Cake of the Week: Black Forest Cake

This is my first Black Forest Cake experience and ummm hello, lets just say that it will not be my last. I was asked to make it for a birthday party, but all I knew was that it involved chocolate, cherries and alcohol.

I worked the Google and this is what I learned:

• The Black Forest (Schwarzwälder) is the name of a mountain range and forest in Germany. 
• Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte is "Black Forest Cake" in German. Good luck pronouncing that. 
• The Austrians use rum.
• The Swedes make a Black Forest Cake with layers of meringue and chocolate and no cherries. 
• Kirschwasser or kirsch is a flavored brandy made with sour cherries.
• In Germany, Kirschwasser as a mandatory ingredient, otherwise the cake is legally not allowed to be marketed as Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte.

My main take-away: It can be whatever I want it to be as long as there’s chocolate cake, cherries, whipped cream, and some sort of alcohol. Imagine it as a boozy Cherry Garcia sort of cake experience. Aka YES.

I mulled over the possibilities and devised a plan of action:

I started with one of my favorite chocolate cake recipes: Vegan Chocolate Cake. (It’s delicious I swear! It just happens to be vegan.)

I made Martha Stewart’s Cherry Filling recipe. Black Forest is often seen with maraschino cherries, but this recipe uses frozen then thawed fresh cherries. YUM.

I was unable to find kirsch, so I opted for the easy route and went with rum instead. I don’t think anyone was disappointed. The resulting cake definitely wasn’t as boozy-tasting as expected, so in the recipe below I’ve included some variations if you want a stronger alcohol flavor.

Then I topped it all with Stabilized Whipped Cream Frosting. This recipe never gets old.

This is the kind of cake that gets better the longer it sits. I made the cake layers and cherry filling last Thursday night, then post-Friday morning workout and pre-work I made the whipped cream frosting and assembled it all for the party Friday night. And clearly ate an inappropriate quantity of whipped cream pre-breakfast well duh.

One major downside is that this cake did not cut nicely at all. The chocolate cake is super moist and delicious, but that means when you try to cut through whole cherries it all kind of goes to pieces. If you want a prettier-cutting cake, I suggest finding a more sponge cake-ish chocolate cake recipe. OR you could make it as a trifle. That would be AMAZING.

Despite the messiness, I'd say the cake was a hit. A certain friend left the party before the birthday girl cut the cake. He expected there to be leftover cake saved for him...nada. Lessons to learn: Stay for the cake!!!

Black Forest Cake

Printable recipe. 

Cake ingredients:
makes 24 cupcakes or three 9-inch round cakes

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup canola oil
• 2 teaspoons white vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups cold water
• ½ cup rum or kirsch (OR more alcohol and less water – it just has to total to 2 cups)

Cake directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Line three 9” round pans with parchment paper. (Warning: This recipe tends to stick, so I strongly suggest you go for the parchment paper.)
3. In a large bowl, sift the dry ingredients together. Set aside.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, water, rum vanilla extract and vinegar.
5. Slowly whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients being careful not to over-mix. The mixture will be quite wet, but that's ok.
6. Pour the batter into all 3 pans evenly. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick or knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
7. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes then remove from pan and cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes. I recommend putting cakes in the freezer for an additional 30 minutes or in the fridge overnight before frosting the cake, it will make them easier to handle.

Filling ingredients:

• 2 pounds frozen black or dark cherries, thawed, drained, and juice reserved (I used a colander and pressed the juice out of the thawed cherries into a large bowl.)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons kirsch or rum
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch

Filling directions:

1. Whisk reserved juice, sugar, rum/kirsch, and cornstarch in a small saucepan until smooth. 
2. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 8 minutes. Let syrup cool slightly. 
3. Combine syrup and cherries in a medium bowl. Refrigerate until ready to use, up to 2 days.

Stabilized Whipped Cream Frosting ingredients:
Yield: about 3-4 cups frosting. Enough to generously frost one cake and have leftovers.

• 1 teaspoon gelatin powder
• 4 tablespoons cold water
• 2 cup whipping cream
• 1 speck of salt
• 8 tablespoons confectioner's sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar (I don’t know how absolutely necessary this is, but it can’t hurt and I’m paranoid about my whipped cream melting.)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla or rum or kirsch

Stabilized Whipped Cream Frosting directions:

1. Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in small bowl to soften (about 5 minutes). 
2. Scald 4 tablespoon cream; pour over gelatin, stirring till dissolved. 
3. Refrigerate until consistency of unbeaten egg white (about 30 minutes, but check it so it doesn't become too firm.) 
4. Using a hand-mixer, beat until smooth.  (If you accidentally let it get too firm in the fridge, just beat it for longer, it should loosen up). 
5. Add remaining cream and beat until it reaches whipped cream texture/thickness. Add salt, sugar, vanilla (or rum or kirsch), and cream of tartar; beat in gelatin mixture. 

Assembly:

1. Spoon a little less than ½ the cherry mixture over the first layer of the cake.
2. Use a piping bag to create a whipped cream wall (to keep the juice from running down the sides). 
3. Spread a bit of whipped cream on top of the cherries. Place second layer on top and repeat.
4. Add the last few cherries (about ¼ cup) to the top of the cake and frost generously with the rest of the whipped cream. 
5. Shave dark chocolate on top -- I just use a vegetable peeler. 
6. Refrigerate until serving. 

Printable recipe. 

Cake of the Week: Presidential Sweet Cookies

There’s a certain bakery here in DC that I kinda sorta absolutely adore. Their muffins, coffee, and plate-sized cookies get me every time. The cookies especially (well duh). They make all sorts of combinations, ensuring that when I walk in mid-work day, looking for a treat, I’m bound to need a minute to contemplate the options. 

And conveniently, everywhere I frequent seems to be near a Firehook location! There’s one  around the corner from my house, one at Farragut Square (a couple blocks away from my old job at NatGeo), and one at Metro Center (umm hello where I’ll be this afternoon!).  

A couple weeks ago I made the very good choice of the Presidential Sweet Cookie. It has:

• chocolate chips,
• dried cherries,
• pecans,
• coconut,
• and a tiny bit of espresso powder. 

YES PLEASE. (The Firehook cookie also has oatmeal, but I managed to completely forget the oatmeal when I made my version of the recipe, so mine is oatmeal-less). 

Legend has it that the Presidential Sweet got its name because then-First Lady Hillary Clinton and Chelsea were fans. The owners won’t confirm or deny the White House connection, and really, legitimately presidential or not, they’re delicious! And I will warn you: dangerously addicting.  

Presidential Sweet-Inspired Cookies

Printable recipe.

• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• ½ cup plain applesauce*
• 1 cup brown sugar
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 ¼ cups flour
• ½ teaspoon espresso powder
• ½ cup chopped toasted pecans
• ½ cup shredded coconut (I used sweetened, but you could do unsweetened if you prefer)
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• ½ cup dried cherries, chopped

1. Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees.
2. Beat softened butter and sugars until creamy and smooth, then beat in vanilla and eggs. 
3. Add dry ingredients (salt, baking soda, flour, and espresso powder) to the mixture and stir until combined. 
4. Add fun stuff: pecans, coconut, chocolate chips, and cherries.
5. Using two spoons, drop  2 tablespoon-full sized balls on a cookie sheet.** These cookies don’t spread much on their own, so you may want to flatten the balls out a bit.
6. Bake 8-10 minutes and cool on a wire rack. 

*The applesauce makes these puffier cakier cookies. Alternately, you could do 2 sticks of butter and omit the applesauce for a chewier cookie.

**You could make these Firehook-sized if you want (i.e. BIG). Make each cookie about 1/3 cup of dough, and bake 10-12 minutes. Cool on the pan until they seem stable enough to remove to a wire rack. 

Printable recipe.

Cake of the Week: Cherry Cupcakes with Cherry Frosting

This week I’m phone-interviewing intern candidates, which always presents unique interactions ranging from interesting to straight-up shenanigans. Yesterday, for example, I interviewed the most nervous candidate I have ever encountered. When I asked why he wants this internship, I could feel the poor guy shaking through the phone! I am by no means a harsh or tricky interviewer, so when he apologized profusely for his anxiety, I tried to calm him down, Don’t worry about it, it’s really totally fine. Just take a deep breath and start over, you don’t have to apologize, it’s no big deal.

The thing about phone interviews is that you can’t see the person on the other end. Little did he know that the scary and all-powerful Ms EatRunRead of our email exchanges was me, sitting at my desk wearing running shoes and leggings – a 24-year-old who just ate a cupcake for breakfast.

And what a cupcake it was! Last week I used my free cupcake coupon from Sprinkles to try their Cherry Blossom Cupcake and it was absolutely divine – so good that I couldn’t wait to replicate it. I found Sprinkles’ strawberry cupcake recipe online, and adapted it to use frozen cherries instead.

This cupcake has a wonderful almost spongy texture, thanks to its combined use of egg and egg whites. The cherry is very subtle, I think I would add more cherries and less milk in the future to get a stronger cherry flavor.

Cherry Cupcakes (from Sprinkles)

Servings: Makes 1 dozen large cupcakes (I usually make kinda little cupcakes, so I got 16.)

Ingredients

2/3 cup fresh or frozen whole cherries (thawed if frozen)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour , sifted

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. coarse salt

1/4 cup whole milk , room temperature

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter , room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 large egg , room temperature

2 large egg whites , room temperature

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners; set aside.
Place strawberries in a small food processor; process until pureed. You should have about 1/3 cup of puree. Add a few more strawberries if necessary, or save any extra puree for frosting; set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In a small bowl, mix together milk, vanilla and strawberry puree; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and slowly add egg and egg whites until just blended.

With the mixer on low, slowly add half the flour mixture; mix until just blended. Add the milk mixture; mix until just blended. Slowly add remaining flour mixture, scraping down sides of the bowl with a spatula, as necessary, until just blended.

Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Transfer muffin tin to oven and bake until tops are just dry to the touch, 22 to 25 minutes. Transfer muffin tin to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool completely in tin before icing.

Cherry Frosting (from Sprinkles)

Makes enough for 1 dozen cupcakes (I guess it depends on how heavily you frost the cupcakes…I had a lot of frosting leftover.)

Ingredients

½ cup frozen whole cherries, thawed

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

Pinch salt

3 ½ cup confectioners sugar

½ tst. vanilla extract

Directions

Place cherries in the bowl of a food processor or blender and process until pureed. Use an electric mixer to beat together butter and salt until light and fluffy. Slowly add confectioners sugar and beat until well combined. Add vanilla and cherry puree, mix until just blended. Frosting consistency should be dense and creamy, like ice cream. 

Cake of the Week: Cherry Vanilla Bran Muffins

Remember that beautiful smoothie I made last week? Well, you may recall that there was a muffin involved - in the interest of making that "part of a complete breakfast." (Sidenote: Mini-Mollie always wondered what the heck "complete breakfast" meant in all the cereal commercials...was that just me?) 

Anywho, you all know that I love breakfast. And I love baked goods (obviously). So a+b=c, I LOVE muffins! Homemade muffins are essentially healthy cake. If I tell people that I ate a piece of cake for breakfast (which may or may not happen on occasion), they get all shocked and judgey on me. But a muffin for breakfast? Totally acceptable. 

And these little guys are the perfect accompaniment to your usual yogurt or smoothie or apple. 

I was inspired by the gi-normous bag of fresh juicy cherries I bought last week. And I've been in the healthy muffin mood recently...so the decision was really quite easy. The original recipe called for dark chocolate and dried cherries...which is normally totally up my alley. But if fresh cherries are an option you just have to use them, and for some reason white chocolate struck me as a good idea. So I planned them out mid-yoga, and Cherry Vanilla Bran Muffins were born. 

The original recipe is adapted from An Edible Mosaic. My changes, per usual, are highlighted in blue.

Cherry Vanilla Bran Muffins

(Yield:  12 large muffins, 16 small muffins)

2 large eggs

1/3 c canola oil

1/2 c honey (They turned out pretty sweet, so I think you could go with even less honey – maybe just ¼ cup)

3/4 c reduced-fat milk (I used 1%) (I used water – no milk in my fridge)

2 tsp almond extract (or pure vanilla extract)

1 c wheat bran

1 c whole wheat flour

1 tsp each baking powder and baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 c white chocolate chips

1 1/2 c fresh cherries, pitted and halved

Cooking spray

Muffin tray

paper liners (if using)

Preheat the oven to 375F.  Beat together the eggs, oil, honey, milk, and almond/vanilla extract.  In a separate bowl mix together the bran, 1 c flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Slowly stir the dry ingredients into the wet, then stir in the chips and cherries until just mixed (be careful not to overmix). Bake for 15 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out slightly moist with just a few crumbs (careful not to overcook so they won’t be dry).

These muffins are best fresh out of the oven. I froze some in the interest of prolonging my muffin availability, but unfortunately they kind of dried out. So if you don't want a lot of muffins at once, make a half-batch at a time to maximize your muffin enjoyment. 

Cake of the Week: Cherry Peach Honey Cake

Thanks to the modern wonders of food transportation and agriculture in South America, we can get pretty much anything any time of the year. You could eat peaches in December, but something about that just seems wrong. It’s not worth it - a peach out of season is crunchy and bland. Or even worse, mealy. Gross.

But NOTHING beats peaches and cherries when they’re local and fresh and de-freaking-licious. The window is short - before you know it you’ll blink and cherry season is over. Blink twice, and the peaches have been replaced with fall apples (also delicious, but that’s a story for another post). 

At home in Caliornia, we used to buy flats of cherries on the side of the road. A local farmer would put up a table underneath a big umbrella, and paint a big sign proclaiming “Fresh Cherries!” On the way back from the beach or a hot summer long run, who can resist that? 

Peaches came to my home kitchen via the Petaluma Farmer’s Market on Wednesday afternoons. On the way back from the public Swim Center (where we spent almost every day in the summer) my mama would make us stop off at Walnut Park so she could pick up some produce (while my sisters and I waited impatiently in the car.) Sometimes we walked around the market with her, and if we asked nicely (or badgered her into compliance), she might get us flavored honey sticks to suck on. Which leads me to this week’s Cherry Peach Honey Cake.

So carpe diem in the summer fruit sense. 

Get to a farmer’s market, or even a regular grocery store and take advantage of these luscious short-lived fruits. I definitely did. They cherries looked up at me, deep dark red and ready for eating, just begging for a place in my basket. And the peaches, oh the peaches, I just can’t resist their fuzzy-skinned peachy-pink goodness.

I wanted to make something a little different than a pie or cobbler, so I got to photograzing, and found inspiration. The original recipe calls for nectarines, peaches’ bald cousin. But of course peaches are an easy substitute. And again, those adorable cherries batted their long lashes at me from inside the fridge, just begging to be included. Why not? Pit a handful and toss them in!

This cake is quite yummy (how could it not be with such star-powered fruit?). But I didn’t have whole wheat pastry flour, so I used regular whole wheat flour. Probably because of this, it took much longer to cook than the original recipe says. It’s definitely not bad with the whole wheat flour (and I believe the whole wheat qualifies it as a breakfast cake, am I right?), but if you’re looking for something cakier and lighter, get more motivated than I was and venture out to find pastry flour. 

Cherry Peach Honey Cake (adapted from So Good & Tasty)

serves 8

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (like I said, I used regular whole wheat flour)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup raw honey

2 eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon pure almond extract

2 nectarines, pitted and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (or 2 peaches and about ¾ cup pitted and halved cherries)

1/2 tablespoon demerara sugar (nope – didn’t do this)

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (didn’t do this either)

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Lightly butter a 9' springform pan or 9" tart pan with removable bottom. (I used a 9-inch cake pan)

In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a large bowl beat the butter and honey until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in the extracts. Add in the flour mixture and stir just until combined.

Spread the batter in the pan evenly, than scatter the nectarines (peaches and cherries) over the top. Stir together the demerara sugar and nutmeg and sprinkle over the top.

Bake until the cake is golden brown and the top is firm but tender when lightly touched, about 30-35 minutes. (Mine took more like 50 minutes.) Cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool to room temperature.