Black Forest Cake is a traditional German dessert made with chocolate sponge cake layers filled with whipped cream and cherries. This delicious cake recipe is completely made from scratch and perfect for special occasions!
Being born in Germany this cake was always one of my favorite desserts! It is served at every special family occasion and always a hit! Even now living in Canada we love serving German food for special occasions like this beautiful cake or our German Apple Cake, German Cucumber Salad, or Homemade Spaetzle.
Black Forest Cake is probably the most famous German Cake! Made with three layers of light and fluffy chocolate cake that are topped with homemade cherry filling and fresh whipped cream, this cake is a showstopper.
What is Black Forest Cake?
Black Forest Cake or Black Forest Gateau is a chocolate sponge cake sandwiched with a rich cherry filling and whipped cream. It is usually decorated with more whipped cream, chocolate shavings, and whole cherries.
Where did black forest cake come from
It comes from Germany where it is known as Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte. The dessert is named after the specialty liquor known as Schwarzwälder Kirsch(wasser) of the Black Forest mountain range in southwestern Germany which gives the dessert its distinctive flavor.
How to make Black Forest Cake from scratch
The base for this cake is a fluffy chocolate sponge cake that gets its special texture from whipped egg whites. The egg whites make the cake rise and fluffy.
In order to keep as many tiny air bubbles in the batter as possible, the dry ingredients are sifted and carefully folded in with a spatula. Using an electric mixer or hand whisk would destroy the air bubbles and make the cake dense and compact.
You might ask why not bake the layers in separate pans but this would also alter the texture because the top and bottom of a cake are usually drier.
Using a serrated bread knife is the easiest way to cut the cake into three layers. Try to hold the knife as horizontal as possible and work slowly. Use a piece of cardboard or a special cake board to lift the layers off. This makes it also easier to transfer the layers back when you assemble the cake.
How to make cream for black forest cake
You will need a lot of whipped cream for this cake. I use a KitchenAid Professional so whipping up 4 cups of heavy cream is no problem. But if you’re using a smaller stand mixer or hand mixer it will be best to whip the cream in two batches.
The higher the fat content of the cream the better it will whip up. Heavy whipping cream usually has a fat percentage of 35% which works best. If you have difficulties getting the cream to stiffen up I recommend putting the whisk and bowl in the freezer for about an hour and making sure that the heavy cream is cold. Check out my post on how to make homemade whipped cream for more tips and tricks!
What can be used instead of kirsch?
Traditionally, Kirschwasser (also known as just kirsch) is added to the cake. In Germany, the law mandates that kirsch needs to be in the cake for it to be labeled a Black Forest Cake.
But if you don’t have kirsch or can’t use alcohol just leave it out and use some juice from the jarred cherries or extra cherry juice.
How to Assemble Black Forest Cake
I love the cherry filling in a Black Forest Cake, normally there is only one layer of the filling but because it is my family’s favorite part I double it. Some recipes just use whole cherries instead of the traditional cherry filling that you usually find in Germany, I prefer the cooked filling because it holds up longer and doesn’t bleed into the cream.
Steps to assemble a Black Forest Cake
- First cake layer: Use the layer that was the top while baking. This way you can use the bottom that is more even on top. Put a cake ring (or the ring from the springform pan) around the cake to make assembling easier and assemble the cake on a cake platter because transferring it would be difficult.
- Drizzle with cherry juice or kirsch and top with half of the cherry filling: Leave a 1-inch border to the edge of the cake so the cherries don’t ooze out.
- Top with ¼ of the whipped cream: Use an offset spatula to smooth out the cream
- Repeat Steps 1., 2., and 3. Use the middle cake layer in the middle
- Top with the cake layer that was the bottom while baking, smooth side up and spread ⅓ of the remaining whipped cream on top
- Remove springform ring and spread the remaining cream with a spatula around the sides of the cake until completely covered in whipped cream.
How to decorate black forest cake at home
Slide two pieces of parchment cake under the cake from opposite sides. This keeps the serving platter clean. Decorate sides of the cake with grated chocolate. Use a spoon or your hands to lightly press chocolate shaving onto the sides.
Then pipe 16 swirls (1 for each piece) of whipped cream on top. Start with two swirls opposite each other and so on, for a symmetrical look. Garnish a circle in the middle of the cake with remaining grated chocolate. Put a cherry on top of each cream swirl and refrigerate the cake until serving.
To decorate the cake I use fresh cherries with stems and pit (look great but harder to eat) or more jarred sour cherries (juice will bleed into the cream after a short time, so wait until just before serving). I’m not a fan of the sugary maraschino cherries you can find in the cake decoration aisle but those could be used too.
Should black forest cake be refrigerated?
Yes, a Black Forest Cake should always be refrigerated because of the whipped cream.
Can you make this cake ahead of time?
Yes, you can! You can make it 1 day in advance and store it in the fridge. It tastes best on the first and second day, after that it still tastes great but the texture of the cream will start to change.
What I like to do is to bake the sponge cake a day or two in advance, let it cool completely, wrap it in plastic wrap, and store it at room temperature. It will be easier to cut into layers after a day. Then make the cherry filling and whipped cream the night before and assemble the cake.
A Black Forest Cake does NOT freeze well because of the whipped cream. But you could freeze the chocolate sponge cake itself tightly wrapped in plastic wrap.
Reasons why your sponge cake might have turned out flat, collapsed after baking or is dense and compact
- Not enough air incorporated: Make sure to beat the egg yolk sugar mixture until thick and pale and don’t overbeat the egg whites. You want to have as many tiny air bubbles as possible because they act as a leaving agent.
- Stirring instead of folding: The egg yolk mixture or the flour mixture was stirred into the egg whites and not gently folded with a spatula or spoon. Stirring the mixture makes the tiny air bubbles which make the cake fluffy and act as a leaving agent pop.
- Greasing the sides of the baking pan: Don’t line the sides of the pan with parchment paper or grease it! Only the bottom of the pan should be lined with parchment paper. The sponge will not rise during baking or collapse after taking it out of the oven if the sides of the pan are greased because the batter will slide down.
- Waiting too long to bake: The sponge cake needs to be baked immediately after folding in the flour mixture. Letting it sit out for too long makes the air bubbles pop.
- Oven temperature too low: The sponge won’t rise if the oven is too cold or it wasn’t properly preheated.
- Oven door was opened during baking: Opening the oven door too soon makes the sponge collapse. Wait until the baking time is nearly over before opening the oven door!
- Sponge was not completely baked: If the sponge collapses after taking it out of the oven it might not have been baked long enough. Always test with a skewer for doneness!
Tools and Ingredients Used to make this Cake
Springform Pan: A springform pan works best for this recipe, the ring will also help with assembling the cake
Flour Sifter: This fits right over your bowl and makes sifting so easy and less messy
Cake Ring: I prefer a special cake ring to assemble cakes because it has straight edges
Sour Cherries: Jarred sour cherries in light syrup work best
Black Forest Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 5 large eggs, separated
- 1 cup granulated sugar, divided
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ⅓ cup cornstarch
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder, (see Note 3)
For the Cherry Filling:
- 1 ½ cups cherry juice, (see Note 1)
- 5 Tbsp cornstarch
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 2 cups sour cherries, pitted (see Note 1)
- ⅓ cup kirsch, divided (see Note 2) or more cherry juice
For the Whipped Cream:
- 4 cups heavy cream
- ½ cup powdered sugar
For Garnish:
- 16 fresh cherries
- 4 oz bittersweet Baking chocolate, coarsely grated
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and line the bottom of an 8-inch springform pan with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites with ½ cup sugar on high speed until stiff peaks form, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and set aside.
- In the bowl of the stand mixer (no need to clean the bowl) fitted with the paddle attachment, combine egg yolks, remaining ½ cup sugar, and vanilla extract. Beat at medium speed until thick and creamy. The mixture will change color from yellow to a paler color. Add egg yolk mixture to the egg white mixture and carefully fold it in with a spatula, DON'T stir the mixture.
- Combine all-purpose flour, baking powder, cornstarch, and cocoa powder. Sieve over the egg mixture and fold in carefully until combined.
- Transfer to the springform pan and smooth top with a silicone spatula. Bake for 25 minutes or until a skewer interested in the center comes out clean with only a few crumbs attached.
- Remove the ring of the springform pan and carefully turn cake onto a parchment paper-lined cooling rack, peel of parchment paper from the bottom and let cool completely.
- When the cake is cooled completely use a serrated bread knife to cut the cake into three even layers.
- To make the cherry filling, remove 4 Tbsp of cherry juice from 1.5 cups of cherry juice and combine it in a small bowl with the cornstarch and sugar. Bring the remaining cherry juice in a small saucepan to a simmer, then remove it from the heat and whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Bring back to a simmer while whisking constantly until it starts to thicken. Whisk in the cherries and remove from heat. Add about half of the kirsch to the cherries or leave it out. Let cool for 5-10 minutes.
- To make the whipped cream, beat 4 cups of heavy cream (depending on your mixer you might have to whip the cream in two batchein the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment at high speed until soft peaks form. Then add ½ cup powdered sugar and beat until stiff peaks form, about 2-3 minutes longer. The whipped cream should be very stiff and spreadable but be careful not to over-whip it. Refrigerate whipped cream until ready to assemble.
- To assemble the cake, put the cake layer that was the top before on a platter. Put the springform ring (or use a cake ring around it to make it easier to assemble the cake. Drizzle some kirsch (or cherry juice) over the cake, then top with half of the cherry mixture leaving a 1-inch border. Top with about ¼ of the whipped cream, smoothing it out with a spatula.
- Top with the middle cake layer and repeat drizzling with liquid, topping with cherries and cream. Put third cake layer on top (smooth side up). Set aside about ¾ cup of cream for decoration. Spread ⅓ of the remaining whipped cream on top, then remove springform ring and spread remaining cream with a spatula around the sides of the cake until completely covered in whipped cream.
- Decorate sides of the cake with grated chocolate. Pipe 16 swirls of whipped cream on top and garnish middle of the cake with remaining coarse chocolate. Put a cherry on each cream swirl and refrigerate cake until serving.
Notes
Nutrition Information
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Emma says
Hi,
Can I use cake flour instead of all-purpose flour?
Thanks!
Julia Foerster says
I haven’t tried it myself but it should work.
Suz says
Can the cake be baked the day before?
Julia Foerster says
I answered this question in detail in the post, you can find the answer just above the last image.
Violet says
I haven’t made this yet but I was wondering what I can use instead of whipped cream? I’m making this for a friend’s birthday and she can’t have dairy in big amounts so the whipped cream is a no-go. What should I use instead?
Julia Foerster says
There is not really an alternative to whipped cream for this cake otherwise it wouldn’t be a Black Forest Cake.
Christine says
Use coconut milk instead. Whip a can of it in your mixer.
Nicole says
Vielen dank fur diesels rezept! My mum was German and I’ve been looking for a recipe for this cake in ages. As always the trick to an authentic and scrumptious German cake is in the folding of the egg whites. The cake turned out amazing , my sister-in- law said it was the best cake she’d ever eaten and I made it for her 50th!
Pam Ferguson says
Wonderful recipe ! I was asked to make an ” authentic Black Forest cake” for my son in law’s birthday. He’s from Switzerland and his mother is from Germany so the pressure was on. I couldn’t get kirschwasser locally but found a sour cherry syrup that I used instead. No sour cherries available so I used a combination of frozen cherries and maraschino . I thickened the cherry juice with cornstarch and cooked both types of cherries with the slurry until thickened. The combo was not overly sweet . Your cake recipe was perfect. It rose beautifully and I split it into 3 layers and constructed the cake the same as you recommended. It was a winner. Thanks for a great recipe . The Swiss/ German taste buds were very pleased !
Julian Boehm says
Your tip for not greasing the sides of the tin is a good one and makes sense.
As a retired chef of some 40 years experience you still learn something new
Made the sponge today rose beautifully and did not fall back at all
Summer Stidham says
I haven’t made this cake yet but my boyfriend birthday is this Saturday and I discovered he loves black forest cake I’ve never heard of this until now. The only question I have is can I hand mix this or do I have to have a stand mixer?
Justine says
For the cherry filling, the ingredients list has 1.5 cups of cherry juice but the directions state to remove the 4T from 1 cup and then to simmer the remainder (of 1 cup or 1.5 cups?). Should there be 1 cup of juice in the finished syrup or 1.5 cups?
Julia Foerster says
You use 1 cup of cherry juice for the cherry filling. The remaining 1/2 cup is for drizzling onto the cake layers (Step 10). That’s why the ingredients say: 1.5 cups cherry juice, divided. Hope this helps!
Madeleine Shuttleworth says
Hi I had the same question about the cherry juice because it says to pour Kirsch or cherry juice in cake layers as you are assembling, not both so do you use kirsch and 1/4 cup cherry juice (total 1/2 cup juice)on each layer? The Kirsch left to add after putting 1/2 in the cherry filling is almost 3 tbsp so?
Christine says
How do I decorate the sides with the grated chocolate? Is there a simple method of doing so?
Julia Foerster says
I always use my hands and carefully press the chocolate into the whipped cream.
Applelime says
I made following the recipe 3x. 2x out of 3x the cake did not rise? Do you what possibly could go wrong? Thanks in advance.
Kimberly Riedl says
What size spring form do you recommend?
Julia Foerster says
You need an 8-inch springform pan for this recipe (see step 1 in the recipe card).
Homayoun Esfandiary says
Thank you for this recipe. I discovered Black Forrest Cake in my 20s, it is my favorite cake, and I made it my go to cake for my Birthday!
When I was living in Washington DC, I found a good German Restaurant that would sell me the whole cake. (It was expensive but really worth it!).
I have moved out of DC and trying the cake in any other bakeries just doesn’t cut it!
I even bought a bottle of Kirsch and gave it to a baker and still not good enough.
So I can’t wait to try your recipe!
One question I do have, is that the chocolate sprinkles on the outside vary widely in quality!
What is the absolutely best quality of chocolate shavings to use on the outside of the cake?
Julia Foerster says
If you want the best quality I would buy a Lindt chocolate bar and grate it with a vegetable peeler. Semi-sweet works best, putting it in the freezer for an hour before grating it makes it easier.
Catherine S. says
My mother has recently become friends with a gentleman who was born and grew up in a village in the Black Forest. For his birthday last week, she wanted me to bake him a Black Forest cake, as it is one of his favorite desserts. Given his background, and the fact that he tends to find American desserts too sweet, I was more than a little worried about finding the right recipe – an authentic one, not a too-sweet Americanized one. After reading quite a lot of different recipes, I decided to go with yours, primarily (if I’m honest) because you are actually from Germany. I was not disappointed; Heinz absolutely loved his cake – and my mother has already shown him the list of German recipes on your site and asked him what else he’d like me to try! (Personally, I’m hoping he’ll choose one of the apple cakes, because they looked especially tasty to me – particularly the covered one, with the rum in the filling!)
I found that my egg whites only needed about 3 minutes, rather than 8. I don’t know why, but my cake required a full 50 minutes to bake. When I finally pulled out a clean skewer, I was worried that the cake would be too dry, and it smelled like it was just beginning to burn, but it turned out fine. Also, as I have done in the past when making fruitcakes, I prefer not to drizzle alcohol over the cake, but rather to use a syringe to inject it into the cake; I inject a little bit in the center, move the needle outward one inch, make a circle of injections about an inch apart, move out another inch, and so on. I also injected a little bit of cherry juice as well as the kirschwasser – and I injected 2 tablespoons of kirschwasser into each layer of the cake.
Hetal says
Can I bake this cake in a 9 inch spring form pan?
Julia Foerster says
Using a bigger pan will make it harder to cut the cake into layers because it will be flatter. The baking time might also be shorter.
Oscar says
I will need to try out this recipe
Cindy says
I’m looking forward to trying your recipe for black forest cake.
A wonderful birthday gift for my boyfriend’s mother .
AMVLO says
Instead of jarred cherries, could a cherry pie filling be used instead? We don’t have much ethnicity in our Wal-Mart’s except for the Hispanic and Asian foods
Michelle says
I was unable to find the sour cherries also so I used the cherry pie filling and it was a huge hit. Depending on the brand some have more syrup then cherries so I put a lot of the syrup in a cup and just scooped the cherries out and onto the cake.
😉
Diane says
I had to look all over to find the cherries. Your idea sounds great. lI just might try this cake again.
Michelle says
I had a lot of fun making this cake and watching everyone enjoy eating it. It was so very good and I did the 2 layers of cherries also . My father in law keeps telling everyone how good it was . Thank you for sharing all of your ideas they really helped out a lot.
Sally Salt says
Does this not use any fat?
Julia says
No, it doesn’t! The cake base that is traditionally used for Black Forest Cake is similar to Angel Food Cake.
Jenn says
Could this be any prettier?! Brought it to a friend’s house whose late Grandmother is from Germany and he said it was exactly as he remembered it. Everyone loved it!
Milisa says
This cake was really simple to make and turned out so gorgeous for a special birthday.