Black Forest Cake With Chocolate Lace Collar

Black Forest Cake is a chocolate sponge cake sandwiched with a rich cherry filling and whipped cream. Layers of chocolate cake, cherries and kirsch. Traditionally, kirschwasser, a clear spirit or liqueur made from sour cherries, is added to the cake. Here, I have made a kid friendly ( non- alchoholic ) and eggless version of the black forest cake.

This decadently delicious eggless black forest cake is perfectly moist, full of chocolate flavour with layers of chocolate sponge, whipped cream and cherries, adorned with an elegant chocolate lace collar. It adds an incredible decorative touch to an already frosted cake. The chocolate collar looks so professional and totally gives a wow effect on any type of cake. The chocolate collar decoration not only looks pretty but delicious tooo!!

Here, in this instructable I have shared in detail the steps to

• Bake an eggless chocolate sponge cake
• Make and use DIY cake strips to get flat cake layers
• Frost and pipe whipped cream
• Make a chocolate collar

This recipe is simple to bake and easier than you think! The steps to make a chocolate collar are easy though it looks complicated. I have added videos for easier undestanding. The key to a perfect chocolate lace collar is in the timing.

A major highlight is that you don’t have to worry about the cake’s frosting. The finish needn’t be perfect at all. You can cover up pretty much all flaws when the collar goes all around it.

Ingredients

Chocolate cake:

Makes: 3 layers of 6" cake

All purpose flour- 1 cup / 120 gms

Baking Powder-1/2 tsp

Baking Soda-1 tsp

Cocoa Powder-4 tbs

Milk-1/2 cup / 120 ml

Vanilla Essence-1 tsp

Oil-1/2 cup / 120 ml

Thick Yogurt-1/2 cup / 120 ml

Granulated Sugar-3/4 cup / 150 gms

Hot Coffee-1/4 cup / 60 ml

Frosting:

Heavy Cream- 400 ml

Cherries

Canned Cherries-1 cup / 200 gms

Drained cherry juice- 1 cup

Granulated Sugar- 3 tbs

Chocolate lace collar

Dark chocolate-125 gms

Supplies Needed

6" cake pans- 3

Hand mixer-1

Whisk-1

Icing bags-2

Spatula-1

Mixing bowl-1

Grease and line the 6" cake pans with parchment paper. Dust the sides with cocoa powder. I prefer cocoa powder over flour for chocolate cakes. Sometimes we will be able to see white patches on the cake when we dust with flour.

When we bake up the individual layers: the cakes are domed. They can make stacking cakes difficult. When you level out a cake using a knife, you create a lot of crumbs, Those crumbs can end up in your frosting. So levelling cakes can be a pain.

Instead of levelling domed cakes we can bake perfectly flat cakes using cake strips. Cake strips are thick fabric strips that you soak and wrap around your pans to create more level cakes. We can either buy them or we can make our own. Buying them is a sort of a waste of money, especially since this method uses only an old towel and a few safety pins. These cake strips are reusable too.

Here is how I make my own reusable cake strips.

• You have to cut strips that fit the sides of your cake pan. Use an old CLEAN towel.
• Next, you want to dampen the towel strips and wring out any excess water.
• Wrap them around the cake pans and secure them tightly with a few safety pins.
• Bake as normal for perfectly level cakes.

Preheat oven to 180 deg C/ 360 deg F.

In a bowl mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa powder. Sieve all of them twice or thrice. Add sugar and mix.

Add milk, oil, vanilla and yogurt.

Whisk to form a thick batter. Dissolve 1 tsp of instant coffee powder in hot water and add it to the mixture.

The hot liquid in chocolate cakes encourages the cocoa powder to bloom and dissolve properly, and makes for a nice rich taste of the chocolate in the cake. The resulting cake is moist, with a lovely chocolate flavor.

Divide the batter between three tins.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean and the cake starts to leave the sides.

Your perfectly flat cake layers are ready!!!

Let the pans sit on the counter for 10 minutes.

Now flip the cakes on to a wire rack. Peel off the parchment paper and allow it to cool completely.

Cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or until firm.

Cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or until firm.

Deseed the cherrries. Chop them.

The following are the steps for preparing the cherries and cherry syrup for this eggless Black Forest cake:

Simmer 1 cup cherries in 1 cup cherry juice and 3 tbs sugar for about 5-10 min till they become soft and can be pierced with a toothpick easily. Using a sieve seperate the cherries reserving the syrup in the pan.

When assembling the cake, use the cherries in between the layers and the syrup to soak the cakes.

Chill bowl and beaters for whipping cream.

I am using sweetened non-dairy whipping cream. So I am not adding any additional sugar.

Pour the chilled cream in the bowl and beat on medium speed till double in volume. In case you are adding sugar add now and beat until combined. Beat on high speed until stiff peaks just form when the beater is raised.

Supplies needed for frosting the cake are:

• 7" or 8" inch cake board
• Offset spatula
• Bench scrapper
• Star nozzle

Now place a blob of whipped cream on a cake board and place a cake layer on top. This is to done so that the cake doesnt move around.

Soak the top of the cake with the reserved cherry syrup. Top with whipped cream and spread using an offset spatula. Poke the cherries into the whipped cream. Repeat with the next layer.

Be generous with your soaking. It makes the cake moist and flavourful.

Stack all the three layers and top with whipped cream.

Frost the sides of the cake with whipped cream. I add dollops of whipped cream along the sides and spread. For a smooth finish I use a cake stand and bench scrapper as shown in picture 4 above. In case I miss some spots I add additional whipped cream and again amooth the sides as shown in picture 3.

The best part is that the frosting need not be perfect. We are going to place a chocolate collar on the sides which will hide any imperfections!!

Use an offset spatula to smooth the top. Use gentle strokes from the outside of the cake to the middle as you keep rotating the cake. If you don't have a cake stand just move around.

TIP: Dip your offset spatula in warm water and then smooth the top for the final finish. This gives a smooth and glossy finish on top.

Clean the cake board using a kitchen paper.

Place a star nozzle in a piping bag. Fill it with whipping cream.

Pipe rosettes on top as shown in the picture. You can do any design you like.

Place the cake in the refrigerator while you make the chocolate lace collar.

We need to measure the circumference and height of the cake to make the chocolate lace collar. Mine was about 50cm and 9 cm respectively. So I cut out a rectangular strip of parchment paper of 55cm and 10 cm. I like my collar to be above the height of my cake.

Chop chococlate. You can either double boil or microwave chocolate to melt it.

Here I have used the double boiler method.

To create a double boiler, you will need a saucepan and a shallow, heat-safe mixing bowl. The mixing bowl should fit over the saucepan so that the outer edge of the bowl touches the upper edges of the saucepan. There should be several inches between the bottom of the saucepan and the bottom of the bowl so that there is space to add water to the saucepan without that water touching the bowl.

Place a saucepan on the stove and add 1-2 inches of water to the pan.

Add chocolate to the mixing bowl.

Turn on the stove to medium heat. As the water begins to simmer and release steam, the steam will heat the chocolate and the chocolate will begin to melt. As the chocolate melts, keep stirring with a heat-safe rubber spatula until all of the chocolate has melted.

The result is perfectly smooth, glossy melted chocolate!

Allow the chocolate to cool slightly.

Take the melted chocolate in a piping bag. Now snip a small cut at the end for the chocolate to come out.

Now for the fun part!!!

If you are artistic, there is a lot you can do here. If you are not, you can keep the parchment over print out of some designs and follow that for piping.

I have made a simple design ( simple looping ‘O’s and ---'s ). Let your creative juices flow freely :D.

TIPS:

1. Do not leave blank parchment space under the design. That might lead to the frosting sticking to blank paper when it goes around the cake. It becomes messy to peel it off.
2. You have to work fast so that the chocolate doesnt harden before you are done, especially in cold climates.
3. Don't leave big gaps in your design. There are chances of the collar breaking away at those points.
4. The lines should not be too thin as they tend to break away easily.

Let the CHOCOLATE LACE COLLAR sit undisturbed until the chocolate loses its sheen and has set, but not dried or become hard. You still want the chocolate to remain flexible, but you don't want it to be flowing, either. Do not place it in the refrigerator.

When the chocolate just about doesnt stick to your finger it is ready to go over the cake. It took about 5-10 minutes but the timing really depends on the climate.

When the chocolate on the CHOCOLATE LACE COLLAR is ready, remove the frosted cake from the refrigerator. The cake's frosting must be cold.

Carefully pick up the CHOCOLATE LACE COLLAR, holding each end, align the bottom edge of the middle of the strip with the bottom edge of the cake.Take care not to press it into the frosting while you adjust it.

As you wrap the CHOCOLATE LACE COLLAR around the cake, use GENTLE pressure so it adheres to the icing on the cake. Take care not to wiggle it as you do.

Overlap the strip where the two ends meet. Place the cake back into the refrigerator so the chocolate can set. This will take about a 1/2 hour. If you remove the CHOCOLATE LACE COLLAR too early, the chocolate will not be set and you may spoil the design.

When the chocolate is hard and the icing cold, remove the cake from the refrigerator. Carefully remove the parchment paper from the CHOCOLATE LACE COLLAR by gently pulling it away from the cake. The chocolate should stick to the frosting and the paper should come off easily. On the end of the chocolate collar that is exposed, you can trim any excess chocolate off with a hot knife (dipped in hot water and dried). If there is any breakage, you can always patch it with some excess pieces of design that was cut off.

Add some cherries on the top and your stunning cake is done!!!

When you are cutting the cake, a serrated knife works best to cut through the chocolate layer. The cake is delicious and stunning. Do give it a try. Kids and adults will equally enjoy this simple cake.

Hope you try this and enjoy it as much as we do. I will be delighted to know your comments and suggestions. If you do make this please share your experience here.