Vegan Black Forest Cake

layered black forest cake with chocolate curls and cherries on top, on a white wooden surface.

This vegan Black Forest cake combines layers of moist and tender chocolate cake with homemade dairy-free whipped cream and sweet Kirsch-infused cherries.

Course Dessert

Cuisine German

Diet Vegan, Vegetarian

Prep Time 1 15

Cook Time 35

Total Time 1 50

Servings

Calories 376kcal

Author Christina Leopold

Ingredients

Chocolate Cake

280 g plain flour
250 g soft brown sugar
80 g Dutch-processed cocoa powder
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon sea salt
236 ml soy milk or other non-dairy milk
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
100 ml sunflower oil or light olive oil or rapeseed oil
200 ml hot strong coffee *see recipe notes

Cherry Filling

300 g frozen sour cherries or frozen sweet cherries (defrosted, see recipe notes) or pitted fresh cherries
150 ml cherry juice *see recipe notes
30 ml Kirschwasser or cherry brandy/brandy/Amaretto or cherry juice/apple juice for alcohol-free
30 g granulated sugar
15 g cornstarch
1 batch vegan whipped cream
150 g vegan dark chocolate

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Chocolate Cake

Preheat your oven to 180°C (356°F). Line the base of two 8" cake tins with a circle of parchment paper and spray the sides with oil spray.
Add the plain flour, soft brown sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and sea salt to a large mixing bowl, whisk and set aside. To make the vegan "buttermilk" add the soy milk and apple cider vinegar to a jug, stir and allow to sit for 10 minutes.
Add the vegan buttermilk mixture, sunflower oil, vanilla extract, and hot coffee to the bowl with the dry ingredients and whisk carefully to combine. Do not overmix the batter.
Divide the batter into the lined cake pans and bake for 30-35 minutes. Check they are ready by inserting a skewer, it should come out clean. Allow the cakes to cool in the tins for 15-20 minutes and then carefully turn them out onto a cooling rack to cool further. Refrigerate the cakes in an airtight container until ready to use. Chilling the cakes for a few hours (or overnight) makes them easier to work with and decorate.

Cherry Filling

Defrost the cherries and reserve the liquid juice if using (see recipe notes below).
Add 50ml of the cherry juice to a saucepan with cornstarch and sugar and whisk until evenly mixed. Add in the remaining cherry juice and simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring frequently with a rubber spatula or whisk. The mixture will thicken.
Remove the cherry mixture from the heat and stir in the Kirschwasser. Allow the mixture to cool slightly for 10 minutes, then stir in the cherries. Cool for another 10 minutes until it reaches room temperature.

Garnish

Make a batch of vegan whipped cream.
To make the chocolate curls, melt the chocolate and pour it into a small plastic container lined with parchment paper. Freeze for 20-30 minutes, then remove the block of chocolate from the container and use a potato peeler to create chocolate curls in long movements while applying pressure. I recommend wearing latex gloves for this step as the heat from your hands will melt the chocolate. If the chocolate gets too soft, return it to the freezer for 10 minutes and repeat.

Assembly

Using a serrated knife, carefully cut the domes from the tops of the cakes if there are any to get them as even as possible. If desired, you can leave the dome on the top cake, just like I did in the pictures shown. Place a tiny amount of whipped cream on a cake turntable and secure the first sponge layer on top of it.
Using a pastry brush, coat the first cake layer with some syrup from the cherry filling. Use a piping bag or offset spatula to spread a layer of the vegan whipped cream, followed by a layer of cherry filling. Place the second cake layer on top and coat with more syrup and vegan whipped cream followed by chocolate curls and some fresh cherries if desired.

Serving and Storage

Refrigerate the cake in an airtight container for up to 2-3 days. It is nest served on the same day its made. Remove from the fridge for up to an hour before serving.

Notes

Nutritional information is based on the cake without vegan whipped cream.
Defrost the cherries over a sieve or colander on top of a bowl for a couple of hours and reserve the drained juice for the recipe. This saves you from buying extra cherry juice, and you can top up the juice with a little water if the amount doesn't quite add up.
Measure the recipe in grams: As with all baking, measuring with a kitchen scale will always give you the most accurate results.
Don't overmix the cake batter: this can cause the gluten to become overworked.

Nutrition