Name: Black Forest
Yield: Makes 4 × 4-6-portion servings
Cuisine: Germany
Ingredients: 45 g (1½ oz) fine dark (bittersweet) chocolate (65% cocoa solids), finely chopped; 1 quantity fine dark (bittersweet) Chocolate Mousse – Anglaise Method; 110 g (4 oz/1⅓ cups) ground almonds; 50 g (1¾ oz/½ cup) Icing (powdered/pure) sugar, sifted; 1 quantity Kirsch Syrup; 200 g (7 oz) whole cherries (fresh or frozen), stoned and roughly chopped; 1 quantity Chocolate Cocoa Butter Solution; 100 g (3½ oz) ready-made cherry purée (or see Blackcurrant Purée); 200 ml (7 fl oz/generous ¾ cup) whipping (pouring) cream (30% butter fat); 50 ml (1¾ fl oz/3 tbsp) kirsch; 175 g (6 oz) Fine white chocolate, finely chopped; 20 g (¾ oz/1 tbsp) cocoa powder, sifted; 140 ml (4½fl oz/generous ½ cup) milk; 12 g (2 tsp) pectin powder; 85 g (3 oz/generous ⅓ cup) caster (superfine) sugar; 55 g (scant 2 oz) egg yolks (almost 3 eggs); Chocolate decorations; Griottine cherries; edible gold leaf; 35 g (generous 1 oz) caster (superfine) sugar; ¼ cinnamon stick; ½ vanilla pod (bean), split lengthways; 90 ml (3 fl oz/⅓ cup) milk; 160 g (5½ oz) egg whites (about 8 eggs); 10 g (¼ oz) cornflour (cornstarch); 8 g (¼ oz) leaf gelatine

Preparation info

Makes
4 × 4-6
-portion servings

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Couture Chocolate

By William Curley

Published 2011

About

This is a German cake, so named because the kirsch originally used in the cake was produced in the Black Forest region. It is a very retro dessert – they were popular in the 1970s – and I love trying to recreate worn-out classics and give them another flush of life, making them as exciting as their first time around. This was a frequent feature on the menus at The River restaurant at The Savoy where I worked for Anton Edelmann. It is all about good-quality ingredients – if