Black Forest Cake

Total Time: 35 mins Cook Time: 35 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 16
• 2 cups cake-and-pastry flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 unsweetened chocolate squares, melted and cooled
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup boiling water
• 2 cups whipping cream
• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• 1 cup smucker's pure cherry jam, stirred
• chocolate shavings
• maraschino cherry

Recipe

• 1 preheat oven to 350°f grease 2 x 9-inch round cake pans.
• 2 combine flour, baking soda and salt.
• 3 beat butter in a large bowl. add brown sugar and eggs, beating until light and creamy. beat in vanilla and chocolate.
• 4 add dry ingredients to chocolate mixture, alternately with sour cream, beating on low speed just until batter is smooth.
• 5 carefully stir in boiling water. batter will be thin.
• 6 bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. cool on wire racks for 10 minutes; then remove from pans and cool completely.
• 7 beat whipping cream and incing sugar in large bowl of electric mixer until thick.
• 8 to assemble cake: place on layer on serving plate, and spread with 1/2 of the whipped cream. put 1/2 cup jam over whipped cream, leaving a 1/2-inch border away from the edge of the cake.
• 9 cover with remaining layer and top with whipped cream, leaving some for decoration, if desired. top with remaining jam and garnish with chocolate curls.
• 10 for an authentic look, using a piping bag, pipe whipped cream flowers around top edge of cake and place maraschino cherries in each flower.
• 11 do not put whipped cream on sides of cake.