Black Forest Cake with Chocolate Ganache

Eggless Black Forest Cake with Chocolate Ganache and Cherry Pie Filling compote is the stuff of cake dreams. It is made with chocolate layers, filled, and topped with homemade cherry compote.

Let me tell you at the onset that this is a loooonngggg post. I’ve tried to keep it as short as possible.

More than festivals, I enjoy planning & creating our family days – birthdays, anniversaries, etc. Every year for the last 5 years, I’ve been celebrating V’s b’day and planning a surprise (little or big) for him. Every year he complains about those surprises as he is not very pro to the idea of surprise – he likes them but would want to be forewarned rather than surprised. So this year I promised him I wouldn’t give him a surprise. He tells me that is a surprise in itself! MEN!!! This year V chose Black Forest Cake for his b’day treat. :)

I cajoled V into gifting me many b’day gifts this year – mind you all scattered through the last few months so that he wouldn’t realize how clever I had been ;) One such gift was a book from my wishlist, Bakin’ Without Eggs by Rosemarie Emro. I had read great reviews about this book & wanted to try my hand at the recipes from it. What I also liked about this book was that it wasn’t just catering to veganism. Most of the books & blogs on egg-free recipes are Vegan oriented & I have harped many times earlier that I cannot eat Tofu, soy milk, etc. :( So this book came as a pleasant surprise – Rosemarie has used mostly White Vinegar as a substitute for egg. From whatever recipes I’ve gone through I can assure you that they are good & just waiting to be made. Also, the ingredients used are very basic & most baked recipes come with topping recipes as well. I chose Heavenly Chocolate Cake from Bakin’ Without Eggs. I’ve kept the recipe the same except for substituting buttermilk with curd.

I decided to assemble Black Forest Cake in a non-traditional version, adapting from a video on ehow – simple & beautiful BFC using Ganache, Cherry Pie Filling, and whipped Cream. The last time I tried frosting with Rainbow Cake I was supervised by my sister, this time I was going solo. I’ve been practicing frosting patterns using a mehndi cone for the last 20 days on the back of the cake pan, to give me confidence in moving the cone with a flow which is most of the battle won, I guess! I have omitted liqueur from both ganache & soaking syrup as there was a slight chance that our little devil might eat a bite. :)

I will go into detail & about the recipe for all steps, except the cake as it is from a book & V was very particular that I should have permission for it before posting it. I see many bloggers posting recipes from books, so I wasn’t sure but he is RIGHT. So I unwillingly agreed to not post the recipe for the cake. I’ve sent a mail seeking permission to the publisher of this book but they haven’t reverted to me yet, so till then I am not posting the cake recipe. Even when I started the blog, I took permission for my first few posts.

I prepared everything in advance & just assembled the cake on the day. Our Little Devil designed the banner for his Dad! I just helped him a bit where he couldn’t manage – like cutting flags & writing. Enough of jibber-jabber & over to the recipe.

Eggless Black Forest Cake with Chocolate Ganache, Cherry Pie Filling & Low Fat Whipped Cream –

Eggless Heavenly Chocolate Cake – minimally adapted from Bakin’ Without Eggs by Rosemarie Emro. I made it 2 days in advance and refrigerated it. I brought it out of the refrigerator the night before the assembly. {For Recipe refer to book}

Cherry Pie Filling – I made it 1 day in advance & stored it in the refrigerator in an air-tight container & a minimum of 4 hours prior to assembly I allowed it to come to room temp. {Recipe below}

Cherry Syrup – I used drained cherry syrup from cans & stored it in the refrigerator in an air-tight container & a minimum of 4 hours prior to assembly I allowed it to come to room temp.

Chocolate Ganache – I made it the night before the assembly. Kept at room temp overnight to allow it to set properly. {Recipe below}

Low Fat Whipped Cream – I made it on the morning of assembling, though kept the beater & bowl in the freezer at night only :) {Recipe below}

You can’t imagine the amount of butterflies I had in my stomach for the last 1 week leading up to the day. I was hoping for at least the photos to come out great & not let me down. The cake was very tasty, chocolatey, crumbly & soft. I guess the use of Chocolate Pudding Filling in the batter gave it the extra chocolatey taste. Every bite was real heaven.

It turned out to be a bit messy looking cake as – I’m a clueless decorator, the cake broke into 2 while slicing into layers, I forgot to soak each layer & just did the top one. The ganache on the sides didn’t spread as neat as I had hoped & the whipped cream despite all my calculations for a stiff peak, didn’t hold for even a minute. :( :( :( Nevertheless, the cake was very rich & heavenly!!!

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Black Forest Cake

Eggless Black Forest Cake with Chocolate Ganache and Cherry Pie Filling compote is stuff of cake dreams. It is made with chocolate layers, filled and topped with homemade cherry compote.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr

Total Time1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Course: Baking, Dessert, Filling & Frosting

Cuisine: Vegetarian

Keyword: Bakery, chocolate, Coffee, cupcake, eggless

Servings: 8 inch layered cake

Ingredients

for the cherry pie filling

• 5 cup cherries pitted
• 1½ cup sugar adjust as per the tartness or sweetness of cherries
• ¼ cup +3 tbsp cherry syrup adjust as per thickness required
• 3 tbsp cornstarch

for assembling

• 2 cup whipping cream
• 1 cup  chocolate ganache

Instructions

for the cherry pie filling

• Combine sugar & cherries in a thick bottom pan & stir. If cherries are soft & mushy, you won't need more additional water but if they are firm, add ½-¾ cup water. Mix cornstarch in 3 tbsp drained cherry juice separately. Make sure no lumps are formed.
• When the cherries are boiling, slowly add cornstarch, stirring all the while. Allow the mixture to become clear & starch to dissolve completely. Do not overcook as the filling will start breaking down
• Remove from flame & allow to cool. When cool, store in an air-tight container in refrigerator.

assembling the cake

• Take a cardboard pieces & cut it out 1 inch bigger than the cake pan. Cover it with the golden paper. Cake base is ready.
• Allow your cake assembling ingredients to come to room temperature – cake, cherry pie filling & syrup. In the meanwhile, prepare the whipped cream.
• Place the prepared cake base on a flat base or cake table.
• Using a serrated knife, carefully slice the cake horizontally into 2 halves. Liberally sprinkle both sides of halves with sugar syrup. Place the top half on the base upside down.
• Fill the ganache in a frosting bag & using small star tip, make 2-3 circles of ganache on the base cake to create a sort of dam as we do not want the cream to spill out when we fill it in.
• Then using a rubber spatula, fill the dam with whipped cream, spreading till the edge of the dam.
• Now place some dollops of cherry pie-filling on the cream. This is just to give that extra flavor of cherry when we bite in. No need to spread a big layer, just some dollops would do.
• Place the second layer of cake with bottom up (as this has a smooth & flat top) on top of of first layer. Allow this to set in fridge for few minutes so that ganache is set & doesn’t get disturbed when we start decorating.
• Remove from fridge. With the help of frosting spatula, spread ganache on the sides of the cake completely. Smooth the ends & spread any extra ganache towards the top centre. Since we are going to fill the top with cherry pie filling, the top can be little untidy, it won’t show. Take the ganache filled frosting bag & make small scallop design, press & then pull forward, again press & pull forward the tip, at the base of the cake. This gives a clean edge to the cake.
• Now fill the remaining whipped cream in a frosting bag & using a bigger star-tip make alternate shells or any other design you want on the edge.
• Now fill the centre with the remaining cherry-pie filling & spread towards the edges without spoiling the cream.Chill the cake covered for atleast 4 hours for best taste. Slice & serve.

Notes

1. I made a mistake & started with 1 cup water, the filling became very watery as sugar also releases water upon being subjected to heat. It took me a lot of time to reach desired consistency & I was scared all the while of over doing the filling.
2. Pitted Cherries {830 gms (wet weight) can yield 3 cups & 450 gms yield 2 cups pitted cherries, drained. You can store cherry juice.
3. I used cherry liquid (drained) instead of water. I reduced the sugar by half as I was already using sugar filled cherry liquid.

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How To Make Chocolate Ganache

Chocolate Ganache is a very versatile and basic preparation. By learning how to make chocolate ganache, the sky is the limit. Use it as filling, frosting or even as set mousse or in cheesecakes and tarts.

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time5 minutes mins

Total Time10 minutes mins

Course: Dessert, Filling & Frosting, Sauce

Cuisine: Vegetarian

Keyword: Bakery, chocolate, eggless

Servings: 220 ml

Ingredients

• 250 gram dark chocolate finely chopped
• 200 ml heavy whipping cream
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter softened

Instructions

• Put chopped chocolate in a large heat proof bowl & keep aside.
• In a saucepan, heat cream & butter on medium heat. As soon as it starts to boil, remove from flame & pour over chopped chocolate. Allow it to stand without mixing for few mins (about 3-4 mins). Do not stir as we do not want to incorporate air in Ganache.
• Using a wooden spoon/ rubber spatula or whisk, gently stir by beginning in the center & gently moving out to the edge of the bowl. When the chocolate is fully melted & mixture is smooth, add any liqueur or liquid flavorings (all should be at room temp.)
• Allow it to cool down completely & set properly. Before storing, cover with a piece of plastic wrap pressed on the top of the ganache so a film doesn’t form.It can be stored at room temp in a cool corner for 2 days & freeze upto 3 months.

Notes

1. The consistency of ganache for topping and filling is different. For filling, you need thick consistency (which you get by leaving the ganache at room temperature for few hours) and for pouring as topping, you need the ganache to be pouring consistency. You can re-heat/ warm up the ganache to adjust the consistency.
2. The proportion between cream and chocolate will vary based on the usage. If you wish to use ganache for filling up a cake and thick glaze then the proportion is 1:1, equal parts chocolate and equal parts cream. For making chocolate truffles, use 2:1 ratio, with 2 parts chocolate and 1 part cream and for soft icing and pourable glaze the proportion of cream is higher i.e. 1:2, 1 part chocolate and 2 parts cream.