For this recipe I am going to show you how to bake an alcohol free Chocolate Genoise Black Forest Gateaux. This takes a more time than a standard sponge cake but if you follow the steps properly you will not have any problems.

Black Forest Gateaux makes a great dessert and you can make it in advance to save yourself some time on the day you need it.

Ingredients

• 680 grams jar of pitted sour Cherries or Morello Cherries in syrup
• 4 tablespoons syrup from the jar of cherries
• 50 grams caster sugar

Chocolate Genoise

• 65 grams hot melted unsalted butter
• 90 grams self raising flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 45 grams unsweetened cocoa powder
• 6 large eggs
• 200 grams caster sugar
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Whipped Cream for filling and decorating

• 900 ml double cream
• 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 55 grams caster sugar
• chocolate decorations (optional)

Method

• Drain the cherry syrup into a jug. Put the cherries in a bowl, cover with clingfilm and put to one side. Put 240 ml of the cherry syrup in a small pot together with the 50 grams sugar and heat until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and let it cool.
• Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Butter three, 20 cm round cake tins and line the bottom of the tins with baking paper then butter and flour the sides and the baking paper.
• Put the flour, salt and cocoa powder into a bowl and whisk together.
• Put a pot of water on a stove and let it simmer.
• Then put your eggs and sugar in a heatproof bowl and then place the bowl on top of the pot without it touching the bottom of the pot and also not letting the simmering water touch the bowl. Whisk this until the mixture is lukewarm
• Remove from heat and pour the egg and sugar mixture into the bowl of your electric mixer or use an electric hand mixer. Beat on high speed until the mixture is thick, the batter will fall back into the bowl in a ribbon-like pattern).
  Add the vanilla extract and keep whisking.
• Then sift about one-third of the flour mixture over the egg mixture and gently fold in using a rubber spatula or whisk. Sift and fold in another third, and then fold in the rest. Take 1 cup of the batter and fold it into the melted butter. Then gently fold it into the egg batter. Divide the mixture between the three prepared cake tins smoothing the top. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cakes comes out clean.
• Leave the cakes in the cake tins for about 5 minutes and then remove from the tins and put them on a cooling rack to cool completely.

For the whipped cream

• In your mixing bowl place the whipping cream, vanilla extract, and sugar and whisk until it is thick enough to pipe and spread on the cake.
• Assemble the cake by getting one of the cakes and put it on a serving plate and brush the cakewith some of the cherry syrup. Spread some whipped cream on top and then place some cherries evenly over the cream repeat the process for the second layer and then the last layer should be cake only. Ice the top and sides, you can now put some of the whipped cream into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip nozzle and pipe some roses on top of cake. Cover and refrigerate the cake for several hours, or overnight before serving.
• Decorate with fresh cherries and grated chocolate.(optional)