White Forest Cake

Vanilla sponge, cherry and kirsch jam, whipped cream and fresh cherries

Course Dessert

Cuisine European

Keyword Cake

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 30

Total Time 1 30

Servings

Calories 781kcal

Author thebakingexplorer

Ingredients

For the vanilla sponges

500 g Butter or baking spread softened, unsalted
500 g Caster sugar
9 Eggs large
2 tsp Vanilla extract
500 g Self raising flour
200 g White chocolate chips

For the cherry and kirsch jam

400 g Fresh cherries pitted & cut in half
Juice of half a lemon
260 g Granulated sugar
1 tbsp Kirsch or cherry brandy

For the filling

600 ml Double cream
2 tsp Vanilla extract
2 tbsp Icing sugar

For decoration

White chocolate curls
16 Fresh cherries

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

I advise making the jam first as it gives it time to cool down
Put your pitted and sliced cherries along with the granulated sugar and lemon juice in a pan, and warm on a low heat until the sugar is dissolved and the cherries are soft
Mash the cherries down a bit with a potato masher or fork
Bring to the boil and let it bubble for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally
Take it off the heat and pour the jam it into a bowl and add the kirsch. Stir it in, then put the jam in fridge to cool down.
Pre-heat your oven to 160C Fan/180C/350F/Gas Mark 4, and grease and line three 8" cake tins that are at least 2" deep
Make the vanilla sponge by mixing the butter and caster sugar in a large bowl ideally using an electric mixer, for around 3 minutes
Add the eggs and vanilla extract, and whisk until fully incorporated
Add the self raising flour and whisk in until you can't see any flour anymore
Gently fold in the white chocolate chips
Divide the mixture between the tins, use scales for accuracy if you like
Bake them for 30-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Leave them to fully cool either in the tins or on cooling racks
If the cakes have domed on top, level them off with a cake leveller or a knife
To make the filling use an electric whisk to whip up the double cream, vanilla extract and icing sugar until thick
Put the first sponge on your cake stand and spread or pipe over some of the cream filling. Then add some of the jam, letting it drip down the sides
Add the second sponge and do the same
Add the third sponge, pipe the remaining cream around the edge, add the remaining cherry jam in the middle, add the fresh cherries on top of the cream around the edge, and finally some white chocolate curls in the centre (you can make the curls by using a vegetable peeler to peel a block of white chocolate)
Serve immediately, leftovers will keep for 2-3 days in the fridge

Notes

Make sure your ingredients for the cake sponges (particularly the butter and eggs) are at room temperature before you start baking.
I used a baking spread for the cake, but you can use unsalted butter too.
For pitting the cherries, I highly recommend a cherry pitter, or you can also use a metal straw.
If you don't want to make the jam yourself, you can buy some cherry jam and stir kirsch into it.
Although I provide cup measurements, I highly recommend weighing your ingredients out using digital kitchen scales. It is the most accurate way to measure ingredients and will ensure the best results. Digital scales are very low cost and can be purchased for around £12 ($16.50) .
For teaspoon (tsp) and tablespoon (tbsp) measurements, please use measuring spoons and not the type of spoons you eat with. Again this will ensure accuracy and provide the best results.

For a two layer cake, use 335g of butter/caster sugar/self raising flour, 6 eggs, 135g white chocolate chips and 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract. For the cream, use 400ml double cream, 1 ½ tbsp icing sugar and 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract.

For a one layer cake use 175g of butter/caster sugar/self raising flour, 3 eggs, 65g white chocolate chips and 1 tsp vanilla extract. For the cream, use 200ml double cream, 1 tbsp icing sugar and 1 tsp vanilla extract.

Nutrition