Making a cake for my friend Jenny.  She requested a black forest cake, a new recipe for me.

For the cake:

Betty Crocker Devils Food

1 box instant chocolate pudding

1 scoop of sour cream

~1/4 cup of flour

4 eggs

oil & water per box

For the filling and the syrup:

I started with the recipe from here:  http://last-bite.pinodita.com/2009/06/black-forest-cake-and-cupcakes/

But was limited by the grocery store.

Cherries and syrup:
2 cups jarred sour cherries in light syrup, drained with 1 cup syrup reserved [I couldn't find these at Kings Soopers.  I found a 14.5 ounce can of red tart cherries in water]
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) sugar  [I used ~1/4 cup of sugar since I didn't have 2 cups of cherries]
1/2 cup kirsch or other cherry flavored liqueur  [I used ~1/3 cup of kirsch since didn't have 2 cups of cherries]

Since the canned cherries didn’t look very decorative, I decided to use marshino cherries for the top.

So, take the canned cherries and drain and reserve all the water.  Combine water in sauce pan with ~1/4 cup of granulated sugar and simmer for 5-10 minutes until it condenses a little.  The recipe at the link above says to remove from heat, then add Kirsch.  I like the alcohol to boil off, so I added it for the last minute of the simmer.  Once done, set aside to cool.

Take the cherries and cut into 1/2s or 1/4s.  Add 3 tablespoons of the syrup above back in to the cherries and set aside.

Brush some of the syrup above onto the 2 9 inch cake rounds.  I applied to the bottom for less crumbs.

Make stabilized whipped cream.  Add 1.5 cups of whipping cream and the remaining syrup into stand mixer with beater.  Whip until soft peaks, add 2 tablespoons of piping gel to stabilize whipped cream and finish beating until stiff peaks.

For the topping/icing:

Make stabilized whipped cream.  Add 2 cups of whipping cream, some vanilla extract and ~1/4 cup of powdered sugar and whip until soft peaks.  Add 2 tablespoons of piping gel to stabilize and finish beating until stiff peaks.

Use a semi-sweet or dark chocolate bar and a cheese shredder and create chocolate shreds for the top.

Set aside 6 marshino cherries and let soak in Kirsch.

Assembling:

Cut each 9 inch round in 1/2.  This will create 3 layers of filling.  Layer cake with a thin layer of the cherry whipped cream filling and spread the chopped cherries, being sure to drain the syrup from the cherries before adding them to the layer.  Continue alternating cake and filling.  For the topping, ice the cake with the vanilla whipped icing.  Using a medium star tip, create 6 sitting spots for the marshino cherries.  Drain the liquid from the 6 set aside cherries and pat paper towel to get all liquid off.  Set cherries on the little sitting spots.  Top the cake with shredded chocolate.

Black Forest Cake