Foray into the Foret

As the semester draws to a close I am ever more sensitive to the heat of the kitchen. The pressure is on to not just finish, but to finish strong.

So now it's time to get serious. Seriously sweet that is.


Tis the season of Creams, Cakes, and Chocolate.

This week marked a battle with genoise. Genoise, or sponge cake, is a lot like a difficult child really, you have to trick the sponge's meringue into thinking that you are not incorporating the dry ingredients, and if it's on to you it will do everything in it's power to resist. This means that if you do not fold gently, carefully, and conservatively, you are well screwed. The batter will suck all the volume out of the whipped egg whites, and your cake will collapse in the oven. This is the moment when the chef feels most like a hated babysitter.



So when not being beaten, battered, and broken I was confronting the Conan of chocolate cake:

Gateau Foret Noire (the famous Black Forest Cake).



Now it's not necessarily the most posh cake in terms of polished presentation, but this homey delight is so decadent and delicious that it will make you question why you ever order dessert out. It's just that good. Traditionally, the chocolate sponge layers are soaked in a Kirsch simple syrup, and separated by layers of Kirsch marinated Griotte cherries reduced to a compote.

But here is my culinary, or rather confectionary, confession: I hate Kirsch.

Even the smell of this intensely strong liquor makes me look for the ladies room. So in a culinary covert operation, I snuck fresh raspberries into the fruit layer in place of the cherries, and neglected to add the Kirsch to the simple syrup. And I have to tell you that while my adapted Black Forest may run the risk of being black listed by Le Cordon Bleu, I think this rogue confection beats the original at it's own game.



Even my husband, who hates chocolate, finished off nearly half of the cake in a two round sneak attack on our fridge last Friday night. And that's all the proof I need.



*Note: Do not ask me what is going on with the chocolate propeller decoration. Not my finest moment. It was 10:30pm and the purpose was to learn how to temper chocolate for Transfer Sheets. But yes, I am aware that the cake looks like it's about to take off. C'est la vie.



Darcy Jones