This Black Forest Cake combines rich chocolate cake layers with fresh cherries, cherry liqueur, and a simple whipped cream frosting.
Black Forest Cake was a staple when I was growing up (much to my dismay…read on).
You know, the grocery store kind with the nuclear red maraschino cherries? My mom loooooved that cake and always got it for her birthday, and often at other times throughout the year as well. This was epically disappointing to me.
Why on earth would you ruin a perfectly delicious cake with those sickly sweet, sticky, artificial tasting cherries? Whyyyyy? Needless to say, I ate around them, but they totally tainted the cake and frosting. Sad times.
Now that I think about it, it’s probably been a good 20-25 years since I’ve had that cake.
I’ve talked about my disdain for maraschino cherries before, and that feeling still holds true to this day. I have caved and used them as a garnish because I will admit, they look pretty and just go with certain desserts, but they get plucked right off before eating the cake.
Thing is, I actually love cherries. Real cherries. Fresh cherries. They are one of my favourite summer seasonal fruits. So, I set off to re-create the decades-old Black Forest Cake my way.
I promise you, this is one of the easiest cakes you will make.
It looks fancier than it is, and the chocolate bark was actually dead easy to make. The trickiest part of this cake is making sure you don’t have any lingering cherry pits in your cherries, which totally happened due to a less-than-stellar cherry pitter that broke after about 10 cherries.
Needless to say, it got returned.
So, super easy chocolate cake, a simple whipped cream for frosting, and fresh cherries. That’s really all you need.
In order to keep it traditional, I also made a cherry syrup (using kirsch – cherry liqueur) to brush onto the cake layers.
You can leave this out if you’d like to keep it kid-friendly or use a non-alcoholic cherry syrup.
How to Make Chocolate Bark
The chocolate bark on the side of the cake is much easier to make than it looks. I first saw this on my friend Janette’s Irish Chocolate Cake. She has a video tutorial to show you how to make it, and I basically followed her steps: melt chocolate, spread on parchment, chill, unroll.
The only difference is that I popped mine into the freezer for 20mins instead of the fridge for 30mins because I’m mega impatient.
I actually didn’t think it would work out, to be honest, since it was my first time trying it and all, but it worked great!
I actually thought my pieces were too big/thick and was thisclose to re-melting it and trying it again, but after I placed them on the cake they looked perfect.
You will have to work quickly with this chocolate bark — since the chocolate isn’t tempered, it will melt on contact.
I recommend using food safe latex gloves so that you’re not touching the chocolate directly. It will help a ton. I also popped the chocolate shards back in the fridge/freezer here and there to cool them off — it was a hot day too, so that didn’t help my plight.
At one point I actually had the cake and bark in the fridge and was placing the shards on the cake with the fridge door open (lol).
Desperate times. Is it Fall yet??
I used a vegetable peeler on a block of chocolate to create the chocolate shavings on top, and then used a 1M tip to pipe rosettes out of the whipped cream on top.
Really though, you could skip all the bells and whistles and just do a rustic frosting job with the whipped cream.
If you’re a Black Forest Cake fan, I hope you try this version! And if you’re not, maybe this recipe will convert you.
It is much better than the ones you can get at the grocery store, I promise!
Tips for this Black Forest Cake:
- You can leave the cherry liqueur out (though it is traditional) or use a non-alcoholic version.
- You can use maraschino cherries or use cherry pie filling instead of fresh cherries.
- When making the whipped cream frosting, make sure everything is chilled, as the cream will whip up better. I stick my mixer bowl and whisk in the freezer beforehand to chill them before starting.
- I used this technique from my friend Janette to create the chocolate bark. I recommend wearing food safe latex gloves when handling the bark, as the heat from your hands will melt the chocolate. Work quickly regardless!
- This cake will not keep incredibly long due to the whipped cream. I recommend eating within 1-2 days and storing in the fridge. I do not recommend freezing.
- To help ensure your cake layers bake up nice and flat, see my Flat Top Cakes post.

Black Forest Cake
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake:
- 2 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder sifted
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup buttermilk room temperature
- 1 cup hot water or hot coffee
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Cherry Liqueur Syrup:
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup cherry liqueur
Whipped Cream Frosting:
- 3 cup whipping cream cold
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar sifted
Chocolate Bark:
- 250 g good quality dark chocolate chopped
Assembly:
- 2 1/2 cups cherries pitted and cut in half
- 1 bar dark chocolate for shavings (optional)
- cherries
Instructions
Chocolate Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350F, grease two 8" round baking pans and dust with cocoa powder. Line bottoms with parchment.
- Place all dry ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Stir to combine.
- In a medium bowl whisk all wet ingredients (pour hot water in slowly as not to cook the eggs).
- Add wet ingredients to dry and mix on medium for 2-3 mins. Batter will be very thin.
- Pour evenly into prepared pans. I used a kitchen scale to ensure the batter is evenly distributed.
- Bake for 45 mins or until a cake tester comes out mostly clean.
- Cool 10 minutes in the pans then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Cherry Liqueur Syrup:
- Place sugar and water into a small pot. Stir and bring to a boil. Simmer for 1 min then remove from heat. Stir in cherry liqueur and allow to cool completely.
Whipped Cream Frosting:
- Whip cream and powdered sugar until stiff peaks. Ideally in a cold bowl with a cold whisk.
Chocolate Bark:
- Melt chocolate over a double boiler or in 20 second bursts in the microwave.
- Using a large offset spatula, spread melted chocolate in a thin layer on a large sheet of parchment.
- Roll up from the short side of the parchment. Place on a baking sheet and refrigerate or freeze until firm.
- Unroll to create chocolate bark.
Assembly:
- Cut each cake layer in half horizontally.
- Place one layer of cake on a cake stand or serving plate. Brush generously with cherry syrup.
- Top with approximately 1 cup whipped cream and spread evenly. Top with approximately 1 cup of cherries and gently press them into the whipped cream. Repeat with remaining layers and frost the outside of the cake.
- Decorate with chocolate bark, chocolate shavings, rosettes, and cherries if desired.
Anu says
Hi Thank you for this. Is this whipped cream stable enough to decorate? If not, do you have a stabilized whipped cream recipe ?
Olivia says
Hi Anu! The whipped cream will be very soft, even a stabilized version. How are you wanting to decorate it?
Alina says
Hello, I really enjoyed making this recipe last year – it turned out delicious!
I would like to make it again, but with smaller pans. Do you have any recommendation on how to adjust the recipe for two 6″ pans? Thank you so much.
James says
Sorry I’ve got one more question. I only have 9″ pans. What do you think the adjustment would need to be to the sponge? Thanks
Olivia says
Hi James! Converting pan sizes is always tricky. Here are some sites I use as a guideline:
http://www.joyofbaking.com/PanSizes.html
https://www.cookipedia.co.uk/recipes_wiki/Cake_tin_conversion_charts
Based on that I would 1.25x the recipe. You can change the Servings to 15 to get the amounts. Baking time may need to be adjusted.
James says
Is one of the questions for you. Some recipes use heavy cream versus whipping cream. Any reason?
Olivia says
Hi James! Either will work, it just depends on what’s available to you. Heavy cream has a slightly higher fat content than whipping (36% vs 33% or so). The differing recipes are probably due to what’s available. Here I can only find whipping cream.
Alina says
Hello! I made this recipe for my birthday last year and it was delicious! I would like to make it again this year, but with smaller 6″ pans (instead of the 8″ pans the recipe calls for).
Could you please tell me how I should adjust the serving size/ingredients to accommodate two smaller 6″ pans? Thank you so much!
Olivia says
Hi Alina! The recipe as-is will work for three 6″ pans, for two 6″ pans 2/3 the recipe or change the Servings to 8 to get the amounts 🙂
Alina says
Thank you so much! I didn’t see your reply and commented twice – oops!
Olivia says
No problem! Let me know how it turns out 🙂
James says
I am about to make this. Would it be fine to separate the eggs and fold in the egg whites after beating them? That seems to be a method on many other versions of this cake. Or is that not necessary?
Olivia says
Hi James! No, that won’t work here. The batter is very thin so just mix the eggs in as per the recipe.
Grace says
This recipe looks amazing! I’m wanting to make this for my partner’s birthday but dont want to make it so big. Do you think it would be fine to halve the recipe and make 1 cake (2 layers)
Olivia says
Hi Grace! For sure, that will be no problem. You can adjust the Servings to 6 to get the amounts.
Janet says
How can I make the Black Forest cake recipe as cupcakes?
Olivia says
Hi Janet! Yes, you just need to reduce the baking time. Start checking at 15mins or so.
Kelsey says
Hi! I have a goal to make all of your cakes, and this is my third one! I have a question though… am I suppose to bake this in 8-inch pans with 3-inch sides? I used 2-inch sides, and when I noticed a burned smell at about 25 minutes left of baking, I looked in the oven and the batter was falling over the sides! So I assume that the height of my pans is where I went wrong. 😊
Olivia says
Hi Kelsey! Yikes! That should not happen. I use 2″ tall pans and the cakes bake close to the top of them but never overflow. Are your sides straight or tapered? Or are you at high elevation?
Kelsey says
Nope! My sister was the one measuring out the ingredients, and she added 2 teaspoons of both baking soda and powder. 🤦♀️ So we turned that cake into a trifle because it was still yummy, and the next morning I tried again. It turned out perfectly that time! This is such a good cake! Thank you for taking the time go help me figure out what went wrong. It was totally the baker’s error here, haha! Also, I am so glad you only added 1/4 cup of sugar to the whipping cream. I think it would have been a sugar overload if there was more.
Olivia says
Ah, that would do it! So glad the second one worked out 🙂 And happy you loved the cake!
Alisa says
Made this by request for our son’s birthday and it was great! Couldn’t find cherry liqueur so soaked some cherries in a little vodka for a week plus reduced some cherries to give the syrup even more flavor.
Olivia says
Hi Alisa! So glad you loved it, thanks for your tips!
box says
really i appreciate, you made and guide properly regarding cake recipe now i want to try this recipe pictures also looking very awesome
Olivia says
Thank you! I hope you love it.
Maureen says
Hello Liv,
I am planning to make this for my daughter’s birthday in 2 weeks and ofcourse I am already researching and planning it. Is the recipe for a 2-layer cake? The picture shows 4 layers on the sliced cake. I just want it to look pretty and closer to your pictures. 🙂
Olivia says
Hi Maureen! Yes, it’s a two-layer 8″ cake and I cut each of the cake layers in half to make 4. I hope you love it 🙂
Alec Martin says
Hello! Where did you get the wood cake stand you used?
Olivia says
Hi Alec! I got it at Homesense (Homegoods). Williams Sonoma used to have a similar one but I can’t find it. If you google for “rustic wood cake stand” some similar ones pop up 🙂
Genny says
Instead of hot water could I use coffee instead?
Olivia says
Hi Genny! Yes, that will work fine.
kate says
going to be making this today for my mom, its her 6 years sober. i was wondering if i can replace the cherry liqueur with something else? thanks so much!!
Olivia says
Hi Kate! If you can find cherry syrup that will work well as a replacement for the cherry liqueur syrup recipe. Otherwise you can just leave it out! I hope your mom loves it 🙂
Kate says
Amazing I’ll do that. Thanks so much!
Beverly says
Hey Olivia!
Thank you for sharing this recipe! I made your Black Forest Cake for my boyfriend’s birthday and it was delicious!. Of course it was around the time of the heat dome in Metro Vancouver so the chocolate bark was definitely a challenge!
Challenges aside, the cake was easy to make and cherries were in season! Woot! I couldn’t find any Kirsch at any of the local BCL stores, so ended up using cherry brandy and it turned out great! (Can you believe the closest BCL store that carries Kirsch is in Princeton? We’ll take the motorcycle out for a day trip some time in August and grab some for next time!)
I remember as a kid my mom buying this cake every once in a while from either Woodward’s (this could’ve been before your time!) or Safeway.. What a difference when you use fresh REAL cherries, eh?
Thanks again for a great recipe!
Olivia says
Hi Beverly! That heat dome was insane, right?? This week is hot as it is but that was a whole ‘nother level of craziness. I hope it’s not a regular occurrence. Strange about the Kirsch! I was able to get mine locally but can’t remember which store. Somewhere in PoCo I believe. Glad the brandy worked well 🙂 And Woodward’s was definitely my time! I miss that store <3 So happy you loved this recipe. Thanks for the wonderful feedback!
Janet says
I’m interested I. Making this 13×9 as well but if I change servings to 15 it says 2 1/2 eggs how would I do that or should I just go to 18servings to even the ingredients? But either way what would temperature be and bake for how long?
Olivia says
Hi Janet! For half an egg you can use one white or one yolk. You could also change the servings to 18 and use those amounts. Just be sure to not fill the pan more than half full. The batter is very thin but rises a lot. Baking temperature would stay the same but baking time will be longer depending on how you adjust the recipe.
Janet says
Thank you for the info. I did the 15 serving it’s in the oven now
Fingers crossed!!! I’ve made this cake about 15 times and every loves it!! I’m praying the 13×9 comes out the same!!
Janet says
It came out perfectly! Thank you. So here is question #2….can I use same recipe for cupcakes? And how long would I bake those at 350 degrees
Olivia says
Yay! So happy to hear that. Yes to cupcakes. Start checking at 15mins or so 🙂
Vanessa says
If I was hoping to make this for 30 people, would you recommend 2 cakes, or is there a way to make it into a 13×9 slab cake with a few adjustments to the actual cake recipe? Thank you!
Olivia says
Hi Vanessa! You could make it in a 9×13 for sure. I would change the Servings to 15 and use those amounts.
JANET says
how long do you bake a 9X13 if changed to 15 servings? and at what temperature??
Olivia says
Hi Janet! Baking temperature stays the same, baking time will be similar if you do 15 servings, but be sure to check on the cake often to make sure it doesn’t over/under bake.
Vanessa says
Thanks so much!
Bethany says
DELICOUS cake! My son (16) and I made this because we had some fresh cherries that we wanted to make use of. They are such an improvement over the ghastly marachinos. This recipe is easy to follow, even with all the steps. The chocolate cake may be “basic” but is incredibly flavorful. The whipped cream brings a lightness and cuts the sweetness. The fresh cherries are hidden treats, not land mines. We didn’t use the liquor this time, so I cant comment on that other than to say that the cake is moist enough and tasty enough without it. Presentation elicited oohs and ahs. Overall a great recipe. I think we’ll be buying your book. 🙂
Olivia says
Hi Bethany! Ghastly maraschinos is right! lol. Thanks so much for the wonderful feedback!
Blanca Huerta says
Great!! Congratulations 🙂
Olivia says
Thank you Blanca!
Shalet says
Hi
Can I use vanilla swiss meringue buttercream instead of whipping cream? Would it go well with this cake?
Olivia says
Hi Shalet! Yes for sure. It’s heavier than whipped cream and not traditional but flavor wise it will be just fine.