Eggless Black Forest Cake: Layers of eggless chocolate cake sandwiched with whipped cream and liqueur infused cherries.
Growing up black forest cake, and pineapple pastries or Pineapple cake and black forest pastries were the most popular cake/pastry options for birthday parties. We all have grown up on black forest cake for our birthdays or a relative’s birthday.
I have previously shared a Swiss Black Forest Cake recipe on the blog. These days a lot of my cake recipes are met with request for eggless versions. So I took it upon myself to try an eggless version of the black forest cake.
The recipe that I am sharing today while vegetarian is not entirely vegan- although with a few substitutions you can make this eggless black forest cake vegan too.
What is Black Forest Cake?
Black Forest gâteau or Black Forest cake is based on the German dessert Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte.
The recipe I am sharing is my version for an Eggless Black Forest Cake.
The following are the components for this cake:
- Chocolate layer cake
- Brandied burgundy cherries
- Whipped cream
- Chocolate decoration
Chocolate layer cake
For the chocolate cake layer of my eggless black forest cake I adapted the vegan chocolate cake recipe from the blog. This adapted version is also the recipe I used for my eggless chocolate cakes during my bakery days. The Pink CakeBox was my home based baking business in Chandigarh where I catered to customized cakes and cupcake orders. Chocolate cake was one of my most requested flavors and a lot of them were eggless cake requests.
While the vegan chocolate cake recipe is good, I feel it is highly dependent on the quality of cocoa powder used. Since there are very few ingredients in the recipe, using the highest quality ingredients does affect the taste of the final product. For me the King Arthur’s Bensdorp dutch processed cocoa was the best cocoa powder for the vegan chocolate cake. Unfortunately it is not available in India. I would get it by begging my relatives to carry it when they would travel from the states or Canada. Thanks to Covid that too no longer is a possibility.
The technique in making the chocolate cake layer is also slightly different than the one in the vegan cake. While both use hot liquid in the cake batter, the step at which the hot water is added differs. The hot liquid in chocolate cakes encourages the cocoa powder to bloom and dissolve properly, and makes for a nice rich taste of the chocolate in the cake. The resulting cake is moist, with a lovely chocolate flavor.
For all my cakes I love to use a mix of butter and oil. In winters, I generally use all butter, but in summers when cakes need refrigeration, I do a mix of both. Since the cake recipe here doesn’t require the creaming method, a mix of both works well. The butter gives the cake a nice flavor, while the oil lends moistness to the cake. Butter generally solidifies in the fridge, and as a result a cold cake can feel a little hard when bit into; adding oil in the cake batter helps counter that. Thus, even with a straight out of the fridge cake, you don’t have to wait for it to come to room temperature before taking a bite.
Brandied burgundy cherries
The next most important component is the brandied cherries and the syrup the cakes are soaked in. What even is black forest cake without cherries?
In traditional Black Forest cake, Kirsch liqueur (a clear spirit made from sour cherries) is used. To call it a german black forest cake, it is mandatory to use Kirsch else it can not be labeled as Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte. Don’t worry in case you do not have the liqeuer. You can sub it with rum, or brandy.
The recipe I am sharing today is from The Cake Bible. It is one of my go-to cookbook for trusted cake recipes and over the years have used it quite a lot.
The most time consuming part of this recipe is pitting the cherries. I wish I had a cherry pitter, but for now I just use my hands.
The following are the steps for making the brandied cherries for this eggless Black Forest cake:
- Simmer 1 cup cherries in 3/4 cup water for a bit till they become soft and can be pierced with a toothpick easily.
- With a slotted spoon, remove the cherries reserving the water in the pan.
- Add the cherries to a 500 ml/ pint jar. Add the kirsch or brandy/rum.
- Add ½ cup sugar to the liquid in the pan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce to ¼ to ⅓ cup and pour over the cherries.
- Cover the jar and swirl to mix. Add enough liqueur to reach almost to the top of the jar.
Make sure to let the brandied cherries infuse at least 12 hours. The longer you let them stand, the more mellow the flavors become, giving a nice balance of flavors.
When assembling the cake, use the infused cherries in between the layers and the syrup to soak the cakes.
Brush the cakes generously with the syrup. For 7 inch cake layers, I use about 4 tbsp of the syrup per side- so a total of 8 tbsp per layer. Poke the cake in places with a toothpick so that the cake soaks the syrup better.
The cherry soaking syrup guarantees the moistest, most flavorful black forest cake you will EVER taste.
With cherries in season right now, do get to try this cake out. Its absolutely delicious.
Whipped cream
Finding cream more than 20% fat is difficult in India and that is why I love this recipe from the Cake Bible for Real Old Fashioned Whipped Cream. It is great for people with access to only the low-fat cream (the 20 % kinds), as the method given results in a 40 % butterfat cream.
There are higher fat content whipping creams available in the market now, but they are generally quite expensive. If you are lucky you will find the red carton of Amul whipping cream, but it is mostly out of stock. You could use non dairy whipping cream too. Add vanilla to it, and like me add a little of lorann oil’s cream cheese flavoring (I got mine from Canada based relatives, but CCDS in India used to carry them too, although after Covid I am not sure what the situation is) for a better tasting non dairy whipped cream. Rich is a good brand for the non dairy whipping cream.
If all you have is the blue carton of Amul cream, try the real old fashioned whipped cream recipe. It gives a nicely whipped cream. The only issue with it is that it does not hold for too long at room temperature. If you want a more stable whipped cream, I would suggest the non dairy one, or go for a gelatin based whipped cream.
Chocolate decoration
No Black forest cake is complete without the chocolate decorations on the top and sides. You could do a chocolate ganache like many modern versions do, but for the traditional black forest cake look we have all grown up, you need chocolate shavings.
Use a good quality chocolate. Depending on your chocolate preferences, find the chocolate percentage that works best for you. While I love bitter chocolate, I would not suggest to use it here as it might overpower from the other tastes. A bittersweet one (about 40-50%) should work if you like your chocolate dark.
You could just grate your chocolate and use the shavings to line the side and top. I find doing that a little too messy, especially in summers since my kitchen is not that cold and the chocolate just melts. I haven’t found a way to conveniently attach the grated shavings elegantly to the cake . For the pictures I am sharing today, I just chopped the chocolate up with a knife and got slightly thicker shavings, which were much easier to play around with and decorate the eggless black forest cake.
You could also temper the chocolate, and make barks like I did for the black forest cake I shared here.
Make Ahead Instructions
Making all the cake components in a single day can seem like a lot of work. I like to divide the process for two separate days. The first day I make the brandied cherries, and the cake layers. You could also make the old fashioned whipped cream a day ahead. If I am using non dairy whipped cream, I leave it for day two. The second day I do the assembly and the chocolate decorations.
The cake layers can be baked, cooled, and covered tightly at room temperature overnight.
For the cherry syrup, cool then cover and refrigerate overnight.
The whipped cream can be prepared, covered tightly, and refrigerated overnight.
The assembled cake can be refrigerated for up to 1 day before slicing and serving. While I have never frozen the assembled cake, I have frozen cake layers successfully, and you could do that if you dont plan to assemble the cake in the next 3 days after baking it. Just make sure to tightly wrap them in clingwrap and place in a freezer safe ziplock bag if possible. Thaw the layers covered overnight in the refrigerator and once defrosted do the assembly.
Hope you get to try it, and if you do please share your results with me on instagram, facebook or leave a comment here.
- 1 cup pitted cherries
- ¾ cup water
- ½ cup sugar
- About ¼ cup Kirsch
- 2¾ cups all purpose flour
- 2 cups sugar minus 2 tbsp
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup boiling water mixed with 1 tsp of instant coffee powder
- ½ cup oil plus ¼ cup melted butter
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar mixed with 1 cup warm milk, let stand to make buttermilk
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- 750ml heavy cream
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1½ tsp vanilla
- 3 tbsp sugar, (can add more, if desired)
- Simmer 1 cup pitted cherries with ¾ cup water in a covered saucepan for ten minutes or until easily pierced with a cake tester.
- Remove the cherries with a slotted spoon to a pint jar and add the kirsch or brandy.
- Add ½ cup sugar to the liquid in the pan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce to ¼ to ⅓ cup and pour over the cherries.
- Cover tightly and swirl to mix. Add enough liqueur to reach almost to the top of the jar.
- Brandied cherries are flavorful after only 12 hours but the longer they stand, the more mellow they become.
- Preheat oven to 350 F or 180 C
- Prepare your cake pans by greasing them and line the bottoms with parchment paper. While 2 9 inch cake pans work, for a taller cake I use 7 inch cake pans.
- In a bowl whisk the dry ingredients. I like to sift the dry ingredients at least twice to aerate the flour well.
- Make a well in the center and add the oil, melted butter, vanilla, buttermilk.
- Combine well.
- Pour in the boiling water mixed with coffee, while constantly stirring the batter. Mix well.
- Divide the batter between the cake pans.
- Bake until a tester comes out clean. In my oven it takes about 20-25 minutes for the cake layers to bake. The baking time also depend on the size of the cake pan. The batter in the 9 inch cake pans will bake quicker, so a keep an eye after the 15 minute mark. Over baking chocolate cake can result in a dry cake.
- Let the cake cool in pan for 10 minutes. Run a skewer or knife around the edges to loosen the cake. Invert on wire rack. Let cool completely. Once cool, you can wrap them in cling wrap and refrigerate (or even freeze the cakes) till ready to use. Working with colder cakes make layering easier.
- Refrigerate the mixing bowl and beater for at least 15 minutes.
- In a small saucepan melt together ¾ cup cream and the butter, stirring constantly until the butter is fully melted. Pour into a small heatproof measuring cup and cool to room temperature. Add vanilla.
- In the chilled mixing bowl beat the remaining cream and sugar just until traces of beater marks begin to show distinctly. Add the butter mixture on low speed in a steady stream, beating constantly. Beat until stiff peaks just form when the beater is raised. (Whipped cream is smoothest when the butter mixture is added gradually.) The whipped cream can be stored 2 to 3 days refrigerated.
- Cut the cherries in half, and keep aside.
- Reserve 2 cups whipped cream for the top of the cake and the rosettes.
- Split the chocolate layers horizontally to get 4 layers.
- Place 1 cake layer in the bottom of the serving platter, or cake board. Sprinkle the top of the cake with the reserved cherry syrup. I use about 4 tbsp syrup per side, a total of 8 tbsp per layer (this is for the 7 inch cake layers). For the bottom layer, I only soak the top side with syrup, and leave the bottom layer as is.
- Top with ⅓ of the remaining whipped cream. Poke the cherries into the whipped cream. Repeat with the remaining 3 layers. (Before placing the cake layer, soak the bottom side with the cherry syrup. Once the layer is resting on the top, soak the top side with syrup as well, before adding the whipped cream and cherries)
- Put about ½ a cup of cream in a piping bag to make rosettes on top if desired. Frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining cream.
- Cover the sides with grated dark chocolate. Pipe rosettes on top, sprinkle chocolate flakes in the center, and place cherries on the rosettes.
- Refrigerate for at least 4 hours for all the flavors to develop.
Wow…what a great photo. Taste, I know will be as good 🙂
Hi
Awesome recipe
I dont want to use brandy .. can I use any other thing which is non alcoholic
Thanks in advance
Skip it out, and just make a little more syrup with water (you might have to add an extra tbsp or so of sugar). You could also use a fruit juice- or if using canned cherries the juice from tinned fruits can.
Wow its great thanks for sharing this
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I tried this cake for my twins’s birthday and it was super delicious. Of course, I did not use any alcohol, just used simple sugar syrup. Thank you for this detailed recipe. One question I have is that after pouring the syrup on the cake, my cake became so moist that it crumbled while I picked it up to layer it. Am I supposed to soak it in syrup after layering it?
Hi Neha, So glad you liked the recipe and happy birthday to your twins 🙂
So for layering this is what I do. One, I don’t pour syrup on both sides of the layer that goes right at the bottom. In case I am using a cake board, I place the first layer on the cake board (usually add a dollop on to hold the cake down). If I am layering it directly on the serving platter follow the same steps. So once the first layer is placed, then I pour the syrup on the top side of the first layer. The bottom layer only gets soaked on the top. Then I frost that layer. The second layer- I soak syrup on only one side, and generally don’t put all of the 4 tbsp so that its easier to lift. I do not put syrup to the reverse side yet. This is where I pay a little attention that the layer should be easy to pick up. Once on top of the assembled cake, I finish off with more syrup. And then repeat the process. Also, I dont soak and keep the layers because then they become difficult to handle. Only soak one side, and immediately place it. Another tip is I generally work with colder layers. So will bake the cake before hand, and wrap it in the fridge. Its always easy to cut and handle the cake for making layers. Hope that helps and clears the confusion. I will also update the post to make it easier for others to assemble since I do realise my instructions seem a little misleading. Thanks for the question, I am sure others will benefit from it.
Thank you for your detailed information on layering. I will follow it next time. And again, many thanks for such a delicious eggless version of the black forest. All of us loved it!