Black forest cake is one of the best cakes out there. Spongy kirsch soaked dark chocolate cake, soft juicy cherries filling, creamy chocolate pudding and whipped cream. The layers in this black forest trifle all combine into an amazing combination of rich and decadent.
I used fresh cherries(though out of season) to make the cherry pie filling layer but it tasted quite good. With a splash of Kirsch, it was so good. If you don’t want to use cherries, you can use strawberries or raspberries and make a compote.If you dont want to use liquor, skip it and use any non alcoholic juice (cherry or pomegranate juices are a good option). The trifle is best made a little ahead, keep it refrigerated once you have assembled it.
I added scratch made creamy chocolate pudding chocolate which gave it utmost richness. All in all, an amazing dessert for any occasion.It is not at all difficult to make, but yes making the components takes time. However, you can spread out the work over a couple of days and assemble just a few hours before serving. I baked the chocolate cake a night before, while the cake baked I made the cherry filling. While the cake cooled, I made very the pudding.Kept everything refrigerated and next morning just before assembling, I whipped up the cream. Easy peasy.
Trifles can be made in advance, however I won’t do it more than a day ahead. However, you can make the different elements 3-4 days in advance.The individual components in this entire recipe are amazing on their own. This is my go to chocolate cake recipe, you can use the cherry filling as icecream or yogurt topping and 2 ingredient eggless chocolate pudding is a shortcut but it delivers.
Black Forest Cake Trifle
Ingredients
One 9 inch Chocolate Cake
- 120 gms (1 cup) all purpose flour
- 150 gms (3/4 cup) granulated sugar
- 40 gms (6 tbsp) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1/2 cup whole milk, room temperature
- 5 tbsp neutral oil
- 5 tbsp hot water or coffee
- 1/2 tbsp pure vanilla
- 1/4 cup Kirsch for soaking the cake
Cherry Pie Filling (Skip this if you want and use store bought Cherry Pie Filling)
- 1 lb (400 gms) fresh cherries, pitted
- 3 tbsp water
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp kirsch
Chocolate Pudding
- 6 oz (1 cup) semi sweet chocolate chips
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) heavy cream
- pinch sea salt
Whipped Cream
- 1 cup (240 ml) heavy whipping cream
- 2-4 tbsp powdered sugar
- 1 drop pink gel food coloring, optional
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp Kirsch
Instructions
Bake the Cake
- Spray a 9 inch pan with oil. Line the base of the cake with parchment paper. Flour the sides of the cake pan with cocoa powder.
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- In a large bowl, sift the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- In another bowl, whisk together milk, oil, egg and vanilla.
- Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and pour the wet ingredients. Fold in gently till alomst incorporated. Pour over the hot coffee and gently(don not whisk) everything so that you can see a smooth shiny brown batter with no streaks of white flour. The batter will be quite runny but thats okay.
- Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 28-32 minutes or till a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. The cake will start to pull away from the sides slightly as well.
- Take out of the oven and let cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Run a knife all around and take out the cake out of the pan on to a cooling rack. Cool completely. Once cooled, you can store the cake in the fridge for 2-3 days. This cake freezes easily, just wrap the cake in a cling film followed by placing it in a large ziploc and freeze upto a month.
- If you are making trifle cake next morning, poke holes all over in the cake and add Kirsch to the hole, let soak up. Store the cake overnight or for 2-3 hours atleast. For the trifle, cut up the cake into small cubes using a sharp knife or cut rounds the size of the serving bowl as you wish.
Make the Cherry Pie filling
- In a sauce pan, add the cherries,water, sugar and lemon juice. Set to cook on a low medium stove.
- Slowly you will see that the cherries will start to soften. Let cook for 5-8 minutes.
- At the end of 8 minutes you will see a lot of liquid in the pot, these are cherry juices and moisture of sugar. It will be bubbly.
- Reduce the heat to low and add the cornstarch all at once. Immediatly stir around (but gently else the cherris will break).
- Cook for 2-4 minutes, you will see the liquid will thicken up and the filling resembles a thickish gel.
- Take off the heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Mix in the kirsch.
- Once completely cooked, store in a air tight jar.
Make the Choolate Pudding
- Place the chocolate chips in a large bowl.
- Warm up the heavu cream in a small pot. You will start to see bubbles on the sides of the pot. Take off the stove and pour over the chocolate chips.
- Whisk gently untill all the chocolate is dissolved. Cool down to room temperature and then chill overnight.
- In the morming simply beat using a hand mixer untill fluffy. Easy chocolate pudding is ready.
Whipped Cream
- Place chilled heavy cream in a large bowl. Beat for 5 minutes untill it starts to thicked.
- Add the powdered sugar slowly and keep beating untill soft peaks are formed.
Assemble the trifle
- In a Large trifle bowl or in individaul serving jars, layer the cake, cherry pie filling, pudding as you like. You can repeat the layers to make large servings or keep them singl layer of each component, totally your wish.
- Chill for 3-4 hrs till ready to serve. Top with whipped cream and some marachino cherries and serve!