Black Forest Cake

Cake Cake Cake...
 

It’s a weird thing, but I don’t think Jamaican’s like chocolate cake as much as the rest of the world. I have really been observing it. I always pay close attention to several bakery display cases, the chocolate cake, or the chocolate anything is not always the most sold; it’s like the word ‘chocolate’ is a repellant. I have heard many persons say chocolate is to over powering, and even at church functions, we always have to order a vanilla cake, because most of the kids won’t eat the chocolate ones. At the bakery, the plain cake, marble cake, cheese cakes are the faster sellers. However there is one exception, and that is Black forest cake, I guess rum soaked chocolate cake is the way to get a Jamaican’s interest.

As a child I assumed Black forest cake was a Jamaican thing. It is always the most popular cake in a bakery as my mother use to always buy it when we were kids. Price Mart can attest that the product that flies off the shelf faster than anything free is the black forest cake. I have seen persons swarm the bakery employee trying to pack the cakes out, not even giving him a chance to work.  It’s no wonder I had no idea it has German origins. 

I use to always wonder why is it that I’ve never seen anyone make it from home, persons always opt to buy the cake from a bakery rather than make it themselves. Now I know why, Time consuming to say the least. Baking the cake is just half the battle, because then comes soaking with rum, filling the center, icing the whole thing and decorating. I guess since Price Mart has a mega sized kitchen and 30 employees baking it is a whole lot easier for them. And truly for us it is cheaper to purchase this cake ready-made than to bake it, But homemade cakes are so much more delicious.

My boyfriend loves this cake to death. He sat patiently and watched over my shoulder as I added the crumb coat and cherries to the top, it was even his idea to put the cherry in the center and to store the cake in the refrigerator because he likes it cold. As time consuming as it was, I would definitely make this cake again, it is quite delicious. To be honest it really does not taste like a chocolate cake, the combination or the rum, coffee, chocolate and cherries bring a whole new dimension to the typical cocoa flavor. Next to the Louisiana crunch cake this is my second favorite of the month…go figure

Ingredients (printable recipe)

1 stick salted butter

¼ cup oil

1 ½  cup sugar

2 eggs

½ tsp. almond extract

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cup flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 cup cocoa powder

1 cup strong coffee

1 cup buttermilk

½ cup rum or apple vodka

Cherry pie filling

2 Betty Crocker whipped vanilla frosting

Maraschino cherries for garnish

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350
• Beat butter at high speed until light and fluffy, add oil and sugar and continue to mix until incorporated
• Add eggs, vanilla extract and almond extract
• In another bowl combine all the dry ingredients. Flour, baking soda and powder, and coco powder
• Prepare 1 cup of strong black coffee, combine with the buttermilk
• To the egg and sugar mixture add flour and buttermilk coffee mixtures alternately until the batter is formed
• Pour into a prepared baking pan and bake for 40 minutes or until a wooden skewer come out clean
• Allow the cake to cool completely, and then slice horizontally in half to get two layers
• Slice the peak off the top layer so the top of the cake is flat
• Take that excess cake and crumble with your fingers to use as a garnish
• Brush on rum to soak the chocolate layers in the rum ¼ cup per layer
• Wrap in plastic wrap and let it sit for at least 30 minutes or even over night
• To assemble place the bottom layer down and spread a layer of cherry pie filling on top
• As for the top layer turn it upside down and spread a layer of icing on
• Then flip the top layer with the icing onto the cherry layer as if you were creating a sandwich, so the cherry and icing are now in the center of the cake
• Fill the sides of the cake with icing so there are no gaps
• Give the cake a general coat of icing so that no black spots are visible
• Then take the cake crumbs and press onto the sides, and in the center of the cake,
• Line the edges with maraschino cherries

Greedy tips

• The rum in this cake is really what sets it apart as a black forest cake and not just a regular old chocolate cake, so don’t feel shy about letting it soak
• You can also use apple vodka if you don’t have any rum
• I store my cake in the refrigerator as we prefer a cold black forest cake 

Xoxo Greedygirl