Black Forest gâteau or Black Forest cake (

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances i ...

) is a chocolate

sponge cake Sponge cake is a light cake made with egg whites, flour and sugar, sometimes leavened with baking powder. Some sponge cakes do not contain egg yolks, like angel food cake, but most of them do. Sponge cakes, leavened with beaten eggs, originated ...

with a rich cherry filling based on the German dessert (), literally "Black Forest Cherry-

torte A torte (from German language, German ''Torte'' ( (in turn from Latin language, Latin via Italian language, Italian ''torta'')) is a rich, usually multilayered, cake that is filled with whipped cream, buttercreams, mousses, jams, or fruit. O ...

". Typically, Black Forest gateau consists of several layers of chocolate sponge cake sandwiched with

whipped cream Whipped cream is liquid heavy cream that is whipped by a whisk or mixer until it is light and fluffy and holds its shape, or by the expansion of dissolved gas, forming a firm colloid. It is often sweetened, typically with white sugar, an ...

and cherries. It is decorated with additional whipped cream,

maraschino cherries A maraschino cherry ( ) is a preserved, sweetened cherry, typically made from light-colored sweet cherries such as the Royal Ann, Rainier, or Gold varieties. In their modern form, the cherries are first preserved in a brine solution usu ...

, and chocolate shavings. In some European traditions, sour cherries are used both between the layers and for decorating the top. Traditionally,

kirschwasser Kirschwasser (, ; , German for "cherry water") or kirsch is a clear, colorless brandy traditionally made from double distillation of morello cherries, a dark-colored cultivar of the sour cherry. It is now also made from other kinds of cherries ...

, a clear

spirit Spirit or spirits may refer to: Liquor and other volatile liquids * Spirits, a.k.a. liquor, distilled alcoholic drinks * Spirit or tincture, an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol * Volatile (especially flammable) liquids, ...

made from sour cherries, is added to the cake. Other spirits are sometimes used, such as

rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Rum is produced in nearly every sugar-producing region of the world, such as the Ph ...

, which is common in Austrian recipes. German law mandates that any dessert labeled must have kirschwasser.

History

The dessert is not directly named after the

Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...

mountain range in southwestern Germany. According to one school of thought, the name is derived from the specialty liquor of that region, known as '' Schwarzwälder Kirsch(wasser)'', which is distilled from tart cherries. This is the ingredient that gives the dessert its distinctive cherry pit flavor and alcoholic content flavor. Some sources claim that the name of the cake is inspired by the traditional costume of the women of the Black Forest region, with a characteristic hat with big, red

pom-pom A pom-pom – also spelled pom-pon, pompom or pompon – is a decorative ball or tuft of fibrous material. The term may refer to large tufts used by cheerleaders, or a small, tighter ball attached to the top of a hat, also known as a ...

s on top, called

Bollenhut A (, literally "ball-hat") is a formal headdress with distinctive woollen pompoms worn since by Protestant women as part of their folk costume or in the three adjoining Black Forest villages of Gutach, Kirnbach and Hornberg-Reichenbach. ...

. The confectioner (1887–1981) claimed to have invented in its present form in 1915 at the prominent Café Agner in

Bad Godesberg Bad Godesberg ( ksh, Bad Jodesbersch) is a borough ('' Stadtbezirk'') of Bonn, southern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. From 1949 to 1999, while Bonn was the capital of West Germany, most foreign embassies were in Bad Godesberg. Some buildings ar ...

, now a suburb of Bonn about north of the Black Forest. This claim, however, has never been substantiated. A long time ago, cherries, cream, and Kirschwasser were combined in the form of a dessert in which cooked cherries were served with cream and Kirschwasser, originated in Black forest region famous for its cherry trees. was first mentioned in writing in 1934. At the time it was particularly associated with

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

but was also available from high-class confectioners in other German, Austrian, and Swiss cities. In 1949 it took 13th place in a list of best-known German cakes.

Records

The record for the world's largest authentic Black Forest gâteau was set at Europa Park, Germany, on 16 July 2006, by K&U Bakery. Measuring nearly and weighing , the cake, which was in diameter, used up of cream, 5,600 eggs, of cherries, of chocolate shavings, and of

kirsch Kirschwasser (, ; , German for "cherry water") or kirsch is a clear, colorless brandy traditionally made from double distillation of morello cherries, a dark-colored cultivar of the sour cherry. It is now also made from other kinds of cherrie ...

. On 9 December 2012, a team led by chefs Jörg Mink and Julien Bompard made Asia's biggest Black Forest cake at the S-One Expo in Singapore. The cake was made from of cream, 1,500 eggs, , of chocolate shavings, and of kirsch.

A Swedish cake called is related to the traditional Black Forest gâteau only by name. It consists of layers of

meringue Meringue (, ; ) is a type of dessert or candy, often associated with Swiss, French, Polish and Italian cuisines, traditionally made from whipped egg whites and sugar, and occasionally an acidic ingredient such as lemon, vinegar, or cream o ...

containing finely ground roasted hazelnuts covered by a thin layer of chocolate with

in between. The whole cake is also covered with whipped cream and decorated with thin dark chocolate and cocoa powder.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Black Forest Gateau German cakes Baden cuisine Chocolate cakes Foods with alcoholic drinks Cherry dishes Black Forest Sponge cakes Layer cakes Chocolate desserts

History

Records

See also

References

External links