Cake #5: Black Forest

Just so you know, I'm starting to think this is a very bad idea. Some day soon my family is going to come to me pleading,

"Please Mom, no more cake!"

LOL. Okay. That might not happen, but there is very little room for other desserts in our cake-filled lives.

To answer a commonly-asked question, "Why do I make cakes that I don't eat?"

To put it bluntly, for the sake of my rear. I'd weigh a ton if I was making something I couldn't resist. Very few cakes meet that criteria. Bread, on the other hand, is Delilah to my Samson. 

This week we have lots of gorgeous special-occasion meals so I made my husband a birthday cake I despise. Lucky for me, it's one of his all-time favorites.

To make Black Forest Cake all you need is your favorite chocolate layer cake (for me, it's Chocolate Beet Cake) a batch of chocolate frosting and a can of cherry pie filling.

Bake and cool your cakes.

Spread three-quarters of the filling between layers and wait a few minutes for the syrup to ooze out.

Wipe off the worst of the ooze and frost with chocolate frosting. This is a teensy bit tricky, the technique I use is to load my knife with a big gob of frosting and press it along the cake for about three inches. This will allow it to nicely cover the gap in the cake made by the filling.

See the smooth side? You'd never know what's lurking in the center.

The frosting holds in the filling so when you cut it you get this:

Make up a batch of real whip cream, for mine I put cream in the blender with a tablespoon or two of confectioners sugar and a splash of vanilla. Whirl on high speed until it "clunks" and stops moving. Turn it off immediately or it'll turn to butter.

Put the whipped cream in a zip-loc bag, cut of the corner and pipe little tufts around the edge. spread the remaining pie filling in the center area.

Add candles, sing the song, celebrate.