Ingredients (serves 10)

• 2 cups Flour
• 11/2 cups Sugar
• 3/4 cup Cocoa powder -unsweetened
• 11/2 tsps Baking soda
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• Salt - pinch
• 1 cup Milk
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp Vanilla essence
• 11/2 tbsps Instant coffee powder
• 1 cup Hot water
• 2 eggs
• 600ml cream
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tin cherries
• 1/2 cup Chocolate - grated or chocolate shards to decorate
• 1 pk cherry ripes
• For the GANACHE:
• 400ml cream
• 400g good quality dark chocolate

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175 c. Grease and flour two 9" cake pans.
2. Add instant coffee powder to the hot water and keep aside.
3. In a large bowl, sieve the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the sugar and mix well with the dry ingredients.
4. Make a well in the center and add the milk, oil, vanilla essence and beaten eggs and mix. Finally add the hot coffee mixture and mix. Do not over mix.
5. Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake pans and bake in the middle rack of the oven for 40 mins or until a skewer comes out clean. Start checking from 35 mins onwards.
6. Cool on a wire rack for 30 mins before inverting onto a wire rack. Bring to room temperature. If the cake has a dome shape, use a serrated knife and slice the dome off and level the cake till it has a flat top.
7. While the cake is cooling, prepare the whipping cream. Place the cream and sugar into a bowl and beat till stiff peaks form.
8. To make the Ganache:
9. Meanwhile, for the ganache icing, place the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to just below boiling point. Place the chocolate in a bowl and pour over the hot cream. Stir together until melted and smooth. Allow to cool for 15 minutes before pouring over the cake.
10. To assemble the cake:
11. Using a spatula spread the cream over the bottom layer of the cake.
12. Drain the tin cherries and arrange over the cream.
13. If you like you may mix a small amount of icing sugar with a small amount of the cherry syrup and pour over the bottom of the top layer of the cake.
14. Sprinkle the grated chocolate over the cream and cherry layer.
15. Now sandwich the bottom and top layers together.
16. Ice the cake with the cooled ganache, covering the top as well as the sides of the cake.
17. Place the cherry ripe chocolates around the out side of the cake and decorate the top of the cake to your liking. Note glace cherries are effective for this., or maybe a sugar flower as I have used.
18. Please EnJoY!

Notes

Black Forest Cake is my sons favourite and this decadent cake always pleases.