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Black Forest cake with chocolate drizzle on a white cake platter.

Black Forest Cake

Servings: 14 slices
Calories: 709kcal
Author: Shinee
Black forest cake gets an upgrade with moist chocolate cake, homemade cherry sauce, and white chocolate mousse frosting! This showstopping cake is sweet and decadent.
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Ingredients

For chocolate cake:

  • 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 ½ cups (300g) granulated sugar
  • ½ cup (60g) unsweetened cocoa powder Note 1
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder Note 2
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup + 2 tablespoons (280ml) milk at room temperature, Note 3
  • 2 large eggs at room temperature
  • ¼ cup (60ml) vegetable oil
  • 4 tablespoons (56g) unsalted butter melted
  • 1 teaspoon white vinegar or apple cider vinegar

For cherry sauce:

  • 4 cups pitted sweet cherries fresh or frozen
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 4 tablespoons cornstarch
  • teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

For white chocolate mousse:

  • 1 ½ teaspoons (6g) powdered gelatin
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 18 ounces (500g) white chocolate chips
  • 3 cups (720 ml) heavy whipping cream

For assembly:

  • 1 can (15oz) dark sweet cherries in heavy syrup

For the chocolate ganache:

  • ¼ cup (2oz/60ml) heavy cream
  • 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate chopped

Equipment

  • 2 7-inch cake pans
  • Stand mixer with the paddle & whisk attachment
  • Wire rack
  • Saucepan
  • Bowls
  • Measuring cups & spoons
  • Piping bags with round and star tip
  • Pastry brush
  • Offset spatula or bench scraper

Instructions

To make the chocolate cake:

  • Line two 7-inch cake pans with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.
  • Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
  • In a mixing bowl with paddle attachment, combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Mix on low speed for 30 seconds, or until everything is well combined.
  • Add milk, eggs, oil and butter. Mix the batter just until smooth, about 15 seconds.
  • Stir in vinegar and mix for another 10 seconds.
  • Divide the batter into the prepared baking pans. Bake for 35 minutes, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.
  • Let cakes cool completely in the pans set on wire rack. Then carefully run a knife around the edges and invert.
  • Wrap each cake in a plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use, preferably overnight and up to 2 days. Chilled cakes are sturdier and slice much easier, but you can definitely frost the cake as soon as they have cooled completely.

To make cherry sauce:

  • In a medium saucepan, bring the cherries to boil over medium-high heat.
  • In a small bowl, whisk together sugar, cornstarch and salt. Add this to the boiling cherries along with vanilla extract and lemon juice. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to cook the mixture, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, for about 5 minutes, or until the sauce thickens. Remove from heat and cool completely.
  • Pour half of the cherry sauce over the bottom layer with white chocolate mousse, then place the top layer of the cake with white chocolate mousse and pour the remaining cherry sauce. You may serve right away.

To make the white chocolate mousse filling:

  • In a small cup sprinkle the gelatin over cold water. Let it stand for 5 minutes.
  • In a small saucepan, pour 1 cup of heavy cream and bring it to simmer over low heat. Don’t boil. Remove from heat and add the gelatin mixture. Stir until gelatin is fully dissolved.
  • In medium bowl, pour the warm mixture over white chocolate and using a silicone spatula mix until the chocolate is completely melted. Let it cool to room temperature.
  • In a large mixing bowl with a whisk attachment, whip the remaining 2 cups of heavy cream until hard peaks form.
  • Add white chocolate ganache into the whipped cream and gently fold until well combined. (TIP: Make sure white chocolate ganache is not hot, or it’ll melt the whipped cream and you’ll end up with soup.)

To assemble the cake:

  • When the cake is cooled completely, slice each cake horizontally into two equal layers.
  • Place the mousse filling into 2 large piping bags fitted with plain round tips, or simply cut the ends off.
  • Strain the canned cherries and reserve the cherry sauce in a small bowl.
  • Place a cake board on a turntable and smear a small amount of frosting in the middle.
  • Put the first layer of the cake and evenly brush on the reserved cherry sauce over the cake.
  • Pipe the mousse filling all over the cake and then spread it evenly with a small offset spatula. Then pipe frosting around the edges to create a border.
  • Spread 1/3 of cherry sauce in the middle and top it with a little more frosting on top to even out the layer.
  • Place the next layer of cake and repeat steps 5-8 until all the layers are assembled.
  • To crumb coat the cake, frost the entire cake with a thin layer of frosting and smooth it out as best as you can. Wrap the cake with a plastic wrap and place a metal cake collar around the base, if you have it. This will help the cake stay nice and straight. Refrigerate the cake for 30-60 minutes to stabilize.

To make chocolate ganache:

  • Heat heavy cream in microwave for 45 seconds, or until hot. Place the chopped chocolate in a bowl and pour hot cream over chocolate. Let it sit for 2 minutes, and then stir until smooth.
  • If the chocolate isn’t melted completely, microwave the mixture for 15 seconds and stir, continue until ganache is smooth and runny. (TIP: Make the ganache right before assembling the cake.)

To decorate the cake:

  • Apply another layer of frosting and smooth it out nicely with an offset spatula, or a bench scraper.
  • Put the ganache in a squirt bottle. Make sure the ganache is not too hot before decorating the cake, but runny enough for dripping. (The ganache gets thicker as it cools.)
  • Transfer a small amount of frosting into a piping bag, fitted with a star tip.
  • Drip chocolate ganache around the edges of the cake, then cover the entire top of the cake with more ganache.
  • Pipe 8 dollops of mousse with star tip on top and garnish with canned cherries.

Notes

Storing Tips: Store leftover black forest cake in the refrigerator gently wrapped in plastic wrap for up to 3 days.
Note 1: You can use either unsweetened natural or dutch-processed cocoa powder in this chocolate cake recipe.
Note 2: Espresso powder doesn’t add coffee flavor and you won’t even taste it. It only enhances chocolate flavor. But if you don’t have it, you can omit it.
Note 3: I highly recommend using whole milk for richer flavor, but 2% , skim or even almond milk would work too.
Note 4: You may use store-bought cherry pie filling instead of homemade cherry sauce. You'll need one (21oz) can of cherry pie filling.

Nutrition

Calories: 709kcal
Carbohydrates: 79g
Protein: 9g
Fat: 42g
Sugar: 59g
Sodium: 249mg