Black Forest Gateaux
And why not! It may well have been done to death 40 years ago but the partnership of chocolate, cherries, booze and cream does not all of a sudden stop working as a combination, especially not at Christmas. Especially not when there’s cherry brandy involved.
This is an excellent dessert for entertaining, not only does it look the bees’ business, but it can be made 2 or 3 days in advance needing only to have its cream whipped before serving. I serve this as individual servings, which if you wanted to follow suit is exactly the same recipe, only I cut out rounds from the sponge and use a metal ring to build the layers.
The sponge itself is a piece of cake… and the mousse is stabilized with gelatine, making the whole thing far more user friendly than your average show-stopper. The sponge incidentally is flourless, and both it and the chocolate mousse will freeze.
Ingredients
For the sponge
6 eggs, separated
150g soft light brown sugar
60g cocoa powder
For the mousse
250g dark chocolate (% cocoa of your choice)
150ml semi skimmed milk
2 x tablespoons cherry brandy
1 ½ sheets leaf gelatine
100ml double cream
25g caster sugar
For the topping
50g cherry jam
250g /1 jar cherries in kirsch
1 x tablespoon cornflour
300ml double cream
50g caster sugar
Preheat the oven to 180⁰C and grease the inside of a 28cm cake tin then line the base with baking paper.
Add the sugar to the egg yolks and whisk until it becomes thick and ribbony;- about a minute or so with an electric hand whisk. Sieve the cocoa powder over and fold it in. This will feel like it won’t ever happen to begin with, but keep at it, it will come together eventually.
Whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt in a separate bowl until stiff. Add a dollop of the egg whites to the yolks and cocoa mixture and fold it assertively to loosen the mixture, then add the rest of the whites in stages, folding in carefully.
Pour the sponge mix into the cake tin and bake for 25 mins. Allow the sponge to cool in the tin.
For the chocolate mousse, melt the chocolate in a bowl sat over a pan of simmering water. Whilst that’s happening, soak the gelatine in cold water.
Bring the milk to a gentle simmer in a small saucepan. Remove the gelatine from the water and squeeze out the excess. Stir it into the milk and remove the pan from the heat.
Once the chocolate has melted add the milk in a slow steady trickle, beating the mixture continuously. The chocolate may appear to ‘seize’ but keep beating until you have a smooth paste, and then add the cherry brandy in the same fashion.
Allow the chocolate to cool down to room temperature before whisking the cream with the sugar and folding it in to the chocolate.
Drain the cherries in a sieve sat over a small saucepan and then bring the kirsch to a gentle simmer over a low heat. Mix the cornflour with 2 tablespoons of water and stir into the kirsch to thicken. Remove from the heat, add back the cherries and leave to cool. Refrigerate until needed.
Remove the sponge from the tin and arrange best side up. Level off any lumps and bumps if you have any/or feel inclined to do so.
Spread the cherry jam thinly and evenly over the surface of the sponge. Spread the chocolate mousse evenly over the sponge and refrigerate until needed. (You could now use the ring of the cake tin, inverted so the clasp is at the top out of the way, to act as a large ring mould as you top the sponge with the mousse.)
To complete the gateaux, whisk the cream with the sugar until you have soft floppy peaks forming. Arrange the cherries and cream over the chocolate in which ever order takes your fancy. Finish with a final grating of chocolate or some chocolate shavings and a dusting of cocoa powder.