Black Forest Cake

Black Forest Cake

Ingredients:
700 ml jar of Morello Cherries in syrup, without seeds
2 tbsp Cherry Brandy or Kirsch or Dark Rum (optional)
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
Ingredients for Chocolate Genoise:
3 tbsp salted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature (if your are using unsalted butter then add 1/4 tsp salt to the flour)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
4 large eggs
2/3 cup granulated white sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
Ingredients for Frosting:
500 ml whipping cream, cream that can be whipped to form stiff peaks
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 tbsp granulated white sugar
Method:
Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C or 350 degrees F and place the rack in the center of oven. Grease a round cake pan and line it with parchment paper.
In a bowl sieve together flour and cocoa powder.
In a heat proof bowl whisk together eggs and sugar. Place this bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, whisk constantly, heat until lukewarm. Constant whisking will avoid cooking of eggs.
Remove from heat and beat the eggs on high speed using an electric hand blender. Beat until it forms a thick batter (the batter will look like whipped cream and it will fall back into the bowl in a ribbon like pattern). Picture of this is given below.

Beat in the vanilla essence.
Sift the flour mixture over the egg mixture in 3 parts. Each time fold the flour mixture gently using a rubber spatula or whisk or a spoon.
Take 3 tbsp of this batter and fold it into the melted butter to lighten it. Now gently fold this in the egg batter.
Pour the batter in the greased cake pan. Gently tap the pan on the kitchen counter top to remove air bubbles.
Bake for about 20-25 mins or until a tooth pick inserted at the center of the cake comes out clean (cake starts to shrink from the sides of pan). Cool on a wire rack before removing the cake from the pan.

Chocolate Genoise

Start to prepare the cherries and frosting till the cake cools completely.

In a mixing bowl place the whipping cream, vanilla essence and sugar. Stir to combine all the ingredients. Refrigerate this along with the hook of the electric hand blender for 30-60 mins. Refrigeration will help in the formation of stiff peaks.
Drain the cherries and reserve the syrup. Place the cherries in a bowl, pour 1 tbsp alcohol, toss and keep aside.
Take 1 cup of cherry syrup in a saucepan, add sugar and heat it until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. Stir 1 tbsp of alcohol in the syrup and let it cool.
 Remove the whipped cream mixture and the hooks from the fridge. Beat this mixture until stiff peaks form.
Assemble Cake:
Using a sharp knife cut the cake horizontally into two layers. Turn over the top layer of the cake (top of the cake becomes bottom) and place it on a serving plate.
Brush the cake layer with 1/4 cup cherry syrup. Take sufficient whipped cream and spread it on the moistened Genoise. Place the cherries evenly over the cream.
Brush the cut-side of the second Genoise layer with 1/4 cup cherry syrup. Place cut-side down on top of the cherries, press gently to compact.
Spread the whipped cream on the top and sides of the cake. You can use a pastry bag to pipe rosettes on top of the cake and decorate the top layer with cherries and shaved chocolate. 
Refrigerate for few hours and serve.
Tips:

You can make your own shaved chocolate with the help of a vegetable peeler. 

Adapted from Stephanie Jaworski's recipe.