Whisky Black Forest Cake

The Club’s celebrating a milestone birthday this month, and it wouldn’t be a birthday without cake, right?

We’ve teamed up with craft legends and cult icons, Ardnamurchan, to create a whisky that tastes just like Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte. AKA Black Forest Cake. 

Because it’s our birthday and we’ll splurge if we want too, we whipped up said cake to pair with our whisky. And believe us, it’s that good. Here’s a simple version of this über delicious cake.

So, pour yourself a dram, pop on your apron and let's go!

Ingredients

For the chocolate cake:
1 ¾ cups sifted all-purpose flour
⅔ cup sifted unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
½ cup neutral oil — think canola or vegetable oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup hot water
For the cherries and cherry syrup:
1 cup drained, canned cherries
¼ cup of whisky (Black Forest cake traditionally uses Kirsch. Fun fact.)
cherry juice from canned cherries
For the whipped cream frosting:
3 cups heavy cream, cold
½ cup powdered sugar, sifted
Optional
200g chocolate shavings
Fresh whole cherries

Method

First, we’ll get started on the chocolate cake.

1. Preheat your oven 180°C. Butter two 8-inch cake pans (make sure they’re at least 2-inches high). Dust the pans with cocoa powder.
2. In a large bowl, mix the the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Pop it to the side.
3. In a medium bowl, mix together eggs, oil, vanilla, buttermilk, and water (pour the water slowly, you don’t want to cook your eggs!). Whisk until smooth. Add egg mixture into flour mixture and mix until smooth. Don’t overbeat.
4. Scrape the batter into prepared pans. Bake cakes for 30-35 minutes. You’ll know it’s done when you can put a skewer in the centre and it comes out clean.
5. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan before you take it out of the mould. Then let the cakes cool completely on a wire rack. Once they’re completely cool, cut each cake layer in half horizontally.

Alright, now we’re on to the syrup.

6. Drain the cherries (remember to keep the liquid) and place the cherries in a medium bowl. Then add the whisky and ½ cup cherry juice from the can. Leave to soak at room temperature for 30-45 minutes, then drain cherries in a sieve over a bowl, keeping both the cherries and syrup. 

7. Add more cherry juice to the syrup to get ¾ cup syrup because this will be the soaking syrup for the cake layers.

8. Get a stick mixer or a hand mixer and beat the heavy cream and the powdered sugar until it becomes firm. 

Alright, now it’s time to assemble this beauty!

9. Place one cake layer on a cake stand or plate and brush with ⅓ of the cherry syrup. Cover top with a thick layer of whipped cream frosting (be generous, use 1 cup) and sprinkle over ⅓ of the cherries. Do this two more times with the remaining cake layers. Get out the whipped cream and frost the tops and the sides then top with whole cherries. if that’s not decadent enough for you, cover the top and sides of the cake with chocolate shavings. Enjoy!

Gave it a go? Don’t forget to share your picture on Facebook and Instagram.

The Anniversary Release is completely unpeated and was fully matured in Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez Sherry casks from Miguel Martin, the official cask supplier to the masters of Sherry maturation — Macallan, Glenfarclas and GlenDronach — bottled at 49.5% ABV, non-chill filtered and natural in colour. The result is nothing short of an astoundingly tasty whisky-drenched, creamy double dark chocolate cake in a bottle. 

Keen to get your hands on our exclusive Ardnamurchan The Anniversary Release? Join the Club free now to get your hands on a bottle when its available to Members 5 July. 

We’ve adapted this recipe from Pretty. Simple. Sweet.