Inside-Out Black Forest Cake

No dinner party–even one with a spectacular pork loin as the main–is complete without a really fantastic dessert. Yeah, I know I don’t need much of an excuse to reach into my *fancy* dessert file, but I wanted to do something really special for new years.

Remember my favorite recipe source this holiday season, Martha’s Holiday Sweets magazine? Well, the very first time I flipped through it, this beautiful, towering, chocolate cake mid-magazine caught my eye. It was a picture of a black forest cake, but it was way different from any black forest I had ever seen before. Instead of fussy whipped cream swirls and maraschino cherries, there were clean lines with pastry cream, shiny chocolate ganache, and sour cherries. And kirsch. Not baked in, but brushed onto finished layers. Yumlish.

So before we had even settled on an entree, our dinner party had a confirmed dessert. And it was a good thing, because time seemed to slip away a lot faster that week before the party than I had ever expected, and I found myself on the morning of the 31st still without a cake. But this recipe proved easy (for Martha!) to bake and assemble. It was a definite bonus that there was no fussy icing to apply and smooth, apply and smooth. But the cake still had that over the top effect–and helped us to ring in the new year with style!

Inside-Out Black Forest Cake
Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Holiday Sweets

This cake has a really grown-up, not overly sweet, chocolate taste, which is nicely offset by slightly sweeter pastry cream and the cherries. If you’re new to layer cakes and freaked out by the idea of making and applying icing, this is a good cake for you to start out with. The assembly is a snap–really. And people will still be super impressed at your efforts! If you can’t find preserved sour cherries, or you’re unwilling to pay $10 a jar for them at Whole Foods (like me!) you can substitute whole bing cherries in light syrup.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pans
• 2 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup packed dark-brown sugar
• 3 large eggs, room temp.
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 jar (12 ounces) preserved sour cherries (40 to 50)
• 1/4 cup kirsch (cherry-flavored liqueur)
• Pastry Cream (recipe follows)
  
• Shiny Chocolate Ganache (recipe follows)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter three 8 inch round cake pans; line bottoms with parchment paper. Butter parchment. Into large bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.

With electric mixer on medium speed, cream butter and granulated sugar until fluffy. Add brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in sour cream. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the buttermilk and beginning and ending with the flour.

Divide batter evenly among prepared pans. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until firm to the touch and toothpick comes out clean; about 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer pans to wire racks to cool completely. Run a knife around sides to loosen, then remove cakes from pans and peel off parchment.

Drain cherries, reserving 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons juice. Combine juice and kirsch. With a serrated knife, trim tops of cakes to make level, but this is only really necessary if your cakes are really domed. I skipped this step, because my cakes were relatively flat. Use a fork to prick small holes in the tops of the layers, the brush top of each with one-third kirsch mixture. Place a cake layer on a serving plate. Spread 1 1/2 cups pastry cream evenly over cake. Arrange 15 drained cherries on top. Place a second cake layer, brushed side up, on top. Spread with remaining cream; top with 15 more cherries. Top third cake layer, brushed side down.

Make the ganache, by warming cream and honey in a small saucepan until just boiling. Place chopped chocoate in a heatproof bowl, and pour hot milk mixture over the chocolate. Allow to stand for a minute, then whisk until smooth. Pour onto middle of top cake layer, and spread evenly with an offset spatula. Garnish with remaining cherries.

Pastry Cream Ingredients:

• 2 large whole eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 cups milk
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Pastry Cream Directions:

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, whisk whole eggs, yolks, and 1/2 cup sugar until pale and thick. Sift in cornstarch; whisk on medium-low speed until combined.

Meanwhile, prepare an ice-water bath. Bring milk and remaining 1/4 cup sugar to a boil in a medium saucepan. Whisking constantly, slowly pour half the milk mixture into the egg mixture; whisk until smooth. Pour mixture back into saucepan with remaining milk; whisk over medium heat until mixture reaches the consistency of mayonnaise, 2 to 3 minutes more. This can happen pretty fast, so make sure you keep whisking and remove the cream from the heat immediately if it starts to get too thick.

Add butter, a few pieces at a time, stirring until melted after each addition. Set bowl in ice-water bath until chilled. Stir in vanilla. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly on surface of pastry cream; chill until set, at least 2 hours or up to overnight. Cream will keep in fridge for a few days.

Shiny Chocolate Ganache Ingredients:

• 5 ounces semisweet chocolate
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon honey

Prepare ganache using instructions above.

This cake was so good, I’m hoping it’s what people remember about me from the meal, not my not-so-gracefull attempt to polish the hardwood on Eileen’s stairs with my bum! Yeah, that one still hurts!

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