Black Forest Cake
Layers of chocolate sponge, cherry filling and vanilla crème diplomate turn thisvegan Black Forest Cake into a familiar classic with a bit more emphasis on vanilla. It’s slightly less sweet than the traditional version, but every bit as delicious.
Servings: 12 slices
Notes
Troubleshooting
Cake has big pockets of air
A cake with large air pockets is probably due to over-mixing, clumpy baking powder or an oven that’s too hot.Cake is too dry
Overbaking or using a hotter oven than the temperature you’ve set will dry out the cake. For best results, bake for less time or at a lower temperature. Alternatively, use a wooden skewer to check for moisture. You want some cake crumbs clinging to the skewer when you pull it out; it shouldn’t be completely clean.Filling spilling out
The cherry filling might still be too liquid so you’ll need to cook it longer next time. Alternatively, your cream border wasn’t thick enough so make it thicker. Finally, always ensure the cake is properly cooled.Ingredients
Cake
- 450 g Flour type 405
- 100 g Cocoa powder
- 15 g Cornstarch
- 22,5 g Baking powder
- 225 g Sugar white
- 45 g Vanilla sugar
- 150 g Vegetable oil sunflower
- 750 g vMilk Soy
- 5 g Salt
Crème Diplomate
- 500 g vMilk Oat (Alpro Not Milk)
- 2 Vanilla pods
- 50 g Cornstarch
- 160 g vButter Flora or Violife
- 400 g vCream Flora or Rama
- 60 g Powdered Sugar
Cherry filling
- 1 jar Cherries
- ~360 g Liquid from cherries
- ~380 g Cherries
- 30 g Sugar white
- 30 g Lemon juice
- 30 g Cornstarch
Topping
- 100 g Dark chocolate ~50–60% cocoa
Equipment
- 1 Big Glass Measuring Cup 1 Liter
- 1 Hand Blender
- 1 Mixing Bowl
- 1 Sieve
- 1 Whisk
- 1 Cake Pan or Cake Ring 20 cm diameter (see “Notes” for scaling the recipe)
- 1 Wooden Skewer
- 1 Saucepan small with lid
- 2 Plastic Piping Bags
- 1 Star Nozzle
- 1 Metal Spatula or silicone
- 1 Rotating Cake Stand (optional)
- 1 Vegetable Peeler
Instructions
Day 1
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 150°C, top and bottom heat.
- In a tall jar, combine soy milk, vegetable oil, sugar, vanilla sugar and salt.
- Blend with a hand blender for 30 seconds.
- In a big bowl, sift flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, and baking powder.
- Add the liquids and whisk until the flour is fully incorporated but don’t overmix.
- Pour the batter into a greased and lined cake pan or ring.
- Bake at 150°C for 60 to 70 minutes.
- Check the cake after 60 minutes with a wooden skewer. If there’s no liquid and just a few crumbs remain it’s ready to come out of the oven.
- Allow the cake to cool completely at room temperature for at least two hours.
- Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for four hours or best overnight.
Crème Diplomate – Part 1
- Place 400 g of milk in a small pot with a lid.
- Add the seeds of two vanilla beans and the vanilla pod shells.
- Infuse over the lowest heat for 30 minutes with the lid on.
- Mix the remaining milk with cornstarch in a bowl until smooth.
- Bring the milk in the pot to a boil and remove the vanilla pods.
- Add the starch-milk mixture and bring it to a boil.
- Thicken the mixture while stirring constantly with a whisk.
- Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the cold butter.
- Cover the surface directly with plastic wrap.
- Let it cool and then place it in the refrigerator overnight or for at least 2 hours.
Cherry Filling
- In a small pot, combine the liquid of the cherries, sugar, lemon juice and cornstarch.
- Place the pot on medium heat and whisk the mixture until it thickens.
- Add most of the cherries to the pot, reserving 12 to 16 for decoration.
- Then cook it for another two minutes.
- Wrap the surface in clingfilm and let it cool to room temperature before refrigerating it overnight.
Day 2
Crème Diplomate – Part 2
- Whip the vegan cream and powdered sugar together in a tall bowl until medium peaks form.
- Do not overwhip, as the cream will become too stiff.
- Stir the pudding-like cream from part 1 with a whisk until it is smooth again.
- Fold in the whipped cream and mix until a uniform cream forms.
- Fill the Crème Diplomate into a piping bag and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Assembly
- Using a sharp bread knife, cut the cake into two to three layers.
- Begin with the first layer and pipe a border of cream around it to prevent the cherry filling from spilling out.
- Next, spread half of the cherry filling over the cake.
- Place the second layer on top and repeat the cream border and cherry filling process.
- Finally, add the last cake layer.
- Spread a thin layer of cream over the cake to create a crumb coat. This prevents any cake crumbs from showing on the outside of your finished cake.
- Allow the crumb coating to sit in the fridge for 20 minutes and refrigerate the remaining cream for the same duration.
- Spread most of the remaining cream evenly over the cake and flatten it with a metal spatula.
- You can use the remaining cream to decorate the cake with a piping bag and a star nozzle.
- A vegetable peeler is perfect for creating these chocolate shavings to sprinkle over the Black Forest cake’s top and sides.
- Finish decorating the cake by placing the remaining cherries on top of the piped cream.
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