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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
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*The lovely turquoise Fiesta Cake Plate with Server.
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* 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.
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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. 
Hi, I only have 8 inch mold. Can you help me to tune the ingredients. Thanks a lot
Kiwi, I haven’t tested it in an 8″ pan, but I think mixture might overflow. You might have to experiment.
I made the recipe with what I had and it turned out amazing!!! The cake was exactly as shown but I used Costco frozen cherries and their juice from thawing rather than kirsch. In the whipped cream I used a drop or teonofbalmond extract. Amazing all around!!
I wish I could post thebepic picture of my cake !!!
Christa, thank you for sharing such a nice review!
Can I use canned cherries in syrup (the kind they sell at the Russian stores? When do I add the Kirsch? Thank you in advance!
Hi Nadia, yes that would work fine. Use 1/2 cup of the cherry juice instead of water for more flavor and add the kirsch to the cherries and half cup of juice just like you would with fresh cherries and water.
Hi, Natasha. May I use Dutch-processed cocoa powder in this recipe?
Hi Patricia, yes that should work fine 🙂
Frosting was a disaster. It became lumpy. How long do we need to mix the heavy cream and sugar for the first round?
Hi Raji, overbearing heavy cream will cause a grainy/lumpy whipped cream. You can repair it by adding a little more cream and beating it in, but you should not be beating any longer than 2 minutes (please see step 1 under “making the cream”).
Raji,
If you over beat whipped cream, I would suggest mixing in extra heavy cream by hand, i.e. folding, don’t whip it any more.
Thank you for adjusting the recipe. I tried last year and they layers failed to rise. This year they look perfect, the extra whipping seemed to help. I do believe I overcooked them though (my fault as still learning how to use convect), but should be able to fix with extra syrup on the layers. Thanks again!
I’m so happy to hear you had better results this time! Thank you for sharing that with me. Yes, that is what I love about moist cakes, even if you overbake them a little, the syrup will rescue them!
I want to omit the liquor. You say to add a tablespoon of sugar to the syrup, but what do I use to soak the cherries instead? Or would you recommend canned cherries in juice in this instance instead?
After reading through I’m seeing that if I use fresh cherries, I can soak them in a bit of water to get the syrup and then add enough water and sugar to get 3/4 cup. Would you also recommend adding almond extract as I’ve seen others do? If so, how much?
Hi Heather :). I would start with 1 to 2 tsp or add it to taste.
In the printed recipe above you do not include the 1/2 tsp of baking powder which you instruct to whisk together with the flour in your video. I did think it odd there was no leavening in the recipe since the eggs were not separated and the whites beaten stiff. Can you please fix the recipe to include the baking powder?
Hi Elaine, the recipe is correct. It doesn’t require baking powder. I have always baked this cake without baking powder. The cake relies on the whipped eggs for leavening. Traditionally, baking powder is not used in the European sponge cake. You can add it if you wish but it isn’t necessary in this recipe.
Hi! I’m making the non-alcoholic version with frozen cherries. Can you help me make the syrup?! I don’t have almond extract..
You can just use cherries in their juice with a little water and omit the alcohol. It will still taste great :).
Someone sent me this recipe. This was my first sponge cake… it came out too dense and did not rise very much (about half of what I expected). I used regular egg beaters (hand mixer) and I folded with a regular spatula. Cooked in springform pans. Any idea what I did wrong? I am hesitant to try again if it is not an easy fix. Thanks!
Hi Sidney, did you have a chance to watch the video on how to make a sponge cake to see if your cake batter resembled mine? If you used an electric hand mixer, it usually takes a few minutes longer to beat the eggs and sugar since it doesn’t incorporate air as quickly as a stand mixer with whisk attachment. I hope that helps!
Hi again, on of my cakes had areas that were puffier than the rest. Any idea what causes this? Thanks again. 🙂
After cooling, the puffiness dissipated and the cake now looks perfect! This was definitely a learning experience. Thank you so much again for your website. 🙂
Oh good!! I’m so glad to hear that! 🙂
I wonder if maybe you didn’t fully fold the egg mixture into the flour mixture? I’ve never had that happen before but that is my best guess. Also, this cake is meant to be baked in a standard conventional oven, not convection, just in case that helps.
Hello Natasha,
I followed this recipe step-by-step yet when I removed my cake from the oven, only the top half part of each cake was fluffy and airy like a regular cake. The bottom half turned out to be more like a fudge consistency. I could not use it for the cake I was planning to make. Maybe I overbaked it, underbaked it…really not sure. I would appreciate your help and tips.
Thank you!!
I’ve never had that happen before but I’m always happy to help troubleshoot. Do you mean one of the cake pans was fluffy and the other fudgy or did you bake it all in one pan? Did you change anything about the recipe? Did you beat the eggs and sugar long enough with a high powered stand mixer (that is usually the biggest thing that affects how the cake rises since the cake relies on the eggs for leavening)? I hope that helps!
I am going to try to make this, but I will use chocolate icing and decorate it like the one from portal. image here
I hope you love the cake!
Hello, I am going to try a non-alcoholic version (gasp! – I know, I know). Would you happen to have any tips for making the syrup without kirsch? I have heard of others using almond extract, sugar, or nothing at all to make up for the lack of kirsch. Any help appreciated. 🙂
Hi Moe, you could try almond extract and sugar and water – those combined with the cherry juice will still produce a tasty cake 🙂
Perfect, thank you. 🙂
I just served this at a party last night and got rave reviews! Personally, I don’t like the cake feeling soggy with the cherry syrup and so I will probably skip that step. Mine might have been a little “wetter” than normal though since I had to use frozen fruit (no fresh available). It makes a big cake, enough for 16-20 people.
I’m so glad to hear everyone enjoyed it!
Hi Natasha, this looks really good and reading the comments I really want to try this but can you give the measurements in grams and also should I double the recipe as I want to make a 14″ cake for an anniversary
Hi Rifat, I don’t have everything measured out in grams and due to time constraints, I wouldn’t be able to do that unless I re-made the cake. I would suggest using an online conversion resource like this one in the mean time. It depends on the size of the walls of your cake pan – if they are the same height as mine, you might be safer making 1 1/2 times the recipe so you don’t overflow your cake pans.
I make same cake but after cake cool I poke the layers with a fork and pour kirsch liquer over the top so that they soak it up
George, thank you for sharing your version with us. After your comment, I’m really craving this cake 😁.
This is a very special cake,my favourite in fact,i am going to make one nearer Christmas as a after christmas dessert,fingers crossed it goes well.
I hope you love it!
This cake is delicious – it was thoroughly enjoyed by my in-laws as part of a birthday celebration!! Thanks so much for sharing 🙂 I will definitely be keeping this recipe in my “must make again” repertoire! 🙂
Hi Daphne, I am so happy you enjoyed it! 🙂
Thank you for sharing the recipe!! The cake was so delicious; the syrup adds much flavor! However, I used an 8in pan and each layer turned out only 1in high. I had to double the recipe to get 4 layers.
Hi Christine, I’m so glad you liked it! Usually the primary reason a European sponge cake doesn’t rise is due to under-beating the eggs and sugar. Did you use a high powered stand mixer with whisk attachment and beat on high speed for the recommended time? Also, did you make sure not to add the butter while it was still hot? I sure hope that helps for next time!
I did use a high powered stand mixer and mix for the recommended time, but didn’t add the butter when it cooled a bit. Good news is that I tried it the next time and it worked!!! Thanks!
I’m glad to hear that it worked out second time 😀.