Sponge Method: Devil's Food for Black Forest Torte

Day 7: Recipe for Devil's Food Cake. Assembly of Black Forest Torte

Devil’s Food Cake
12 oz Cake Flour
2 oz Cocoa Powder
¼ oz Salt
12 g Baking Powder
8 g Baking Soda
7 oz Shortening (substitute Butter)
1 lb Sugar
8 oz Milk
1 tsp Vanilla
6 oz Milk
8 oz Eggs

Preparing Devil’s Food Cake
-Sift the dry ingredients: cocoa, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
-Add vanilla to the eggs.
-Sift the sugar.

-Soften the butter with the paddle in the mixer on speed 1.
-Add all the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl. With the bowl still in the down position, start mixing on speed 1. Raise the bowl up slowly so the dry ingredients don’t fly out.

-Mix the eggs with the smaller amount of milk, 6 oz.
-Add a little bit of the larger, 8 oz, of milk to the batter. Scrape down the bowl often.
-Add the rest of the milk slowly. Scrape the bowl and make sure everything is combined.
-Start adding the other milk and eggs.

-The separated milk moistens the batter initially and helps you avoid over mixing the batter.
-Scrape the bowl sides and bottom making sure all the milk and flour are incorporated. The mixing of this cake is just enough to combine the ingredients.
-Pour the batter into a parchment lined 10” cake pan.

-Bake at 360 degrees in the deck oven or 310 degrees in the convection oven.

I was pleased with this cake versus the first time I made it. The crumb was nice and tender and the cake was rich and flavorful. I think because I mixed the dry ingredients and the butter until they looked finely ground with no chunks of butter, it made a better batter. Also, once the liquids were added I tried not to over mix it and over develop the gluten as I did with the first Devil's Food cake.

Assembling Black Forest Cake
-Whip some heavy cream to a soft peak and fill a piping bag with a large star tip.
-Don’t store the whipped cream in the bag; the plastic will cause it to break down.
-Prepare a simple syrup with the juice of the brandied cherries.
-The cake is not too sweet and takes on flavor well.
-Torte the cake; cut off the top to level it. Brush the layers with the simple syrup.

-Pipe rings of whipped cream on the bottom layer of cake.

-Fill the spaces with cherries; about 38-40 all together.

-Put on the top layer and press down, making sure the cake is level.

-Pipe the rest of the cream on top of the cake.
-Whip the remaining cream a little with a whisk; you need it to hold up but also able to spread.
-Apply the cream to the outside of the cake and the top.
-The blade of the spatula should not touch the cake; this will help keep any crumbs from being on the outside finish, which are especially visible with dark cakes.
-Devil’s Food is a 2 Stage sponge cake.
-Make sure the cake is completely covered and no crumbs are visible.
-Pipe rosettes on top. Divide the cake visually into portions and garnish accordingly.
-Put a cherry in each rosette and sprinkle chocolate shavings all over the top.
-Chill to set.