This beautiful black forest meringue cake entered my life when I was tasked with baking for a dear friend who is not only gluten and dairy-free – but who is also allergic to almonds. And a foodie. I meeeeaaannn, what a challenge right! So, aside from stewed fruit, (and I just wasn’t prepared to give up like that) I was kind of at a loss as to what on Earth to cook, I’d already made pavlova and my famous orange cake (full of almonds) was now off the cards. So, thankfully I remembered this decadent meringue looking cake I’d come across when working at the magazine… and sure enough when I looked under the hood, it was not only free from gluten, but amazingly no nuts to be found. And thus the evolution of this cake was born.
Packed full of 70% dark chocolate, this is not a cake for the faint-hearted, a dessert at least an aphrodisiac at best. You could almost be fooled into mistaking it for a brownie… but not so my friends, not so – and when paired with a coconut cream, regular cream, ice cream AND a cherry coulis.. good lord ladies and gentlemen, you’ll truly want to be sitting down for this one.
The Most Impressive Gluten-Free Cake You’ve Ever Eaten…
What makes an impressive gluten-free bake… that you don’t know it’s gluten-free of course! I’m from the era when being told you were to live a life sans gluten was basically a death sentence for your taste buds. In the health food stores, where I worked, you were automatically given bread that was some kind of foamy brick situation, that was actually more like cake than bread – and you were given rice, rice flour, rice crackers, rice pasta… it truly was grim. These days, there’s a lot more choice out there and lots of people peddling new and delicious gluten-free alternatives – I’ve even seen sourdough made from flour that claims to be so well fermented all the gluten has been eaten away… now that’s a bit of magic right there.
So when I tell you that this cake is nothing short of miraculous, and you can serve it with equal assurance to your gluten-free goddesses as to your regular eating folks… I promise you, I’m telling the truth and I’ve put it to the taste test to prove it.
Chantelle mcfaddon
Rich and delightfully decadent. Black Forest cake, who? This is the new kid on the block, and they are here to stay!
Whether you’re entertaining, baking for a gluten-free friend or just simply interested in eating the richest most sensual cake you’ve ever tried… this recipe is one for the collection, guaranteed!
Also Read: Incredible caramelised orange cake
Tips for baking with meringue:
Baking meringue can be a delicate process, but with some attention to detail, you can achieve delicious, fluffy, and crispy meringue every time… It’s a skill worth investing the time into mastering, not just because us Aussies are extremely keen on our Pavlovas but also because it’s such a rewarding thing to bake AND a great base for light desserts of all kinds.
- Use room temperature egg whites: Cold egg whites take longer to whip and may not reach the desired volume.
- Use a clean and grease-free bowl: Any trace of grease or oil can prevent the egg whites from whipping properly. Ensure your mixing bowl and beaters are clean and dry.
- Beat the egg whites properly: Start whisking the egg whites on low speed until they become frothy, then gradually increase the speed. Once the mixture forms soft peaks, slowly add sugar while continuing to beat until stiff peaks form. Overbeating can lead to a grainy texture, so stop once stiff peaks are achieved.
- Gradually add sugar: Adding sugar slowly allows it to dissolve properly, resulting in a smoother meringue.
- Use caster sugar or superfine sugar: Caster sugar dissolves more easily in the egg whites, creating a smoother meringue. If you don’t have caster sugar, you can pulse regular granulated sugar in a food processor to make it finer.
- Add stabilizers (optional): You can add a pinch of cream of tartar or a few drops of lemon juice or vinegar to stabilize the meringue and help it hold its shape better. I always forget to do this, but I have heard that it does help.
- Avoid baking in a humid environment: Meringues can absorb moisture from the air, causing them to become sticky and lose their crispiness. Try to bake meringues on dry days and make sure to store them away from steam, or any other source of moisture.
- Use parchment paper or silicone mats: Line your baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mats to prevent sticking and make it easier to remove the meringues after baking.
- Bake at a low temperature: Bake the meringues at a low temperature (around 200°F or 95°C) to slowly dry them out without browning too much. This process can take 1-2 hours, depending on the size of your meringues.
- Allow for proper cooling and storage: Once baked, let the meringues cool completely on the baking sheet before storing them in an airtight container to retain their crispness.
With these tips, you’ll be well on your way to creating beautiful, delicious and perfectly textured meringues every time.
No Cherries? No worries, mon cherie!
First and foremost, I am a lover of all things seasonal and cherries never seem to be in abundance here in WA – so part of the inspiration for this recipe was having a haul left over from Christmas, a fruit that I very rarely use in my cooking (except for a certain delicious duck recipe!). So, I had a huge container of fresh-frozen cherries and almost an entire jar of morello cherries in syrup sitting around.. and I was delighted to have an opportunity to use them up! That said, really any berry would do I imagine!
- Blueberries: Blueberries would make a wonderful substitute, they cook down into a compote very easily, and hot tip, I always keep a stash of them frozen for this purpose. Make sure to add a good dose of sugar though, both for the syrupy consistency, and for the taste as they can be a very mild-flavoured fruit.
- Raspberries: Raspberries have a similar tartness to cherries and can be used in place of cherries quite easily. They also pair very well with chocolate and easily cook down into a quite compote.
- Blackberries: Blackberries would actually be my preference as a substitute here, they have the right richness to them to really replace the cherry in all its glory. They are not at all abundant here in WA, however, and can be quite pricey out of season. So, I’d be most likely to give this a go if I was out foraging up an abundance of them on the hillsides of Ireland again or on a farm down south in the summertime. There are cheaper and more accessible substitutes in the meantime
- Cranberries: I’ve very rarely had the fortune of working with fresh (or frozen) cranberries, but I would suggest they’d do quite well as a substitute here too.
- Illawarra plums: Just to throw in a little curve ball here, as Australian native ingredients are increasing in popularity, it’s likely this little fruit will find its way into the mainstream at some point. It’s basically a prehistory blueberry with half as much flavour – so if you do happen upon hem and want to give them a go, I’d probably do a 50:50 ratio with blueberries or a mix of berries.
- Combination of all of the above: By all means, and this is something I also often do, grab your pack of frozen mixed berries (the same one you use for your smoothies) and whack it in a saucepan with some sugar and you’re sure to have a delightfully fruity and complex compote on your hands that would also work really well with this cake.
You’ll probably notice I didn’t say strawberries here, well that’s mainly because I have a bug bare with them… firstly they have a very high water content and they don’t cook down as easily as the other fruits, and I’m just too impatient for that.
Secondly, I’m a strawberry snob and unless you can get them straight from the farm, grown in real soil, with real sunlight and from an heirloom variety or strawberry plant this isn’t bread for mass production.. it’s extremely hard to find strawberries that actually taste like strawberries. If you are lucky enough to actually find some good ones, and in abundance, then by all means compote them till the cows come home and while you’re at it… save a punnet or 10 for me, send me a message and I’ll be on my way to you quicker than you can say “flavour town”.
Step By Step: Preparing the Perfect Cake
Since this is not a traditional meringue, because it’s got a higher fat content with the cacao butter and the egg yolks, there are a couple of specific things you should know about how to get the best result each time.
- Make sure your egg whites are truly forming stiff peaks, they should stay solid when you take the beater out – but also don’t overwhip them!
- Whip your egg yolks too.
- Fold do not mix. Only fold to the point where the ingredients are fully incorporated but try to lose as little airation as you can.
- Bake it low and slow – you are better to bake for longer on slower to make sure the cake doesn’t burn if you have a slightly dodgy oven (like we do currently), remembering It is essentially a meringue and is drying out as much as it is cooking.
- Always use a spring form pan and baking paper on the bottom – this cake WILL stick to the sides and you cannot turn it over to get it out because you’ll break the crust on top – and ruin its beautiful rustic aesthetic as well as probably end up with a broken cake on your hands.
- You can serve it by itself – but I really do believe the adornments maketh the whole experience.
Keep these simple things in mind and you are sure to have a perfect bake every time – and even if it’s not perfect, believe me, you and your guests will still love it. I had to serve it by the spoonful the first time I made it… that didn’t stop us from emptying the cake tin!
Enhancing the Recipe: A Few Secrets
I find it magical when I can turn such simple every day ingredients into a work of luxurious art like this, but it does make it all the more important to choose wisely what you bake with:
Dark chocolate: I always use Lindt 70%… I can’t get into commercial cooking chocolates, I find them too loaded with sugar and not a good enough balance of cacao butter to cocoa… but that said, they should work well enough in this recipe too.
Eggs: Just make sure they are fresh – meringues will notoriously not beat properly with old eggs.
Butter: Sub in your dairy-free alternatives with no bother here. I did and no one could tell the difference, even a huge butter convert like me
Sugar: Must be castor sugar. Any other would not dissolve properly in the egg whites I’m afraid. Although I’d be very keen to see what powdered erythtirol would do in this recipe.
Coffee: I’ve not used instant because I’m a coffee snob, but I can’t see any reason it wouldn’t work – it’s only there for moisture and to enhance the luxurious chocolate flavour.
Cream: Each time I’ve made this, I’ve opted for a coconut-based dairy alternative (that actually whips) but the original recipe that inspired me actually used fully-fledged regular cream with baileys in it… now maybe not with the cherry compote, but on its own, I’d hazard a guess that’s a great combo to.
I’d love to see how you customise this and make it your own. Don’t forget to shout out to us on social if you do!
Beautiful Black Forest Meringue Cake
Equipment
- 1 20cm cake tin
- 1 stand or hand beater
Ingredients
For the cake
- 250 gram dark chocolate 70% (melted)
- 5 large eggs (separated)
- 220 grams caster sugar
- 100 ml coffee (preferably plunger or espresso)
- 125 grams butter or dairy-free alternative (softened)
For the cherry coulis
- 1 jar cherries
- 1/2 cup caster sugar
For the topping
- 360 ml cream (or dairy-free alternative that whips)
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
Instructions
For the meringue cake
- Heat the oven to 120˚C if fan forced or 140˚C for other.
- Grease your cake tin and line with baking paper – you will need this to be able to remove the cake from the tin so don't skip this step please!
- Separate the eggs and first whip the egg whites to a stiff peak gradually adding the sugar as you go. The beater should be able to hold the mixture as you pull it away.
- Whip the egg yolks and butter together.
- Either melt the chocolate in a Bain marie or do like I do and give it 10 second bursts in the microwave until you get it properly melted – about 40 seconds with my very under-performing microwave.
- Add the coffee, melted chocolate to the egg yolk and butter (make sure neither are too hot – you'll cook the egg yolks.) mix together.
- Fold (not mix) in the egg whites very careful to keep it fluffy until all ingredients are combined.
- Pour into the cake tin and bake for 55 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean, check after 45 minutes.
For the coulis
- Add the contents of the cherries in syrup to a saucepan with the sugar.
- Bring to the boil, then turn down and simmer on high for around 20 minutes or until the mixture reaches a syrupy consistency .
For the cream
- Add the sugar to the cream and whip until it forms peaks. Store in the fridge until ready to serve.
Assembly
- Wait until the cake is just above room temperature or cool. Carefully remove the cake tin casing and slide onto the plate. You will unlikely be able to remove the baking paper on the bottom – just be careful not to serve it too!
- Add the coulis and top with the whipped cream. Serve with fresh cherries and scatterings of melted chocolate if you're feeling fancy.
Notes
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