Black forest cake was my birthday cake growing up for the first 13 years of my life. Not because I particularly liked it, but because we would always go back to Taiwan for my birthday/winter break, and celebrate it at my grandma’s apartment in Taipei. And the only cake that the bakery underneath her apartment made that was big enough to serve my extended Taiwanese family was their black forset cake. When I was really young, I despised the cherry bits in the cake. Just because the cooked down cherries were very reminiscent of raisins, and I hated eating raisins as a kid. As I got older, I grew to appreciate a little bit of produce in my dessert, and I liked how the cherries added a contrast to the fluffy chocolate cake and the rich, silky cream. So needless to say, black forest cake is something that I grew to appreciate over time. Enough to the point where I have made several renditions of it in the past. But there are some notable differences between this particular black forest cake, and the ones I have made before. And one of those is the usage of tonka beans.

Tonka beans are similar to vanilla in that they are these beans that add a pleasant sweetness and floral notes to a dessert. Unlike vanilla, tonka has an aroma more similar to almond and cherry. They are quite addicting as well, on an actual chemical level, so the FDA regulates you cannot sell things that contain tonka beans. That does not mean that you can’t bake with them at home. And use a very sparing amount. Which is what I did here. I infused the tonka bean into the cherry compote filling, the chocolate cake, and the cream that enrobes it. Since it was cherry-like notes to it, tonka is literally the perfect ingredient to add to a cherry-centric dessert like a black forest cake! It will compliment the chocolate with the almond notes, while also reinforcing the cherry flavor in a way that you probably would have never experienced before. I personally love pairing tonka with chocolate, just because almonds and cherries work nicely with chocolate, so naturally, so does tonka bean!

For the components, we have a cherry compote, a chocolate cake, a super stabilized cream, chocolate shards, and cherries that are glazed with the compote as well. Going down the list, the compote is made with a little cooking sake or kirscht(cherry) liquor. Kirstcht is a classic in black forest cake, but I am giving the option to use cooking sake in the compote, since that will add a pleasant sweetness and a unique complexity to the compote. I love pairing sake with chocolate, since the sweet richness of the sake really plays off of the bitter notes in cacao really well. I also love using sake when making fruit compotes, since sake being an alcohol adds another layer of flavor to the fruit, and keeps it from being just a boring jam. Of all of the components, besides the soak for the cake, I would say that the compote is going to be the second-easiest, o long as you own a cherry pitter. If you do not, I would recommend investing in one if you want to make this cake, otherwise the compote may be the hardest component to execute just based on how much time you will be wasting on prepping cherries by hand.

For the chocolate cake, we are going with a more chiffon-type sponge, which will result in a very light and fluffy cake. I am subbing out some of the flour with black cacao powder for a couple of reasons. Instead of just adding the cacao powder to the batter, subbing out some of the flour will help the cake remain light in texture, but it will help retain a more prominent chocolate flavor. The usage of black cacao, which is a Dutch-processed or alkalized cocoa powder, has a fruitier, more intense cocoa flavor, and gives the sponge a pleasant Oreo-black color. If you do not have black cacao powder, just use normal cocoa powder instead. I just find that the black cacao really gives the cake a fragrant and deep chocolate flavor, which is starkly contrasted by how light and spongy the cake is from being made with whipped egg whites! The cake is also being soaked with a combination of almond link and either kirscht or cocoa liquor, just to keep it from drying out, but also reinforcing the flavors that already there in the cake itself.

With the cream, we are stabilizing it with gelatin. By doing this, it will help the whipped cream not slide or squeeze out the layers of cake and compote that we are assembling the cake with. Trust me, I am speaking from personal experience here, but trying to layer a cake with un-stabilized whipped cream usually ends in a mess. By melting the gelatin into a portion of the cream, adding that to the rest of your cream, and whipping that all up together after giving it a bit to cool down, you will end up wit a more robust whipped cream that will hold its volume and shape in a similar way to buttercream, but without any of the overt heaviness that comes with buttercream. I infused the cream with a little liqueur on top of the tonka beans, just so that it is not super plain-Jane, and slightly reinforces the flavors in the rest of the cake.

With the other components, we have tempered chocolate shards, and some fresh cherries that we are tossing in the compote to glaze them. The chocolate is optionally tempered using a little freeze-dried cocoa butter, which will help the chocolate temper a lot easier, and usually without the help of a thermometer. The cocoa butter helps the chocolate realign the cocoa crystals, which will help the chocolate set with a snappy and crunchy texture as it cools. With the cherries, we are tossing in the compote for two reasons. The first is that it will give the cherries a little more of a bump in cherry flavor. The second is that coating the cherries, after they have been sliced open, in the glaze from the compote will help them not dry out. Now I will say that this cake has a lot of specialty ingredients, which can be subbed. The tonka can be replaced with vanilla (bean or extract), the black cacao can be replaced with regular cocoa powder, and ingredients like the liquors and the cocoa butter can be omitted entirely! So don’t let the ingredient list deter you, because specialty ingredients or not, this is one really delicious cake!

For the cherry compote:
6oz pitted and stemmed cherries
3 tbsp granulated sugar
a pinch of grated tonka bean
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp cooking sake or kirscht liquor

In a pot, cook everything down on low heat, stirring occasionally, until the cherries are tender, Store in an airtight container, and refrigerate until time to use.

For the cake:
2 eggs, separated
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp canola oil
a pinch of grated tonka bean
a pinch of salt
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tbsp black cacao powder

In a bowl, whip the egg whites with sugar to stiff peaks. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks with canola oil first. To the egg yolks, then add in the tonka bean and salt, and after mixing that in, sift into the egg yolks the flour and cacao powder. Fold into that the egg whites to form your batter. Pour the batter onto a lined quarter sheet tray, spreading it into an even layer, and bake at 350 degrees F for 18 minutes. Allow the cake to fully cool before cutting out 3 6-inch disks, making a third out of scraps as necessary. Freeze the cake rounds for at least 1 hour.

For the tonka bean whip:
20oz heavy cream, in 4 parts
1 tbsp gelatin powder + 2 tbsp cold water
1/3 cup granulated sugar
a pinch of grated tonka bean
1/2 tsp kirscht or cocoa liquor
a pinch of salt

In a pot, heat up 1 part of the cream with the gelatin powder and sugar. Once the gelatin is dissolved into the cream, pour that into a mixing bowl and add in the remaining ingredients, stirring until combined. Allow the cream to fully cool down, in the refrigerator, before whipping to stiff peaks. Keep chilled until time to assemble.

For the soak:
1 cup almond milk
1/2 tsp kirscht or cocoa liquor
a pinch of salt

Mix together and refrigerate until time to use.

For initial assembly:
Start by placing down a regular layer of the cake. Brush generously with the soak. Then layer on 2oz of the cream, and about 2 tbsp of the cherry compote. Then repeat these steps using the scrap round as the next layer. Place on the final soaked layer of cake, and then spread on just enough of the cream to coat everything in a thin, even layer. It’s perfectly fine if the cherry mixture bleeds into this cream, as the final cream layer and the chocolate garnishes will cover any of that! Freeze the cake for at least 1 hour before attempting the rest of your assembly.

For the chocolate garnishes:
1/3 cup dark chocolate
a pinch of salt
1g freeze-dried cocoa butter*

Over a double boiler, melt 2/3 of the chocolate and the salt completely. Take the chocolate off heat and stir in the remaining chocolate first. Once that is melted in, stir in the cocoa butter. Once the cocoa butter is melted in, pour the chocolate onto acetate and spread in an even layer. Refrigerate the chocolate for 10 minutes before breaking into shards.

For final assembly:
Fresh cherries, pitted

Toss some fresh cherries in the compote, just to glaze them. Spread just enough cream around the cake to coat it in a clean, even layer. Garnish the sides of the cake with shards of the chocolate, and the pipe the rest of the cream on top of the cake. Garnish the top with the glazed cherries to finish!