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Black Forest Cake

Serving slice of Black Forest cake with chocolate layers and cherries
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Ready to bake the BEST chocolate cake layers for your Black Forest cake? This recipe makes them super moist, rich, and perfect for stacking. They’re the amazing foundation for that classic dessert. Let’s do this!

Ingredients

Scale
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled!)
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1.5 cups granulated sugar
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
  • 2 large eggs (room temp!)
  • 1/2 cup full-fat sour cream (room temp!)
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk (room temp!)
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup hot water or hot brewed coffee

Instructions

  1. Get Ready: Fire up your oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and flour two 8 or 9-inch round cake pans. Pro tip: Line the bottoms with parchment paper for easy release!
  2. Dry Mix: Grab a big bowl. Whisk together the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Make sure there are no sneaky cocoa clumps!
  3. Wet Mix: In a separate medium bowl, whisk the oil, room-temp eggs, room-temp sour cream, room-temp buttermilk, and vanilla until nice and smooth.
  4. Combine: Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Using a spatula, mix just until you don’t see big streaks of flour. Seriously, don’t overmix! A few lumps are totally fine.
  5. Hot Liquid Magic: Gently stir in the hot water or coffee until just blended. The batter will get thinner – that’s perfect!
  6. Bake Time: Divide the batter evenly between your prepared pans. Bake for 35-40 minutes. You’ll know they’re done when a wooden skewer poked into the center comes out clean (or with a few moist crumbs).
  7. Cool Down is Crucial: Let the cakes cool in their pans on a wire rack for about 15-20 minutes. Then, carefully flip them out onto the rack, peel off the parchment (if using), and let them cool completely. And I mean completely – no cheating! Warm cakes = messy assembly.

Notes

  • Serving Ideas: These layers are your delicious starting point! Once cool, level the tops, maybe brush with some simple syrup (or cherry syrup!), then layer with whipped cream and that yummy cherry filling for the full Black Forest Cake experience. Serve the finished cake chilled!
  • Tips & Tricks: Room temp ingredients (eggs, sour cream, buttermilk) really do make a difference! Spoon your flour into the measuring cup, don’t scoop. Using hot coffee instead of water makes the chocolate flavor even deeper. Never try to assemble or frost a warm cake – patience pays off!
  • Storage:
    • Layers Only: Once totally cool, wrap tightly in plastic wrap. They’re good at room temp for up to 2 days. For longer storage, wrap well (plastic wrap + foil/freezer bag) and freeze for 2-3 months. Thaw still wrapped in the fridge overnight.
    • Assembled Cake: Keep the finished cake covered in the fridge. Enjoy within 3-4 days (cream is best in the first 2). Don’t freeze the assembled cake – it gets weird.

Find it online: https://recipesh.com/black-forest-cake/