Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte

Here is the Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, or Black Forest Gateau, I finished today. I was asked to make this for a silent auction taking place at an Oktoberfest celebration fundraiser. Oktoberfest is a sixteen day festival that originated in Germany to celebrate beer. Germany still holds huge Oktoberfest celebrations, but many other German communities in different countries also celebrate Oktoberfest on a smaller scale. I was asked in particular to make a Black Forest Cake because Black Forest Cake originated in Germany, named so because the liquor that is traditionally used in the cake originated in the Black Forest region. My cake does not contain any liquor. There are many variations of Black Forest Cakes, and I came across many different decorating techniques, which made it difficult for me to decide on one. I combined several different ideas I saw, and this is what I came up with.

This cake is composed of three chocolate genoise layers moistened with cherry juice (instead of kirsch liquor). The layers are topped with sweetened whipped cream and cherry pie filling. I finished the top off with chocolate flakes, whipped cream rosettes, and maraschino cherries. I added a shell border at the bottom. I decided to leave the cake layers open, and not frost them entirely with whipped cream, even though this is not typical. I did this for several reasons: I did not have enough whipped cream, I liked how the cherry and whipped cream layers showed through, the layers turned out nice and neat, I did not want to do more harm than good, I did not have enough chocolate flakes to cover the sides of the cake, as is typical.

Tomorrow I will share the exact step-by-step directions on how to duplicate the version of this cake that I made. The cake is being auctioned off tonight, and I am very curious to see how much it will go for! I liked how the cake turned out so much, I featured it as my new profile picture.