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.
Chana rose says
Hi, I want to make it but need to make it in advance? Which part of this cake doesn’t freeze well?
Olivia says
Hi Chana! The only part of this cake that I recommend freezing is the cake layers themselves.
Zuzanna says
Best cake ever!!! Im making it again right now for christmas🤗🤗🥰
Olivia says
Hi Zuzanna! So glad you love it. Have a wonderful Christmas!
Lois Van Nest says
How would cherry pie filling work between 2 layers ,the cake turned out beautiful
Olivia says
Hi Lois! Yes, that would work.
Mathilde says
Hi Liv. Can i use cherry souse (kirsebærsovs) instead of cherry liqueur? I can’t find cherry sirup and cherry liqueur is a bit expensive for one cake.
Also, can I make the chocolate cake the day before? And maybe the chocolate bark?
Olivia says
Hi Mathilde! I think the cherry souse would be fine. And yes, you can make both the day before. Store at room temperature or in the fridge if your place is warm.
Mathilde says
Alright, thank you
Jessica says
Loved this recipe, coworkers said it was the best cake I had made (and I’ve made quite a few). I tempered the chocolate for the bark (highly recommend so it’s easier to manage!).
Olivia says
SO glad you and your coworkers loved it, Jessica 🙂
TheLinzburger says
Mmm thanks Liv! My husband requested a black forest cake for his 40th birthday. I studied all week by watching YouTube videos and searching Google and decided to use your recipe as my guide. I followed the cake recipe exactly and it was amazing. Even the raw batter smelled incredible. I used 2 9″ aluminum Nordic Ware pans which baked up in 35 minutes. Due to the larger size, my layers were shorter so I decided not to risk cutting them in half. Our two layer cake came out absolutely delicious and beautiful. Thank you!
Olivia says
I am so glad you both loved it. Thank you for the wonderful feedback!
Keith Phillips says
Step one says grease the pans and dust with powder, then line. then line the bottoms with parchment. Why would
you dust the bottoms and then put parchment paper over that. Am I just interpreting this wrong?
Also, for the bark and assembly, do you use semi sweet, sweetened or something else?
Thanks
Olivia says
Hi Keith! The parchment on the bottom helps make sure the cakes pop out of the pans. You could maybe get by with just grease/dust, but I always line them with parchment and have never had an issue so highly recommend it.
For the bark I used semi-sweet but you can use any you like. I do recommend a higher quality one overall for flavour and texture. Lindt is a good grocery store brand to use.
Dolce Delights says
Outstanding cake recipe
I have had so many compliments
Olivia says
So happy you like it!
Kim says
Hey Olivia!
I’m really excited to try your recipe for my husband’s birthday. I too am not a huge fan of maraschino cherries but right now cherries are not in season here in Ontario. Could I use frozen cherries or would they get too mushy?
My husband doesn’t mind pie filling or the maraschino cherries, but was thinking fresh might be a nice change
Olivia says
Hi Kim! I feel like they could be a bit mushy when thawed but you can give them a try.
Lena says
Hi Kim,
I read your question; instead of being in Canada with cherries out of season, we are actually in Florida but find ourselves in the same situation 😉 I plan to make the cake for Thanksgiving dessert. Did the frozen cherries work out for you? How did the cake turn out? Thank you kindly, Lena
Miki says
My favorite chocolate cake recipe! I make it all the time both with this filling and others!
Also, I use frozen cherries all the time. They aren’t quite attractive enough for the top, but drain them as they thaw and they still have a great texture for the inside! So nice during the winter.
Olivia says
So happy to hear you love it, Miki!
Lin says
Can you make this a day or two ahead p?
Olivia says
Hi Lin! A day is probably ok but I don’t recommend longer as the whipped cream doesn’t keep all that well.
MrsJDT says
Hi! Our church is having a German-themed feast in a few weeks, so I naturally thought of a Black Forest Cake. Your recipe was the top hit in my search engine, and I was instantly taken by the picture. GORGEOUS!!! But I had to laugh. The first few paragraphs sounded like they were written by my husband. I sent them to him, and I could hear him laughing out loud from the other room. 😂 He only found out that he really does like REAL cherries after we were married! 😆
But my main point in commenting is to ask where you got your cake stand?! It’s stunning, and so perfect for this!
Thank you for the recipe, great tips and steps and stunning pictures. I can’t wait to try it (with my husband’s full support)! 😉
Olivia says
Hi MrsJDT! It’s really unfair that the maraschino dominated our childhoods 😂 I got the cake stand at Homesense but you can find similar on Amazon: https://amzn.to/494XxMG I hope you both love it! 🙂
Kelly Stephanie says
Hey Liv
These layers came out very flat and dense….and I followed your recipe precisely. Any idea why it didn’t rise?
Olivia says
Hi Kelly! The cakes should actually rise a lot — double in size. Check to make sure your baking powder & baking soda are still fresh as that would be the main culprit.
Louh says
Hello Olivia,
I used to do this wonderfull recipe and buy the items that i need by clicking on the links. The links dont work anymore and i want to use the same things you used because it came out delicious.
Could you please update the links?
Olivia says
Hi Louh! Thank you for letting me know. I’ll go through soon and update the links.
Lu says
Hi!! This sounds very delicious. What else can I use insead of cherry liqueur?
Olivia says
Hi Lu! I talk about this in the Tips section of the post.
Sophia A. says
I’ve made this cake three times in a matter of weeks. It’s delicious. Thanks, Liv.
Olivia says
Hi Sophia! It’s a hit over here too. Glad you loved it!
Ari says
Can you use brown sugar instead of white sugar?
Olivia says
Hi Ari! You can give it a try. I haven’t done it myself but it should work ok. May change the texture slightly.
Sophia says
Hi, I used a mixture of brown and white sugar. It worked well.
Sara says
Did you use just 1 recipe or x2 for the picture? How many would you say ot served. Planning on making this for my birthday.
Olivia says
Hi Sara! I made 1x the recipe for what you see in the picture and it served 12 generously.
Nardeen says
Hey I was looking to make this cake for my brother’s birthday but I only have a 10 inch cake pan. Would I need to adjust the recipe then? It looks marvellous but I can’t go out to get another pan anytime soon!
Olivia says
Hi Nardeen! 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 think you should be ok baking the recipe as is in one 10″ cake pan. Baking time will be longer though.
Emily says
Love this cake! My son always whant this for his birthday 🙂 we live in sweden så every year before I bake, I Google all terms and meassures:) maybe it’s time for me to whrite down a translate of this recipe 🙂
Olivia says
Hi Emily! I’m so happy you love it.
Allie says
Maybe a silly question. But want to make this into a sheet cake-ish. For my father in-laws birthday. Any tips?!
Olivia says
Hi Allie! It should work ok in a 9×13″ pan but the baking time may be slightly different. Just watch it as it’s baking.
elaine ellison says
Thank you for sharing this. Would it be possible to use frozen cherries. Most of my birthdays are in the off season when fresh are not available.
Olivia says
Hi Elaine! You can but they will probably be quite mushy when thawed.