Last week, my family and I celebrated my mum’s 59th birthday. Ever since I embarked on a baking journey, my mother has been bugging me to bake her favorite cake – The Black Forest. We used to buy them from neighborhood bakeries, not bothering about the contents of the cake. Learning to cook and bake has made me a more conscious eater – both in terms of what I put in my mouth, and in terms of halal ingredients used. I know some bakers might disagree with me, but I am still reluctant to use vanilla extract, or anything that contains alcohol.

So upon learning that most Black Forest recipes use Kirsch, a kind of brandy, I stayed clear of them. My mother has been deprived of her favorite cake because of this although the durian cake I made last year was quite a hit with the family.

Finally, this year, I mustered the courage to make her favorite cake. I was intimidated because I thought it would be very difficult. Little did I know I just needed a good recipe, and patience to make the cake.

I got the chocolate sponge recipe from Sailu’s Kitchen, and adapted it to make it extra tasty. The whipped cream frosting is my own, and I got the maraschino cherries from Phoon Huat.

Black Forest Gateau

For the cake:

• 2 cups cake flour
• 1 and a half cups caster sugar
• 3/4 cup Valhorna cocoa powder
• 1 and a half tspn baking soda
• 1 tspn baking soda
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 cup full cream milk
• 1/2 cup melted unsalted butter
• 1 tspn vanilla essence
• 1 cup hot water
• 1 and half tbspn instant coffee powder
• 2 eggs

For layering:

• 2 cups whipping cream (I used Red Man)
• 1 tbspn of vanilla essence
• 2 tbspn caster sugar
• 1 jar of maraschino cherries
• Shaved chocolate