Stephanie's Test Kitchen

Growing up with German family, I got eat a lot of cakes, biscuits and treats (I know where I inherited my sweet tooth from). One of my Favourite German cakes has always been the Black Forest Cake, or ‘Schwazwalder Kirschtorte’ which is Black Forest Cherry-Torte. A chocolate cake layered with cream and of course CHERRIES! The sweetness of the cake and cream combined with the tang of the cherries is absolute deliciousness in the mouth.

During my travels through Europe I was lucky enough To treat myself to a large slice of black forest cake from a bakery in Heidelberg, Germany. I savoured every bite, then messaged my mum to tell her she needs to make Oma’s black forest cake recipe.

Recently, I bought a copy of Luke Hines new recipe book ‘Eat Clean’ and fortunately it has a gluten free, dairy free version of my favourite cake. Perfect for me. Traditional,ply, this German cake contains Kirsch, a cherry liqueur, but because we are trying to keep this version healthy, there isn’t any alcohol included in the recipe. Feel free to add some if you want though 😛

 

I chose to use just cherries for the middle and topping layers, because cherries are the fruit used in the traditional black forest cake recipe. Here in Australia we are heading in to summer, so fresh cherries are starting to come back into season, making this cake perfect for Christmas time. Fresh cherries are still quite pricey at the moment so I’m using frozen and thawed pitted cherries. You could also use canned cherries if fresh cherries aren’t available to you. I suggest using double the amount of cherries for the two layers.

Despite the cream icing being made from coconut cream and coconut yoghurt I found it tasted similar to regular cream but slightly sweeter, which is always my preference. I do recommend leaving the cream In the fridge for longer then 30 minutes to thicken it up as I found it was too runny and spilled over the sides. Also make sure your cake base is thoroughly cooled too before adding the cream.

For this cake I had some dried blueberries left over so I sprinkled them over the top for decoration. Next time I will try dried cherries or dried cranberries in the cake mixture as they have more of that tart flavour we are after for a Black Forest cake.

Overall the cake tasted amazing, I was very pleased at the taste. The cake itself has a lovely texture and because fits made using coconut flour which is quite dense, it soaked up the runny coconut cream which added to the flavour and kept it quite moist. This cake is loaded with healthy fats so you don’t need a massive slice to feel satisfied and it won’t leave you feeling guilty either.

 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup coconut flour
• 3/4 cup cacao powder
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 10 eggs
• 3/4 cup melted coconut oil
• 3/4 cup coconut water
• 2 vanilla pods, split and scraped
• 250ml pure maple syrup
• 1/2 cup dried blueberries
• 250g mixed berries, fresh or frozen and thawed (I used frozen cherries)
• Cacao nibs to serve, optional

Coconut icing:

• 300ml chilled coconut cream
• 300g coconut yoghurt
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 vanilla pod, split and scraped

Recipe:

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees, fan force, grease 2x22cm springform round cake tins.
2. Using a stand mixer, put in the bowl coconut flour, cacao powder, baking powder and salt. Mix together well.
3. Turn the speed to low and add the eggs followed by the coconut oil, pouring in a slow drizzle until all mixed and incorporated.
4. Turn mixer speed to high and add in the coconut water, maple syrup (save 50mls for later), and vanilla seeds.
5. Reduce speed back to low and add in dried blueberries until combined, then finally increase speed to high and mix until batter is smooth.
6. Pour the cake batter evenly into the two prepared cake tins and smooth over the tops with a spatula.
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tins.
8. For the icing, place all the ingredients into a clean owl and mix with the stand mixer on medium speed for 5 minutes. Refrigerate for 30 minutes (I suggest leaving it for longer to thicken more).
9. Placed the berries into a bowl and add the remaining maple syrup and mix with a fork.
10. Once the sponges are cooled and the icing is ready, spread a thick layer of the cream onto one of the sponges and spoon over half the berries. Place the second sponge on top then spread the remaining cream over it. Top with remaining berries and sprinkle with cacao nibs if you choose.

*Recipe tested from Luke Hines cookbook Eat Clean*