Black Forest Cake

This is the original black forest cake recipe by master pastry cook and confectioner Josef Keller (1887-1981) from Radolfzell (Lake Constance, Germany). The world renowned gateau was supposedly created in Bad Godesberg, at the former celebrity cafe Agner.

Ingredients

For a 24-Er-Springform

4 Eggs

100 g Sugar

100 g Butter

150 g Dark Chocolate

3 Tbsp Black Forest Kirsch (Liquor)

50 g Flour

50 g Potato Flour

1 Tsp Baking Powder

1 Pinch of Salt

150 g Ground Roasted Hazelnuts



Filling

½ l Cream

1 Pkt. Vanilla Sugar (or Vanilla Essence)

1/8 l Black Forest Kirsch (Liquor)

750 g Red Cherries

50 g (-80 g) Grated Chocolate



Preparation

Stir eggs and sugar well until smooth. Add the lukewarm runny butter, the melted chocolate (using the double-boiler method, melt chocolate with 2 tbsp of water) and the Kirsch. Mix flour, baking powder, salt and potato flour and sieve. Dry roast the ground hazelnuts in a pan untll they are light brown.



Gently mix flour and hazelnuts into the egg-sugar mix and pour all into the pre-buttered springform. Bake at medium heat (190 °C) for 45 minutes. After the cake base has cooled down, cut it twice horizontally. Whip cream and vanilla sugar (or vanilla essence and sugar to taste).



Soak the cake layers with Kirsch and cover the two bottom ones with 1cm of whipped cream. Spread the drained cherries over it and press them gently into the whipped cream. Assemble the parts to form the cake (including the top part). Cover the whole cake generously with cream and decorate with grated chocolate. If so desired, one can add cream of tartar or dissolved (cooled down) gelatin to the cream to ensure the filling will remain firm over an extended period of time.

BUTTERSCOTCH ALMOND SHORTBREAD (Eggless

Ingredients:


Butter – 125gms/at room temp

White Sugar – 2 Tbsps

Brown Sugar – 3 Tbsps

Almond essence – 1 tsp

Flour – 1 ½ cups



Salt-1 pinch

Baking Powder – ½ tsp



Method:

Preheat the oven to 150deg C

Grease 2 baking sheets

Sift flour + baking powder + salt

Beat the butter + sugars + essence

Sift the flour mix into the butter mixture and mix to a dough

Chill till firm

Roll out on a lightly floured surface to ½” thickness

Cut out desired shapes with cookie cutters

Bake for 20-25minutes till golden brown

Remove from oven, and sprinkle with castor sugar

Stencil design with cocoa if desired

Leave on cookie sheets for 1 min

Cool on racks. Store in an airtight container