Location: Biergarten – Germany Pavillion – Epcot – Walt Disney World

Source: Cooking with Mickey Volume II by Disney Chefs

Hey happy bakers!

If you surveyed everyone walking out of Epcot and asked them to name three food items in the park, I can almost guarantee the majority will mention Germany’s Black Forest Cake. Why is it so amazing? I don’t know. I’m not sure if it’s amazing because it’s the best Black Forest cake out there or if it’s delicious because it’s an iconic Disney snack.

Granted there is the challenge of the table war in the Germany courtyard. I know you know what I mean. You go to the quick service, get your tray of food, and then the hunt begins. If you haven’t been there, what have you been doing with your vacations? No serious… go right now. You should know it’s a busy section with like two and a half seats. People will hover around the seats like vultures, ready to knock over an old lady if she even looks like she is about to stand up from the table. I have literally seen people run to tables, beer flying out of the cups and Mickey ears falling off peoples head. It’s a whole new quick-service world over there. You have to keep your elbows up and ready to sprint.

Um. I might have gone off topic.

Let’s make some Black Forest Cake Peeps!

Ingredients Cake:

• 5 eggs

• 3 eggs yolks

• 2/3 cup sugar

• 3/4 cup cake flour

• 6 tbsp cocoa (unsweetened)

• 1/4 tsp baking powder

• 1/4 tsp baking soda

• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Ingredients Syrup:

• 1/3 cup water

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 3 tbsp cherry liqueur

Ingredients Filling and Frosting:

• 1 1/4 cups cherry pie filling

• 3 tbsp cherry liqueur

• 1-pint heavy cream (whipped)

• 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate (shaved)

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350F degrees.

2. Grease and flour 3 8-inch round cake pans. I know some people here are saying they could just use a large pan and cut it into three. Yes, that is a possibility but it will affect the cooking time. Plus it’s just a thousand times easier to do it with three separate cakes. When you have to cut it into three parts sometimes it’s hard to line up the cakes so you don’t have a crooked cake. This cake will be little more forgiving because you can just level up more whipped cream on the side to even out but you are looking for a consistent cake and not just one side with all cake and one side with all whipped cream. That makes sense right?

3. In a medium bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar together. You want to whip it until thick and light. It’s easier to do this in a stand mixer, but not everyone has one. They can be super expensive and take up a lot of space on the counter. Plus they are heavy to move around. With that being said I freaking love my kitchen aid mixer. I was given it for Christmas one year and I love love love it. It just makes things so much easier.

4. In a medium bowl, Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and the baking powder. This recipe really makes a big difference if you sift it or not. Mix it well.

5. Now slowly fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture. You want to fold from the inside

and moving outside. The reason you are folding and not mixing is that you are trying to keep as much air in the batter that you can. You want a light sponge cake and not a thick chocolate cake. Think back to the best black forest cakes you have made. Isn’t the lighter ones the better?

6. Using a scale, weigh out the batter into three separate can pans. The easiest way to do this is to put the empty cake pan on the scale and set the scale to zero. That way whatever you put in it will just be weighing the cake batter and not the cake pan too. Try to put a third of the batter into it. Record the weigh and do this to the next two. Now all three weigh the exact same. If you have extra in the bowl, separate it the best you can between the three pans. It may not be exact but it will be good. The reason you want all them the same is because of the baking time. Cakes of different size have different baking time. So you want them to be as close as they can be. That way you won’t have one cake raw and one super well done. You want them all to be the same.

7. Place all three in the oven. Do not let the cake pans touch. A lot of people shove them all in the oven to fit and then are surprised they didn’t turn out. I learned in pastry school that if the cake pans touch in the oven it super affects the baking time. The heat doesn’t spread out evenly and the cake pans will become hotter in some places than others. Again we are looking for an even baking time. Have I said that enough? I think I have but it makes such a big difference.

8. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes. You want to bake them until you stick a toothpick in the center and it comes out clean. They also sell fancy cake testers you can use too. Someone gave me once for Christmas and I think it’s pretty but it does the same thing as a toothpick. With that being said don’t we all love fancy kitchen tools? You want them all even if you don’t exactly know what they do.

9. Place the pans on a wire rack to cool. They need to cool completely before being used.

10. In a small saucepan, bring the water and sugar to a boil. Once boiling remove from the heat and let cool. Once completely cool, mix in the cherry liquor.

I should note I didn’t include the cherry liquor and it made no difference in the final product. Because you put actually cherries in it, it works out to the same thing. I have a family member who can’t have liquor because of medication. If the liquor had been cooked it would have made a difference because the alcohol would be have been gone but since it’s just added in later, I chose to leave it out.

Let’s put it all together now!

Follow the order of the cake layers to put yours together. The first ingredient is the top of the cake and the bottom is the… well the plate. I’ll let you guess where we put that.

Top Layer:

Cheer garnish

Chocolate Shavings

Whipped Cream

Syrup

Cake

Whipped Cream

Cherry Filing

Syrup

Cake

Cherry Filling

Syrup

Cake

Plate

Bottom Layer:

I should note something here. The official recipe does not put whipped cream on the sides of the cake, but the park version does. I’ll let you decided which one you want. Both will result in you eating some amazing cake.

Now go eats some cake people! You know you want too. It’s so tasty!

Happy Baking People!