You heard me right. A White Forest Cake. At least that's what I'm calling it - it's actually called a Zuger Kirschtorte - it's a Swiss styled cake that consists of a nut-meringue, buttercream and cake ...oh and of course, Kirschwasser. That's right, Kirschwasser - or you may know it simply as Kirsch. You know what that is right? The awesome, alcoholic liquer that you find more commonly in the Western world in that luscious gorgeousness that is Black Forest Cake. Hence why I'm calling this White Forest Cake - a Swiss Zug Cherry Torte.
It is impossible to live in the UK and NOT have heard of the Great British Bake Off. Okay, perhaps it's possible but you REALLY have to be living under a rock. I always knew that the Brits love their tea and cakes and baked goods, but this show and the whole Great British Bake Off showed me a whole other side of it. The Brits are amazingly obsessed and spectacularly talented at baking any type of baked goods under the sun. And because I'm interested in baking and sugarpaste (I am nowhere as good at it as the Brits are!), I thought I'd join the Great Bloggers Bake Off 2015. Yep there's such a thing (well from what I learnt there are quite a few related linkies, but this one seems to be most organized and has the most talented baking bloggers).
So this year, episode one featured cakes! Specifically the typical madeira, a gorgeous black forest gateau and a traditional walnut cake. Well I was just going to make a gluten free black forest cake that I've found ... but then I realized that so many others were doing that that I wanted to try something different. So I decided to do the walnut cake...but I found it...well...too boring to feature in such a great linky event. So I looked at recipes and found out that the main elements of Black Forest Gateau are chocolate, cherries and Kirschwasser. Walnut cake, of course features walnuts. And madeira cake...well...that's just a normal cake, ain't it? Black Forest Cake, however, was not only a favourite from childhood, but it is still a favourite...and before I even knew it was going to be on episode 1 of #GBBO 2015, I completely was thinking of making one....I even discussed it with my supervisor at work because he is the only person I know, in this world, who doesn't like Black Forest Cake (crazy man)! So I ended up looking for recipes that used Kirsch (after all, once one buys kirsch, there's only so much Black Forest Cake that one can make) and walnuts (just to make it a bit more challenging)...and found this... the Swiss Zug Cherry Torte ( original recipe here) which uses Kirsch and is based in hazelnuts - which I'm choosing to call the White Forest Cake.
Now I did buy walnuts to use instead, but I've never been a fan of walnuts, and the hazelnuts were right next to it, so I just picked some up just in case. And after making my own hazelnut meal from them (ie. grinding and toasting as one does), I decided to just go a bit more traditionally. Next time however, I do plan to play with my nut flours...and to use a bit more of a macaronage process to make the meringue disc. After all, we all love macaron, right? Macaron on Kirsch. Why not?!
The cake part, ended up very much like an angel food cake with a thin biscuit top which absorbed the *cough* little bit *cough* of kirsch that I *cough* sprinkled *cough* upon it. It soaked really nicely into and throughout the warm cake. Just let it sit for a bit so that the cloud of alcohol dissapates before you eat it (do as I say and not as I did...). The buttercream was very different from my normal buttercream and was based on buttercream and egg yolk.
I've made a few changes in the recipe below from what I actually did, mainly because I am a bit concerned about raw egg yolk in a cake and thinking that perhaps we should pasteurize them a bit first....similar to how you make a sabayon (or a hollandaise if you want....) and then add the cooled sabayon into the buttercream. Especially if there's going to be a bit of time between making it and eating it. Also I increased the amount of buttercream, because I am apparently heavy handed with buttercream between layers and ran out for the sides. This makes sure you have enough so that you can be a bit more traditional with the decoration as I've described at the end of the recipe.
Anyway, enough blabber, right? Here's your recipe for the #glutenfree and #dairyfree White Forest cake.