Baking Arts Day 9

On Day 9 of Baking Arts we made black forest cake.  I would not say that making cakes is something I enjoy.  There are so many steps and ingredients, not to mention the skill required with a piping bag and palette knife, it really is a labour of love.  We spent the entire class completing the various steps to bake then decorate these cakes.  It didn’t help that I was late (again) fighting traffic down the 427 and the crappy weather.

Here’s a pic of the cakes prior to baking:

Some of the things that makes it a black forest cake are the use of cherries and chocolate.  These are maraschino cherries, a cherry filling, and dark chocolate shaved with a knife:

Next we prep the cooked cakes by squaring off the tops and cutting three layers for each cake:

Brush some simple syrup with kirsch on each layer:

Now begin layering with whipped cream and cherry filling:

Now we begin decorating.  Not unlike dry-walling, be liberal with the mud and simply smooth it out:

And here is the finished product:

Would I make this again?  I would, but that person would have to be pretty damn special to be worth the amount of time and effort to make this cake.  The amount of effort and skill required is high on this one but I think the end product is worth it.