Black Forest Cake - Tips?

[stewball]

I know! There are all kinds of recipes out there these days for pretty much anything. I'm just not a big fan of alcohol, for the most part, and I really hate it in any kind of baked goods. But if somebody was coming for dinner and I knew they liked kirsch in their Black Forest Cherry Cake, I would certainly buy it and make the cake the way it should be made. (But I probably wouldn't eat any of it)

As for cake flour, you can sub all-purpose flour. Just for every cup of AP flour you use, remove 2 tablespoons of the flour from each cup. That's a pretty good ratio for all-purpose versus cake. I keep cake flour on hand because there are quite a few recipes I have that use it. I also have pastry flour, from King Arthur. Their cake flour and their pastry flour are both really good. Swan makes a really good cake flour and I've used it....it's in our grocery stores, so easier to find.

I use a sponge cake now as a base for my cheesecakes. Some of them are chocolate, some are regular vanilla. Rick seems to like them more so than a regular graham cracker base. (I don't eat cheesecake either, but Rick loves the stuff.)

How do you make your cheese cake with a sponge bottom and how do you make the sponge.

 

[Winchester]

When I bought Junior's Dessert Cookbook and their Cheesecake Cookbook, they had a delicious sponge cake crust for the bottom of their cheesecakes. Both a vanilla and a chocolate. I started making their sponge cake crust now whenever I make any kind of cheesecake. It's delicious and much better than a standard graham cracker crust.  Here you go....

Sponge Cake Crust
1/3 cup sifted cake flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
2 extra-large eggs, separated
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 drops pure lemon extract (I didn't use the lemon extract)
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and generously butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan.  Wrap the outside with aluminum foil, covering the bottom and extending all the way up the sides.

In a small bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together.

Beat the egg yolks in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high for 3 minutes.  With the mixer running, slowly add 2 Tablespoons of the sugar and beat until thick light yellow ribbons form, about 5 minutes more.  Beat in the extracts.

Sift the flour mixture over the batter and stir it in by hand, just until no more white flecks appear.  Now, blend in the melted butter.

For this step, make sure your mixing bowl and beaters are very clean--if even a little fat is left, this can cause the egg whites not to whip. Put the egg whites and cream of tartar into the bowl and beat with the mixer on high until frothy. Gradually add the remaining sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form (the whites will stand up and look glossy, not dry). Fold about one-third of the whites into the batter, then the remaining whites. Don't worry if you still see a few white specks, as they'll disappear during baking.

Gently spread out the batter over the bottom of the pan, and bake just until set and golden (NOT wet or sticky), about 10 minutes. Touch the cake gently in the center. If it springs back, it's done. Watch carefully and don't let the top brown. Leave the crust in the pan and place on a wire rack to cool.  Leave the oven on while you prepare the batter for your cheesecake.

Dark Chocolate Sponge Cake Crust

The recipe and mixing techniques are the same, except stir in 2 ounces of melted and slightly cooled bittersweet chocolate when adding the extracts.

 

[catapault]

To substitute all-purpose flour for cake flour it is not quite as simple as taking out 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour / cup. Almost, but not quite. If cake flour is not in your cupboard, for the best results

Measure out 1 cup of all-purpose flour. Remove 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour . Replace the removed all-purpose flour with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. Sift flour several times to thoroughly combine the two ingredients.

 

[Winchester]

Yes, some do advocate putting in the cornstarch. I don't use it.

 

[nansiludie]

The recipes above sound good.

 

[stewball]

When I bought Junior's Dessert Cookbook and their Cheesecake Cookbook, they had a delicious sponge cake crust for the bottom of their cheesecakes. Both a vanilla and a chocolate. I started making their sponge cake crust now whenever I make any kind of cheesecake. It's delicious and much better than a standard graham cracker crust.  Here you go....

Sponge Cake Crust

1/3 cup sifted cake flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of salt

2 extra-large eggs, separated

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 drops pure lemon extract (I didn't use the lemon extract)

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and generously butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan.  Wrap the outside with aluminum foil, covering the bottom and extending all the way up the sides.


In a small bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together.


Beat the egg yolks in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high for 3 minutes.  With the mixer running, slowly add 2 Tablespoons of the sugar and beat until thick light yellow ribbons form, about 5 minutes more.  Beat in the extracts.


Sift the flour mixture over the batter and stir it in by hand, just until no more white flecks appear.  Now, blend in the melted butter.


For this step, make sure your mixing bowl and beaters are very clean--if even a little fat is left, this can cause the egg whites not to whip. Put the egg whites and cream of tartar into the bowl and beat with the mixer on high until frothy. Gradually add the remaining sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form (the whites will stand up and look glossy, not dry). Fold about one-third of the whites into the batter, then the remaining whites. Don't worry if you still see a few white specks, as they'll disappear during baking.


Gently spread out the batter over the bottom of the pan, and bake just until set and golden (NOT wet or sticky), about 10 minutes. Touch the cake gently in the center. If it springs back, it's done. Watch carefully and don't let the top brown. Leave the crust in the pan and place on a wire rack to cool.  Leave the oven on while you prepare the batter for your cheesecake.

Dark Chocolate Sponge Cake Crust

The recipe and mixing techniques are the same, except stir in 2 ounces of melted and slightly cooled bittersweet chocolate when adding the extracts.

How do you make your cheese cake?

We've talked about this once before. I can't get cream of tartar here. Will a few drops of lemon juice or vinegar work? What does cream of tartar do?

 

[Winchester]

In this case, you're using the cream of tartar in whipping your egg whites. I think you can use either white vinegar or perhaps lemon juice. Cream of tartar acts as a stabilizer. I've omitted it entirely when whipping egg whites and my whites were fine.

When using it as a leavener, say in Rick's snickerdoodles, well, then it could get a little tricky. 1 teaspoon of baking powder replaces 1/3 teaspoon of baking soda and 2/3 teaspoon cream of tartar. The snicks call for 1 teaspoon of baking soda and 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar. So a wee bit less than 3 teaspoons would cover it, but you'd have to do the math to figure it out accurately.