Food: Black Forest Cake or SB Gets Back to Baking

Last weekend I put the finishing touches on my first baking project in a while – a Black Forest Cake – and left it sitting on the kitchen counter. Later, when I heard a crash in the cake’s general vicinity, I hoped I would walk in to find it smashed on the floor. That way I could have just assumed it was delicious, put all of my baking issues behind me, and taken Dave out for ice cream instead of hoping he’d say nice things about another failed dessert.

Unfortunately, the cake survived the (minor) disaster, but as it turns out, it was also fairly tasty. A recipe from Cooking Light’s Best Baking Recipes (on shelves now), my favorite part was the cherry filling. A 14 oz jar of tart cherries, 2/3 cup cranberry juice (the recipe called for cocktail, but I used straight juice), 2/3 cup sugar, 1/4 cup water, and 3 tbsp cornstarch (brought to a boil and thickened for 1 minute) made cherry filling that was much better, and much healthier, than anything you’d buy off the shelf. The cake itself was fine, not particularly moist but not dry, and made with reduced fat and sugar.

I did make one major change to the recipe, which calls for “reduced fat whipped topping.” I’ll use Cool Whip when the occasion calls for it, but real whipped cream is just so much better – and two cups of the stuff only amounts to a few spoonfuls per piece, so you don’t have to feel too bad.

As always, I’m skeptical of Cooking Light’s serving suggestions – they think you can get 16 out of this cake – I don’t think I have a knife that sharp. But I’d say 10 pieces wouldn’t be out of the question.

Voila!