This Vegan Black Forest Cake is quite the project, I’m not going to lie!
But it is worth it and I’m going to lay it all out for you in the easiest possible way to make it go smooth as can be.
This is a building on recipes project so that means there are several recipes to prepare before we get to the final.
If you make a plan and give yourself a couple days advance preparation, the whole task seems less daunting.
Don’t get me wrong, it can all be done in one day if you prefer.
But for ease of preparation for the cherries especially, it gives the flavors time to meld.
So the cherry filling can be (and should be) done the night before, this gives it time to macerate and let the liqueur really soak in.
Yes there is liqueur in a traditional classic Black Forest Cake, cherry brandy to be exact~ Kirschwasser.
You can leave it out of course, with no changes to the recipe.
The chocolate bark is also something that can be done days in advance, and if you are not familiar with how to temper chocolate, you may want to do that ahead of time because it may take a couple tries to get it right.
The whipped cream is another recipe I set up the night before because in order for it to whip up properly it has to be super cold, so doing the liquid part the night before just makes the most sense.
The chocolate cake can be baked the day you are ready to assemble the whole cake, but not until it is super cold as well.
So as you can already see this is a project that takes some planning ahead.
But just go at it like I wrote above and you will be golden!
- For the Chocolate Cake
- All Purpose Flour 2 cups (250g)
- Cake Flour 1 cup (120g)
- Natural Cocoa Powder 8 Tablespoons
- Granulated Sugar 2 cups (400g)
- Salt 1 teaspoon (6g)
- Baking Soda 2 teaspoons
- Apple Cider Vinegar 2 teaspoons
- Vanilla Extract 2 teaspoons
- Vegetable Oil ¾ cup (177ml)
- Strong Brewed Coffee 2 cups
- For the Whipping Cream
- Soy Milk 2 cup (474ml)
- Coconut Oil melted 2 cup (454g)
- Granulated Sugar ½ cup (100g)
- Xanthan Gum ½ teaspoon
- Vanilla Extract 3 teaspoons (15ml)
- For the Chocolate Bark
- 12oz - 1lb Semi Sweet Chocolate Couverture *Tempered
- For the Cherries
- Fresh or Frozen Cherries (fresh is better for the garnish on the final cake, but frozen is fine for the filling) 1Lb
- Sugar ¼ cup
- Kirschwasser Cherry Brandy 1 cup
- For the Cake Sift both flours, baking soda, salt, and sugar together in a large mixing bowl.
- Combine the natural cocoa powder with the hot coffee and then add the vinegar, oil and the vanilla extract.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the sifted dry ingredients and whisk vigorously with a hand whisk until smooth (about 15 strokes)
- Pour batter into 3 greased and parchment lined 7" x 2" cake pans
- Bake immediately in a preheated 350°f oven for approximately 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs
- For the Whipping Cream Combine everything in a high speed blender and blend for about 20 seconds
- Pour into a clean container and refrigerate until cold preferrably overnight (I sometimes speed the process and place in the freezer for about an hour but not so it is getting hard)
- Whip with a balloon whop attachment for about 3 minutes until soft peaks form, be careful not to over whip or it will get really tight.
- If you do over whip, you can add a little more soy milk and fold in by hand to loosen the cream
- For the Chocolate Bark
- Temper the chocolate and then spread it out onto a parchment lined sheet pan to about 11" X 6"
- Let it almost set then roll up the paper on the short end and refrigerate until needed
- For the Cherries
- reserve 10 of the best cherries with their stems for the garnish on the final cake
- Chop the rest of the fresh or frozen cherries into ¼'s and place in a bowl with the sugar
- Add the Kirshwasser and let macerate in the refrigerator overnight OR if you are not working ahead, you can quickly simmer the entire mixture over a very low heat in a small sauce pot until the sugar dissolves
- Assemble the cake as shown in the video
what temp does the kitchen have to be to avoid melting the whipped cream? or in other words, how fragile is this whipped cream? thanks.
Not fragile at all. Waaaaay easier and more stable than cow whipped cream, and it actually gets stronger as the days go by so be sure not to overwhip in the beginning, soft peaks is ideal
I’m really excited about this whipped cream recipe! It’s peaked my interested so I just try it ASAP! Can you use any kind of vegan milk like Almond, rice or coconut milk too? Also I have agar powder that I use as a stabilizer also, can I use that instead if the xantham gum? Also, if you don’t have cake flour can I swap that out for regular flour?
Thanks Gretchen for the wonderful recipe and I like that you talk a lot! It makes the vlog more personal and unique!
Yes you can! The agar must be boiled first to activate, so agar is used differently so I would suggest to just skip the xanthan and dont use the agar either. it will be fine, vegan whipped creams are already super stable compared to cow whipped cream and this will actually thickens as it sits, so be careful not to over whip it too, just to soft peaks as it will get more stiff.
Yes to regular but CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO about cake flour just as an FYI
And thankyou!!
I was wondering if this could be turned into a gluten free cake? Looks fantastic, my all time favorite cake
Hi Connie! While I do not do any gluten free baking, I do know that when it comes to GF + vegan there are some changes that need to happen, meaning it’s not just a straight up 1:1 sub for GF to wheat flour. I’m sorry I can’t be a better help but you can of course use any GF chocolate cake recipe you find that you like best to use for this recipe
yuuuuum black forest is one of my favourites! for the whipped cream, I know different brands have different thickeners etc added so just wondering brand of soy milk you used for the cream? Thank you!!! 🙂
Yes good question! I use Westsoy, but have also used almond milk from Shop rite (the organic one)
This looks gorgeous! So you think I can Exchange soymilk with cashewmilk? Greetings from Germany
yes you can!
I am really looking forward to making this! Do you use refined coconut oil or extra virgin coconut oil? Is there a specific brand you prefer?
Yes I do! It’s Nutiva I get it on amazon, because I use so much of it I buy bulk, but any refined coconut oil will do 🙂
I made this yesterday, and it was AMAZING!!! Thank you 🙂 The whipped cream was delicious! I didn’t have any xanthan gum on hand, but it still worked really well.
DO you think this cake batter would translate well into cupcakes? If so, how many cupcakes do you think the recipe would make?
yes! I’d say about 18? Fill the cups about 3/4 full bake 350 for about 18 minutes, check for done-ness, they may take longer
Can i sub the coconut oil?
for which part of the recipe?
For the whip cream 🙂
No, sorry the coconut oil is what causes it to whip, the emulsion of the fat with the milk once cold and whipped is what mimics a full fat cow cream whipped cream. You can use the cashew based whipped cream as I have it listed here on my Peaches and Cream cake if you are looking for a “healthier” fat but read the entire post and why I created the coconut oil whipped cream in the first place
How far in advance can the various components of this recipe be made? I’m looking at a making this for a friday night where I’m working during the days on the five days leading up to it. Being able to split it up as much as possible and as far in advance as possible would be great.
Thanks so much, excited to try the recipe.
Sure, you can make the cake any day, just freeze it until you are ready to build the cake. The cherry compote can be done days in advance and is actually better that way to soak up the kirchwasser. The whipped cream mixture is better done the day before so it has time to get super cold before whipping. And even the chocolate bark can be done ahead of time and kept in the refrigerator until you are ready to decorate
What an amazing recipe. I made this for my german themed dinner and everybody loves it. The fun was when my milk allergic friend found out he could also eat a piece, cause nobody even notices the cake was vegan. Thank you for sharinf!
I did make some adjustments to make the recipe most fit for the Netherlands, as flour types differ world wide. Also, no fresh cherries in november. Here comes in dutch my adjustment; gebruik tarwebloem voor het gehele recept, en per elke 120 gr 2 eetlepels vervangen door maizena, voeg bakpoeder toe volgens aanwijzingen fabrikant. Daarnaast ook de baksoda toevoegen. Voor de vulling heb ik kersen uit ppt genomen en geweekt in kirsch en voor de topping hebbik een blikl kersenvlaaifruit gebruikt.
awesome! I love that! See!? EVERYONE can enjoy Vegan! thanks for sharing!