Chocolate Cherry Cake

The original plan was to make mini cakes.  Mini Black Forest cakes, that is.  I looked for recipes on the Web and there are a lot.  Some range from doable to 'oh dear maybe next time' complicated.  Some use store-bought cherry pie filling while some cook up their own.  Some use liquors while others leave it out.  Some use only this kind of cherries while some use that kind of cherries...and so on!

It seems everyone has their own way of making Black Forest cake and whatever works for them, great!  Right?

But I can't bring myself to call this one-layer chocolate cake (soaked in cherry syrup then hastily slathered with whipped cream mixed with cherry 'compote' and topped with milk chocolate shavings) a Black Forest cake.

Why?  I may not have tried enough for me to know how a genuine Black Forest tastes like...but this one doesn't taste like the Black Forest cake I know.

Mainly because I couldn't taste the cherry syrup I poured all over the cake.  In my opinion, a Black Forest cake should taste of cherries, right?  And since this is my first ever attempt at making it, I wasn't able to achieve that bit.  Maybe it's because I used bottled maraschino cherries?

Oh, and did I tell you I am not a huge fan of cherries?  I know.  How weird is it that I made this cake knowing cherries aren't really something I'm fond of, huh?  How about you?  Are you fond of cherries?

So before we go on with this Not-A-Black-Forest cake, I'll be honest with you and say that this cake combo isn't a huge success nor is it a huge fail.

Not a success because this doesn't really taste anything like Black Forest cake and the frosting?  Oh dear, oh dear!  I was so frustrated with it that I wanted to completely abandon this whole thing.  The frosting wouldn't whip which shouldn't be a shocker considering how it's either humid or dang humid for the day or week or month/s.  But not a complete failure either because the one layer chocolate cake?  Dare I say that it can be a sub for my favorite chocolate cake recipe ever?  It's that good!  Moist with a deep chocolate taste!  Sarap!

So let's build this cake, shall we?

Chocolate Cherry Cake (Not-A-Black-Forest cake)

What you'll be needing:

One-layer chocolate cake, from Dessert For Two

Cherry compote, you can refer to this recipe and halve it

2 cups plain whipped cream, kept cold

Milk chocolate bar (I used Hershey's)

Cherries of your choice, for decoration but not necessary

What you'll be doing:

Bake the chocolate cake as instructed but don't cut out circles.  We need the cake layer in one whole piece!

While the cake is baking, you can proceed to make the compote.  Once the compote is done, set it aside first.  

The cake took exactly 31 minutes to bake in my oven.  You can check the cake's doneness around 30 minutes; no wet batter and/or a few moist crumbs, the cake is done.  Once out of the oven, use a toothpick and poke holes on the cake's surface.  Take your slightly warm compote and with a spoon, drizzle the compote's syrup all over making sure the entire surface is covered.  Go over the surface with the syrup thrice then let the cake cool completely.

Whip heavy cream until soft peaks and with a spatula gently fold in about 2 tablespoons of the cherry compote.  Once incorporated, chill the cherry whipped cream until the cake layer is cooled.

When the cherry syrup-soaked chocolate cake is completely cooled, place as much or as little cherry whipped cream on top and with an offset spatula, try to spread it in an even manner; it doesn't have to be perfect though you can do way better than I did.

Take the bar of chocolate and grate it going all over the surface which is now covered in cherry whipped cream.  At this point, you can chill the cake until ready to serve and when you do you can top it with cherries however you fancy.

That picture above?  It cracks me up, too.  It was such a tiny piece!  But I ate in two bites.  I told my mom I was practicing portion control.  Sometimes I like to crack myself up with all these nonsense I think up of.  Still unconvinced that that was really a small piece cake?

Told ya.

Now when you make this and use that compote recipe from Bon Appetit, you'll most probably be able to taste the cherry in the cake.  Tell me what happens when you do, okay?  I do hope you'll have way better luck than I did if you do decide to give this combo a go.

If you're having triple thoughts, skip the whole cherry blah blah and make just the cake and top it with your fave frosting!  I swear the cake made up for this whole...thing!

Next time I'll leave making Black Forest to the pros.

Til the next post!