Cakes Around the World: Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte
However, during my brief stay in Germany, a little trip to the birthplace of the dessert, it dawned on me that the pastry that I had been eating all this while, was a poor remake! The authentic German Black Forest cake or Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte (literal: Black Forest cherry cake) was nothing like the ones found here. The main and most important ingredient was missing! Kirsch.
Kirsch or otherwise commonly known as Kirschwasser (literal: cherry water), is a dry, colourless brandy distilled from the fermented juice of the black morello cherry. Everything from the sponge to the filling and topping had traces of this delicious liqueur.
Suddenly, baking simple chocolate cakes with an accompanying ganache wasn’t enough. That moment was probably when a tiny voice in the back of my mind urged me to expand my horizons and drove me to develop a passion to explore more exotic desserts and try and recreate them. The content ahead will brief you about the speciality of the Black Forest cake, its history and finally take you through the process of recreating this scrumptious dish.
credit: lazycatkitchen |
Basic Structure and Taste
A traditional
Black Forest cake consists of three to four layers of chocolate sponge cake
soaked in Kirsch syrup. The sponge layers are made with a high number of eggs
with little to no fat and no other wet ingredients. This makes them drier and
less moist than their American counterparts. This is required because, if the
American cake is soaked in Kirsch, it will end up soggy and fall apart.
It is then slathered
with a generous layer of whipped cream in between each sponge and a kirsch
infused cherry filling. The cherries used are Morello cherries (pitted sour
cherries often used for tarts, jams, and pie fillings). If those are not
available, red tart cherries are the next best option. Any other substitutes
like cherry pie filling or canned cherries in thick syrup will result in your
finished product to be much sweeter than the original. The cake layers are
usually made with Dutch cocoa powder which is the most commonly available cocoa
powder in Europe and provides a rich, darker chocolaty taste than natural cocoa
powder.
Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte in a German bakery |
Tracing the origins
There are
several stories around the origins of this dessert, the most probable being-
the birthplace of the cake would have been the Black Forest region in Germany
which is known for its sour cherries and Kirschwasser. The name might have been
a metaphor for the dark, loamy aura of deep, shady forest, the cake evokes. Others
argue that the cake bears resemblance to the ‘Bollenhut’ costumes made with red
pompoms for the women performing traditional dances, thus deeming its name. Modern
theory suggests that Josef Keller, manager of the Café Agner in Bad Godesberg,
invented this cake at his restaurant in 1915.
Naturally,
the Black Forest Cake enjoys a distinguished notoriety in German regions, but
it has also spread as a traditional delicacy in Austria, Switzerland, and northern
regions of Italy.
In these countries,
the cake is prepared with little to no variations- the distinguishing feature
being the dark wild (sour) cherries. The use of kirsch is however variable as
in certain Swiss and Austrian recipes, it is often replaced by rum.
Recreating the delicacy with a vegetarian twist
Since the
flavours of the pastry exploded on my tongue, my palette has not been able to
forget the array of flavours and so it was decided that I simply must try and
replicate the recipe for my Dad’s birthday. I must have gone through at least ten websites and recipe cards before I found one that incorporated everything I
remember through my sensory aids.
Planning the process and collecting the ingredients was in no way simple but it was certainly educational- I explored several techniques and the chemistry of various ingredient combinations. In a country like India, finding foreign condiments of ensured quality is not an easy task so it almost two weeks for all my ingredients- canned cherries to gold powder for decoration- to arrive.
Another challenge was making
the cake base eggless. Our family does not consume or cook with eggs, so
replacing them in recipes that call for copious amounts of yolk is tricky.
After some research it came to my attention that egg replacer was a good vegan
substitute however, I did not want to spend more on this cake since it already
summed up to an arm and leg, so I decided to improvise. Egg is ultimately used
to provide structure and add moisture and fluffiness to the cake. This
chemistry can be replicated by mixing curd and baking soda together (moisture)
or vinegar and baking soda (fluffy texture). Although these combinations are
not perfect, either of them usually does the trick for most eggless recipes.
The recipe
that I referred to, called for 6 eggs and it was the only wet ingredient. So replacing
all these eggs with only curd and baking soda would result in the cake
deflating after resting. Applying my prior baking knowledge, I incorporated both
the combinations in specific proportion to replace 3 eggs each. This was a huge
risk considering I had never tried this before and my baking budget was at
stake. This recipe was the biggest undertaking of mine until now and if it
failed, then I would not be allowed to order more fancy ingredients the next
time. I know, the horror.
By the time
the batter was combined, I felt my heart sink. The batter, which was supposed
to be smooth with slightly thicker than ribbon consistency, was currently a cookie
dough. It looked nothing like the recipe showed. In desperate attempts to
loosen it, I added almost a tablespoon of milk until it was like a brownie
batter. With trembling fingers, heart filled with despair, I slipped the cake
into the oven, praying for the best.
The next day when I taste tested the rested layers I was in utter shock. It was the BEST chocolate cake I had ever baked. The flavours were immaculate. Despite having a recipe to refer to, I had made certain adjustments to suit my liking- I added only half the amount of sugar the recipe called for, so it had the perfect amount of sweetness- almost like dark chocolate, and the texture was like a brownie. Using Dutch alkalized cocoa powder really makes a difference. The cake was relatively tender, but that was inevitable since there was no egg and was not a big deal.
Finally the following day, it was time to assemble the cake! I alternated whipped cream, kirsch syrup
and cherry filling between 4 layers and covered the entire structure with a
thin layer of fresh whipped cream. This was then put into the refrigerator to set,
while I prepared the decoration. I still wanted to incorporate the traditional look of the cake but in a classier way, and the simplest way to do this was to
replace the chocolate shavings by dark chocolate shards which gold accents on
its tip for extra glamour.
The final product turned out simply stunning and the overall taste was scrumptious.
To those who
are still reading and have reached till here, thank you for following me on
this journey. Please comment down below what are your thoughts on this German dessert
and if you would like to try it out! I will be posting about more cakes and
desserts around the world so click that follow button on the top left corner to
keep up!
Reference
links:
For those who
might have been inspired to make this themselves, to save you the trouble, here are the recipe and ingredient
links that I referred to:-
Great detailed article and admire your hard work!! Blackforest cake has always been one of my favourite desserts but never knew all these technicalities which goes in preparing one !
ReplyDeleteIt’s absolutely perfect… You nailed it !!
ReplyDeleteVery well written, the whole process and the feelings truly resonate your passion. Waiting for more recipes (Weihnachts Kekse, maybe ) .
ReplyDeleteWishing you all the best
Well written
ReplyDeleteIt’s amazing to see this in so much detail.
ReplyDeleteVery detailed and well written! Look forward to reading more from you.
ReplyDeleteVery good knowledge of cakes. God bless you !
ReplyDeleteWow!! You are genius not just with your writing skills but even with your baking . Loved the detailing and now I can’t resist having a bite of an authentic Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte. Hats off to you darling !!
ReplyDelete- With love, Jyoti
Your recipes are not only enticing, but you narration makes it a joy to go through your blog. Excellent research, beautiful use of vocabulary and a fantastic description. Keep going.
ReplyDeleteWell written
ReplyDeleteThis makes me wanna make the cake myself!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful description of this mouth watering cake and a trip down the memory lane of childhoods most cherished memory ,kudos to all your research ! Keep up your writing as well as your baking skills.
ReplyDeleteYou never fail to amaze me by your content . It's so well explained and the your vocabulary is upright.
ReplyDeleteLove the way you take through it all..the details..the writings..good work - looking forward to taste some day :)
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed reading about your passion for baking and love for cakes.
ReplyDeleteA very inspirational true story of how new recipes are developed. However, it shows another very important factor about 'passion' that a child, can have towards writing about different life experiences. It is a 'shark tank' product to be promoted
ReplyDeleteVery well described and explained and it was very well prepared indeed 😊
ReplyDeleteSuper 👌
ReplyDeleteWow….This is absolutely professional write up. Enjoyed reading it. Keep it up Anushka
ReplyDelete