Piece of cake!

I occasionally dabble at baking. Usually I make cookies, and, not to brag, but they come out quite tasty. I make quick breads, too, like banana bread, and every now and then I make candy, like toffee.

But I've only ever made a couple of cakes, and some of those times were from a mix, frosted with store bought frosting. Nothing wrong with that, but I'm a from-scratch kinda girl. I like things coming out of my kitchen to be not from cans. I think it tastes way better, and I'm way more proud of it, too.

So I volunteered to bake my husband's birthday cake this year. His favorite is black forest cake, so that's what I went with (recipe here, but I left out kirsch).

And I think it came out quite well!






So the rosettes are a bit uneven, so what?

And it was delicious. Sadly, the layers shifted around during transport (the party was at his grandparents' house), but I was able to fix it cosmetically. It did, however, squeeze out the cherry filling alot, so it was more just chocolate cake (not that that's a problem). Next time I won't use whipped cream between layers and just put the cherries.

Recipe notes, if you want to try it:

-The cake is very stiff and dense, like a brownie (tastes like a brownie, too). It does not rise. I ended up making two cakes to get 4 layers. Thankfully, the density of the cake makes it very easy to work with for layering.

-The cherry filling is awesome, and would work for pie or tarts or what have you, as well. It's nice and tangy!

-The chocolate whipped cream is divine. Lightly sweet, with more of a chocolate essence than full-out whammo chocolate flavor.

-Again, I left out kirsch. I added a bit of cherry extract to stuff, instead.