isithalal.food · Recipes

Black Forest gateau without kirsch

Three layers of dark chocolate sponge soaked in cherry juice instead of kirsch, filled with whipped cream and jammy cherries and topped with chocolate cream.

German · Dessert · Moderate · One 20 cm three-layer cake, 10 slices · 100 min

Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.

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Why Halal checks matter here

Black Forest gateau is traditionally soaked with kirsch, a cherry spirit, and shop or bakery versions can also use gelatine to set the cream.

Halal-critical ingredients

• Kirsch: Kirsch is a cherry spirit; the original drizzles 4 tbsp over the sponges. Use more juice from the cherry can, as the original itself suggests.
• Bought gateau or cream: Shop and bakery gateaux can use gelatine to set the cream, and cakes can contain E471. Ask, or read the label. See Cakes.

Ingredients

Chocolate sponge

• 175 g (6 oz) salted butter, plus extra for the tins
• 200 g (7 oz) dark chocolate (75 g for the sponge, the rest for the topping)
• 300 g (11 oz) plain flour
• 375 g (13 oz) golden caster sugar
• 25 g (1 oz) cocoa powder
• 1 tsp (1 tsp) bicarbonate of soda
• 2 (2) eggs
• 200 g (7 oz) buttermilk or natural yogurt
• 100 ml (⅓ cup + 1 tbsp) boiling water

Filling and topping

• 425 g can (15 oz can) canned pitted cherries, drained, with the juice kept
• 6 tbsp (6 tbsp) cherry juice from the can, in place of the kirsch
• 100 g (4 oz) morello cherry jam
• 500 ml (2 cups + 2 tbsp) double cream
• 3 tbsp (3 tbsp) icing sugar
• 1 small punnet (1 small punnet) fresh cherries (optional)

Method

1. Make the batter. Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan) and grease and line three 20 cm tins. Melt the butter with 75 g of the chocolate, stirring. Mix the flour, sugar, cocoa, bicarbonate and a pinch of salt; whisk the eggs with the buttermilk. Add the chocolate mix, egg mix and 100 ml boiling water to the dry ingredients and whisk briefly until smooth.
2. Bake. Divide between the tins and bake for 25 minutes, swapping shelves after 20 if needed, until a skewer comes out clean.
3. Soak with cherry juice. Prick the warm cakes with a skewer and drizzle them with 6 tbsp of the cherry juice; the original uses 2 tbsp of juice plus 4 tbsp of kirsch here. Leave to cool.
4. Make the chocolate cream. Mix the drained cherries with the jam. Heat 200 ml of the cream until just below simmering, pour it over the remaining chocolate, chopped, and stir until smooth. Leave until spreadable.
5. Assemble. Whip the rest of the cream with the icing sugar until soft. Spread it over two of the cakes, spoon the jammy cherries on top and stack them. Spread the chocolate cream over the third cake, set it on top and pile on fresh cherries if using.

Allergens

gluten (flour), milk (butter, buttermilk, cream), egg

How this recipe was researched

Method adapted from BBC Good Food's 'Black Forest gateau' (a chocolate, butter, buttermilk and cocoa sponge baked in three 20 cm tins for 25 minutes, drizzled with cherry juice and 4 tbsp kirsch, filled with whipped cream and canned cherries mixed with morello jam, and topped with a chocolate and cream ganache). The recipe itself offers more juice from the can instead of the kirsch; we took that option. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test; the source's prep time is 1 hour plus cooling.

Photograph from our ingredient library: a chocolate layer cake, not the finished dish.