cake decorated and filled with fresh cherries. I want to ask you what do you mean by “cherry “- maybe it seems a silly question, but I’m not a native English speaker and I have found Black Forest Cake recipes that used the same word for sour cherry too, just like “cherry”- and that confuses me. In your photos seem to be sweet cherries, can you tell me what kind of cherries did you use, please? Thank you very much!!
Hi Cristina, it is a great question – they are sweet cherries but I think sour cherries would work if that is all you had 🙂
thank you for your quick response. I actually have the right cherries :)))
I have a 26cm cake tin how can I increase the ingredients for a Black Forest Gateau from a 23cm to my 26cm please
Hi Inge, It could still work in a 26cm pan but your cake wouldn’t be as tall.
Natasha, I have commented several times on this recipe. I have posted a link to this recipe on my Fb page ‘Follow the BUNNY Trail’. If that’s not okay with you, I’ll remove it.
Hi Bunny! I would love to see it, can you leave me a link to your facebook page? I wasn’t able to find it by typing in that name. Thanks so much! 🙂
Natasha, here’s the url address to my new page on Fb. There were questions yesterday about a sponge, or as I know it, a Genoise. I refereed to your recipe, so members could see various recipes for a genoise.
Hi🙂Natasha my daughter is in 9grade and I have to bake Black Forest cake for food influenced by other countries so for the past few days I have been searching for a recipe I kind of like yours but I am worried about whipped cream will it stay for a day and please can you measure the flour for me because it will easy for me since it has to presented in school aim nervous I do bake lot of Moroccan stuff but believe me this is my first comment or a message on a website Iam laughing at my self please reply Cake has to be at school on May 20,2016 so today I will shopping for it tomorrow making it if I make yours I will send a pic Godwilling thanks.
If you beat it until it is stiff and spreadable, the whipped cream will stay good overnight in the refrigerator. I hope you enjoy it!
Shameera, you can also stabilize whipped cream by the addition of Agar Agar. You can find it at most health food stores (Make sure to get powdered Agar Agar). Here’s my recipe for ‘Stabilized Whipped Cream’ – STABILIZED WHIPPED CREAM FROSTING RECIPE:
Ingredients:
1 c. whipping cream
2 T. confectioners’ sugar
1 t. powdered agar agar
Whip whipping cream until almost ready.
Add confectioners’ sugar and agar agar.
Continue whipping until stiff peaks form.
This cream topping/filling will stay firm and not separate.
When I need to have a Black Forest Cake stay out at room temperature, as in a dessert cart at a restaurant, I frost it now with a Kirsch Mock Whip Frosting. The frosting is like whipped cream.
Thank you so much for sharing that!
My son wanted a real black forest cake for his birthday and I’m glad I found this! Never made this type of cake before (9 eggs!) but it rose beautifully and is so light. Thanks for sharing.
Tamara, thank you for such a nice review on the cake and you are welcome 😃.
I have made this recipe a few times now and each time it’s absolutely AMAZING! The only adjustment I have done is I use my own chocolate cake recipe but other then that I follow the rest of this recipe. It truly is amazing and I have gotten requests for this cake from my friends and coworkers.
That’s wonderful!! I’m so happy you love it 🙂
This cake sucked. And it wasn’t my fault either. I’m a pretty good baker but something about the overuse and complexity of the egg mixture combined with there being no baking powder of soda made it so that the cake did not rise AT ALL. It turned out as a disgusting, thick fudge thing but it tasted so much worse than fudge. It was supposed to be a cake for my mom’s birthday so I was obviously very disappointed when it came out of the oven like it did. However, all turned of fine because I found a great recipe on allrecipes.com. Steer clear of this recipe!
Hi Aubrey, I’m sorry to hear it didn’t work for you. This is a classic European sponge cake and the way you described your results, I’m guessing it’s due to one of the following: 1. Did you beat your eggs on high speed for the full time per the recipe with the whisk attachment? This is super important to incorporate air into the cake and the cake relies on that to rise rather than leavening agents like most American cakes. The egg mixture is very simple but it is important to beat the eggs long enough. Also, did you make sure your butter was at room temp and not warm or hot when adding? Finally, if you overmix after adding flour and butter (using the mixer rather than folding with a spatula), you will deflate the cake. I hope that helps if you’re making a European sponge cake in the future. It really is a great cake but that is where people usually go wrong if they don’t have experience with this type of cake. I actually re-made this recipe 2 days ago (see my note at the top) to try to make it easier and more fail-proof. Did you possibly print off the recipe and make it before that?
Hi Aubrey,
I am a professional Pastry Chef, and this is the first cake I teach in the Baking Classes I teach in a local Culinary College. A “genoise”, is the most basic of cakes, and is a European Sponge Cake. It’s not used as much in the U.S., and it is not the easiest cake to learn to make.
The only leavening agent in a genoise is beaten eggs. If properly executed the cake will rise perfectly without the use of baking powder or baking soda.
I’ve won gold medals and trophies in competitions with a genoise cake – as in an authentic Black Forest Cake (German).
American dump cakes are by far much easier to make, but are not the mark of a great baker.
Bunny
I have learned when chocolate cake is the base for any cake recipe I use my own recipe. I did do that with this cake as well and it came out amazing. The whipped topping & filling really does make the cake very good. I hope you try this cake again with a different chocolate cake recipe.
Hi Natasha, I am curious based on the other comments and by looking at your recipe if the calling for 9 eggs is correct? In the past I used this recipe (http://www.bavarianclockworks.com/blog/german-black-forest-cake-recipe/) but it has only 2 eggs in it but still same amount of flour as you….I definitely would love to give another recipe a shot but I just wanted to check with you before trying it out 🙂
Hi Mel, it looks like she’s using a completely different type of cake base. Mine is an egg based European sponge cake and hers is not so you can’t really compare the two. If you try it, I hope you love it! 🙂
Ohhh ok gotcha! Well it’ll be nice to try two different cake types then. I’ll let you know how it turns out. Cheers 🙂
This recipe is an authentic European Genoise Cake. It is the first cake taught to students in Pastry Classes in Culinary School. It was the first cake I learned how to make, however it is more labor intensive than a dump cake. I always thought that a Chocolate Genoise was the authentic Black Forest Cake recipe. (Your recipe is a lot easier to follow.) I won a Gold Medal, and Best of Show Trophy, with the genoise recipe for a Black Forest Cake, many years ago in a Culinary Salon. The European Genoise is a lost art, at least here in the states, although in Europe it’s probably still the standard for a basic cake.
Hi Bonny! I would love to try your award winning genoise recipe some day! I’m sure it’s amazing! Do you have a recipe posted online somewhere?
I couldn’t find a reply button on your last comment to my comment.
The recipe I used was probably just a basic chocolate genoise. When I entered the Culinary Salon the judges (the chefs were not Pastry Chefs) interviewed me because they didn’t know what a genoise was. Because of my techniques, and the fact that I macerated fresh cherries, etc. they gave me a Gold Medal as well as Best of Show. So many years ago, in the 80’s.
I made a simple syrup and added Kirsch, to soak the cake layers. I made whipped cream with some Kirsch to frost the cake.
When I was the Pastry Chef at our local Ramada Inn, the GM asked me to put a Black Forest Cake on the Dessert Cart in the dining room. I pointed out that the Kirsch Whipped Cream wouldn’t hold up at room temp. for several hours, so I made my famous “Mock Whip Wedding Cake Frosting” with Kirsch, and that way it could sit out and not wilt.
I also garnished it with 3-dimensional chocolate trees. I drew a small tree shape on parchment paper, and then folded the paper in half, right up the middle of the tree. Then pressed the paper flat again, to pipe melted chocolate on the outline of the tree. I immediately lifted up one side of the tree to a 90 degree angle, and then placed it on the inside edge of a square cake pan. I clothes pinned it to the side of the cake pan until the chocolate was set – 1/2 of the tree was against the side of the cake pan, and the other 1/2 was flat on the bottom of the pan. I made twice as many of these as I needed trees for the top of the cake. When they were set, I pulled them off the parchment, piped melted chocolate against the middle edges of the.trees, and put 2 together. They looked like little trees, which balanced on top of the rosettes I piped around the top edge of the cake, to show the waitresses where to cut the cake servings. Each serving of cake had a little tree on the edge as a garnish.
I think all this extra work was the reason I won the Best of Show.
That sounds awesome! Thanks for sharing!! 🙂
Hi Katie, It’s really difficult to say what went wrong without being there but I’m always happy to help troubleshoot. Did you change anything about the recipe? Did you make sure to beat your eggs long enough? At what point in the recipe did your cake batter look different than what was shown in the step by step pictures?
Hi Natasha,
Tried this recipe yesterday and everything was great but the sponge! It did not cook through! Not sure what could have gone wrong. The instructions said to whisk 1/3 portion of the flour and cocoa and then fold b4 adding more. Did u mean whisk with a whisking attachment?
Anyway it tasted very good.. If only the sponge came out well it would have been perfect
I’m sorry I didn’t make that very clear. I wrote to whisk together the flour and cocoa and then fold them in. I meant to write fold with a spatula. Sorry! Whisking it would deflate your batter. What do you mean by it not cooking through? I’ve never had it not cook through at those temperatures before. Do you mean it was flat and dense (deflated?)? I’ve updated the recipe to include the spatula.
Ahhh.. I think that was where I went wrong.. I whisked at max speed when usung the flour and cocoa combo! Basically my sponge rose alright but parts of the sponge was doughy!:-( guess i mixed it too much and hence no aeration. I also added a layer of biscuit at the base to give sone crunch.. A childhood memory!! Thanks for clarifying.. Will try again and let you know how it went..:-)
Sorry I wasn’t super clear in the instructions (totally kicking myself). I’m glad it brought back memories for you!
Thanks…:)
I can’t use any alcohol when cooking, can I substitute the cherry liquor for something else? Or just not put it in at all? I know that the alcohol would bake out, but I can’t actually buy any to begin with… Please let me know.
You can omit it and just use cherry juice instead 🙂
i will be making this cake during the weekend.. just wanted to confirm there is no mention of baking powder or baking soda in this cake ….
This cake doesn’t use baking powder or soda. Let me know how it turns out 😀.
Can i half the recipe n use heart shape pan n how many layers will it make in half recipe?
I really love the cake. Just made one according to your recipe and came out perfect.
Thanks.
Awesome!! I’m so happy you liked it :). Thank you for the wonderful review 🙂
Hi, I really want to try this recipe as it seems the most traditional. Just wondering if it’s possible to get measurements in weight and/or fluid levels? As it is easier for me to convert to Australian measurement. (1 cup US = .95 cup AU, it’s tricky to measure that out)
Thanks
I Sarah, without pulling out all of the ingredients (and I don’t have all of them on hand at the moment) and re-weighing and measuring, I can’t provide exact numbers for you. Sorry I know that’s not a helpful answer. I may need to start including metric measurements in future baking posts but to go back and re-do everything would be very time consuming. Maybe when I hire an assistant 🙂
Haha, fair enough. That’s all right, thanks anyway.
Hi, can i make this cake using a self raising sponge flour instead of all purpose flour? Thanks so much for this wonderful recipe!
Hi! I haven’t tested it that way and since baking is so much a science, so I’m not sure how it will affect the recipe. If you test it out, let me know how it goes. Thanks! 🙂
Hi! This is my first time baking a Black Forest Cake, and yours looked pretty authentic, so I thought I’d give it a try. I have a couple questions though-
For the no-alcohol version using canned cherries, do you add the sugar in with the cherries while they sit? Or do they sit in something else and then you just add the sugar into the resulting syrup?
Also I’ve heard whipping cream doesn’t pipe well- did yours? Tips for this?
Super excited to make this!
I suggest piping it soon after beating it and making sure you beat it until it’s stiff and spreadable. If you under-beat the cream, it will pipe poorly. It depends on the syrup in the can of cherries. If the syrup has some sweetness to it, there is no need to add sugar and you just use the drained cherries and keep the juice from the can to brush the cake layers.