Black Forest Loaf

A deliciously moist chocolate cake, which captures all the flavours of black forest but without the faff of a layered cake

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Growing up, my mousie (or maternal aunt) used to bake black forest cakes a lot, so this is quite a nostalgic bake for me. One of the things I love so much about baking, is that you can be inspired by a particular flavour profile, but take the cake in a completely different direction.

Drawing on from the same flavours … we have a deeply chocolaty loaf which forms the base which transports the fruity cherry topping and whipped vanilla cream. I love looking at the “anatomy” of a cake and how to celebrate each of the components. So let’s get into this:

Deep Chocolaty Loaf – Nothing fancy here – it is a one bowl recipe which brings together cocoa, coffee and buttermilk. The acidic nature of the cocoa reacts with the buttermilk to produce a delicate crumb that is incredibly tender. By now, you may know that I often use coffee to amplify the chocolate flavour of any bake with cocoa powder. Of course, if caffeine is something you feel strongly avoiding, you can use boiling water instead.

Vanilla Whipped Cream – the contrast of the dense moist sponge against lightly whipped cream gives wonderful balance of textures and “lightens” the overall bake. As the cream needs to hold the cherry topping, I do stabilize it with mascarpone so that it still neatly holds it shape when topped with cherries and sliced. As the cake is not too sweet, and the cherries bring a bit of fruity tartness .. adding a bit of sweetness to the whipped cream really helps to balance the overall flavours. Using a high quality vanilla bean paste also really imparts wonderful vanilla-i-ness. (But this is not essential – use what you can afford / have on hand).

Cherry Compote – The star of the show, with it’s crowning glory is the cherry compote. In my aunt’s version, she used to use canned black cherries, and drizzle the syrup over the sponges she would bake. I have found this incredibly difficult to find these in store, and so have used fresh cherries and made a compote with sugar an lemon juice instead. Adding lemon juice really brightens the flavour and the pectin also acts as a bit of a thickner, without adding cornflour (which can be a headache as it clumps and you end up with white flecks etc). Use the sugar at your discretion – with fresh fruit, it is always important to taste as there are already nartural sugars in the fruit.

Chocolate Shavings – Sure, one might think this is purely for aesthetics, but the texture of the firm chocolate brings a night contrast to the otherwise soft cake, cream and cherries. It also makes the bake feel cohesive, as it starts with chocolate at the bottom and ends with chocolate at the top.

So there you have it – a bit of insight into how my brain works when I consider adding a unique take on a recipe, or coming up with a different angle.

FOR THE BLACK FOREST LOAF

• 175ml strong coffee or boiling water
• 50g cocoa powder
• 175ml buttermilk
• 120ml vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 190g cake flour
• 300g caster sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven and prepare your tin: Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius. Grease a 900g loaf tin with butter and line with baking paper, such that the baking paper has an overhang on each of the lengths of the tin. This makes lifting the cake out easier.
2. Bloom the cocoa powder: Place the cocoa powder in a bowl and pour in the hot coffee. Whisk the mixture to dissolve the cocoa, then set aside for 10 minutes to cool.
3. Combine the remaining wet ingredients to the cocoa mixture: Add the oil, buttermilk and eggs to the cooled cocoa mixture and mix to combine. You now have all your wet ingredients.
4. Sift all the dry ingredients: In a large mixing bowl, sift in the flour, sugar, bicarbonate of soda and salt and whisk to combine.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients: Pour the chocolate, coffee and egg mixture into the dry ingredients and whisk until you have a thin, smooth batter.
6. Add the mixture to your tin and bake: Pour the mixture into your baking tin and bake for 50 – 60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. If after 40 minutes the top is becoming crusty and browning too much, cover with a piece of foil and continue to bake.
7. Remove from tin and cool: Once the cake comes out of the oven, let it stand in the tin for 15 minutes, before loosening the sides with a butter knife and lifting out of the tin. Let rest on a cooling rack to cool completely, before removing the baking paper and decorating.

FOR THE CHERRY COMPOTE

• 250g fresh cherries, pitted and halved
• 20 – 25g sugar, depending on the cherries sweetness
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

METHOD

1. Combine all the ingredients, expect the lemon juice and cook: Place the fresh cherries, sugar and water in a saucepan and cook for around 12 to 15 minutes on medium heat until the cherries begin to breakdown and the sugar dissolved. Do not over cook it or the cherries will turn to mush.
2. Add the lemon juice and adjust to taste: Add in the lemon juice to the cooked cherries. Add a bit more lemon juice or sugar to balance the overall sweetness, depending on your preference. Set aside to cool before using.

FOR THE WHIPPED CREAM

• 250g whipping cream
• 150g mascarpone
• 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
• 2 tablespoons icing sugar, sifted

METHOD

1. Beat the mascarpone cheese: Beat the mascarpone cheese until it is smooth and whipped.
2. Whip the cream to soft peaks: Add the cream and vanilla into a bowl and whip until soft peaks are formed, then add in the icing sugar and continue to whisk until just combined.
3. Add the mascarpone to the whipped cream: Fold the mascarpone into the whipped cream.
4. Decorate the loaf: Top the cooled loaf with the whipped cream. Then add on the berry compote and finally, if you want, some chocolate shavings to finish it off.

Recipe by adventureswithsugar.com