Nut-free & Egg-free Blackforest Gateau

Nut-free & Egg-free Blackforest Cake

I baked this moist, delicious egg-free Blackforest cake today. It's made up of layers of melt in your mouth chocolate cake with kirsch-soaked morello cherries baked right into the cake. Then, each layer is spread with cherry jam and topped with pitted black cherries and gently whipped cream. The whole cake is then slathered with more whipped cream, coated in grated semi-sweet chocolate and crowned with a circle of glace cherries.....don't you just wish you could have a bite? Well, here's the how-to....

Nut-free & Egg-free Blackforest Gateau

Dry ingredients:
135g self raising flour
25 g cocoa
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder

Wet ingredients:
200ml cold coffee
4 1/2 tablespoons melted butter, cooled
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

12 kirsch-soaked morello cherries, drained

Cherry jam - 2 tablespoons
Canned Dark cherries - 8, drained and each split in 2
Kirsch - 2 tablespoons * optional
Whipping cream - 2 cups, cold
Semi-sweet chocolate - 100gm, grated
Glace cherries for decor

Method:
Preheat oven at 180 degrees celcius. For the cake, sift all the dry ingredients into a bowl. Add all the wet ingredients and whisk till combined. Stir in the morello cherries. Pour cake batter evenly into 2 lined 6" round cake pans. smooth tops and bake in the centre of the oven for 10 - 15 minutes. Test with a toothpick after 10 minutes. When done, take out of oven and cool on a rack till completely cold.

Whip cold cream till soft peaks are formed. Place some in a small piping bag to decorate the top of the cake later.

To assemble cake:

Place one layer of the cake on a cake plate or board. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon kirsch (optional). Spread with cherry jam. Cover over the jam with the split canned cherries. Gently spread 4-5 tablespoons of whipped cream over the cherries and top with the second layer of cake. Sprinkle with kirsch and cover the sides and top of cake with the remaining whipped cream. Smooth the sides with a palate knife as you go along. Chill for 20 minutes. Then cover the sides of cake with the grated chocolate. Pipe swirls along the outer edge of the cake and top each swirl with half a glace cherry. Chill for at least 2 hours. Enjoy!