Black Forest Fault Line Cake with Buttercream Frosting is a rich and classic cake, where moist and delicious chocolate layers are combined with fresh cherries, and rich, silky smooth and melt in mouth frosting.
This is my first fault line cake. I would definitely love to do more of it. Let me know if you guys want to see any different flavors and designs. I would love to try them out.
Black Forest Cake is the first bakery cake that I had tried in my school days and have loved it since then. Any bakery we visit, I would always order this cake. But since I got married and started baking on my own, I have prepared this multiple times at home and its a no fail recipe.
This chocolate cake is the best you will ever try. Traditionally, vanilla whipped cream frosting is used. But because I decided to do a fault line cake, I chose buttercream frosting. Butter cream frosting is super easy to make and handle, especially with larger cakes like this one. If you would still love to do the traditional black forest cake you can refer here for the whipped cream recipe.
Basically, this is my way of black forest cake.
I just love fresh cherries and when they are in season why not make the use of it. Fresh cherries are used in the recipe. To make it look fancier, I have decorated the cake with chocolates chunks, fresh cherries and chocolate barks.
To make the barks - melt the chocolate, spread it on parchment paper. Place another parchment paper on top and roll it from shorter edge and keep it in fridge until you are ready to decorate the cake and then unroll. Make sure you place them on the cake as soon as you remove from fridge as this will melt easily at room temperature. All the gold decorations that you see are using edible gold paint. This is totally optional.
"I have prepared this for a big crowd and thus have doubled the recipe of what I have given below. The recipe below will give you a nice thick 2-layered- or thin 4-layered-cake. If you would love to make the cake like the one shown in this picture double all the ingredient amounts" Any doubts please comment and I would be happy to help.
Ingredients
For Chocolate Cake
- 2 cups All purpose flour
- 2 cups Sugar
- ¾ cup Cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoon Baking soda
- 1 teaspoon Baking powder
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- ½ cup Vegetable oil or Canola oil
- 2 Eggs
- 1 cup Whole milk
- 2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon Instant coffee powder
- 1 cup Hot boiling water
For Sugar Cherry Syrup
- ¼ cup Sugar
- ½ cup Water
- ½ cup Cherries chopped
For Buttercream Frosting
- 4 Egg whites
- 16 oz Butter (salted or unsalted- 4 sticks)
- 16 oz Powdered sugar (Confectioners sugar)
- ½ teaspoon Salt (only if using unsalted butter)
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
For decoration (optional)
- 20 Fresh Cherries
- 4 oz Chocolate bars broken
- Edible gold paint
For Chocolate Bark
- 150 g Good quality chocolate
How to make Black Forest Fault Line Cake With Buttercream Frosting
To prepare Best Chocolate Cake (check notes)
- Preheat the oven to 350 degree F. Grease 8 inch or 9 inch baking pan with butter and keep it aside. If you are using a pan with good height, you can bake in a single pan but if your round pan is shorter in height then bake in two baking pans.
- In a large mixing bowl, add all dry ingredients - flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt and mix.
- To this add oil, vanilla extract, eggs, whole milk and mix until just combined.
- Add instant coffee powder to the boiling water and pour this on the cake batter and give it a quick mix until just combined.
- Pour the cake batter evenly in the baking pan(s) and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean.
- Let this cake cool completely even before you start layering it.
To prepare Buttercream Frosting
- In a stand mixer bowl, add egg whites and powdered sugar, whisk and combine ingredients on low speed for couple of minutes and then whip on high speed for 5 minutes.
- Lower the speed to low, and then add vanilla extract, and slowly add butter chunks one by one and continue whisking until just combined. Then, whip on high speed for about 8 or 10 minutes till its very light.
- Here is a trick : If you want a smooth buttercream with no air bubbles, remove the whisk attachment, shift to paddle attachment and mix on low for 15 minutes. (This is optional but I would highly encourage you to do so).
- Keep this in fridge till you are ready to assemble the cake.
To prepare the Chocolate Barks
- Melt the chocolate in a double boiler.
- Spread the melted chocolate into a thin layer on a parchment paper. Top this with another parchment paper. Roll it from the shorter edge and place it in the fridge for 2 hours or until you are about to decorate the cake.
- Unroll to create barks and decorate on the cake as desired.
To prepare Sugar Cherry Syrup
- Place sugar and water in pan on medium heat. Bring to boil. Simmer for a minute and remove from heat.
- Add the chopped cherries to the syrup and keep it aside till you are ready to decorate the cake.
Assembling the Cake
- First cut the cake into 6 inch diameter round. Then, cut each cake round horizontally so that you have a total of four cake rounds.
- Place one layer of cake on the serving plate or cake stand and brush it with sugar cherry syrup.
- Top it with buttercream frosting and spread evenly. Repeat with remaining layers and frost the outside of the cake (crumb coating) and keep it in the fridge for 20 minutes.
- To create fault line : Add a thick layer of buttercream frosting outside the cake leaving a gap of 4 inch thick to create a fault line.Then using a bench scraper or an offset spatula scrape to give it a nice and smooth look or keep it as it is for a rustic finish.
- Press cherries and chopped chocolates within the 4 inch gap that you have reserved. Top with some more cherries and chocolates.
- Remove chocolate barks from the refrigerator and place them along the edges to give the cake a "forest" look. Finally, paint the edges with edible gold paint as desired.
- Black Forest fault Line Cake With Buttercream Frosting is now ready. Serve and enjoy.
Recipe card
Black Forest Fault Line Cake | Easy Black Forest gateau
Equipment
- Baking pans
- Bowls
Ingredients
For Chocolate Cake
- 2 cups All purpose flour
- 2 cups Sugar
- ¾ cup Cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoon Baking soda
- 1 teaspoon Baking powder
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- ½ cup Vegetable oil or Canola oil
- 2 Eggs
- 2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 1 cup Whole milk
- 1 teaspoon Instant coffee powder
- 1 cup Hot boiling water
For Sugar Cherry Syrup
- ¼ cup Sugar
- ½ cup Water
- ½ cup Cherries chopped
For Buttercream Frosting
- 4 Egg whites pasteurized
- 16 oz Butter (salted or unsalted- 4 sticks)
- 16 oz Powdered sugar (Confectioners sugar)
- ½ teaspoon Salt (only if using unsalted butter)
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
For decoration (optional)
- 20 Fresh Cherries
- 4 oz Chocolate bars broken
- Edible gold paint
For Chocolate Bark
- 150 g Good quality chocolate
Instructions
To prepare Best Chocolate Cake (check notes)
- Preheat the oven to 350 degree F. Grease 8 inch or 9 inch baking pan with butter and keep it aside. If you are using a pan with good height, you can bake in a single pan but if your round pan is shorter in height then bake in two baking pans.
- In a large mixing bowl, add all dry ingredients - flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt and mix.2 cups All purpose flour, 2 cups Sugar, ¾ cup Cocoa powder, 2 teaspoon Baking soda, 1 teaspoon Baking powder, 1 teaspoon Salt
- To this add oil, vanilla extract, eggs, whole milk and mix until just combined.½ cup Vegetable oil or Canola oil, 2 Eggs, 2 teaspoon Vanilla extract, 1 cup Whole milk
- Add instant coffee powder to the boiling water and pour this on the cake batter and give it a quick mix until just combined.1 teaspoon Instant coffee powder, 1 cup Hot boiling water
- Pour the cake batter evenly in the baking pan(s) and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean.
- Let this cake cool completely even before you start layering it.
To prepare Buttercream Frosting
- In a stand mixer bowl, add egg whites and powdered sugar, whisk and combine ingredients on low speed for couple of minutes and then whip on high speed for 5 minutes.4 Egg whites pasteurized, 16 oz Powdered sugar (Confectioners sugar), 16 oz Butter (salted or unsalted- 4 sticks)
- Lower the speed to low, and then add vanilla extract, and slowly add butter chunks one by one and continue whisking until just combined. Then, whip on high speed for about 8 or 10 minutes till its very light.½ teaspoon Salt, 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- Here is a trick : If you want a smooth buttercream with no air bubbles, remove the whisk attachment, shift to paddle attachment and mix on low for 15 minutes. (This is optional but I would highly encourage you to do so).
- Keep this in fridge till you are ready to assemble the cake.
To prepare the Chocolate Barks
- Melt the chocolate in a double boiler.4 oz Chocolate bars broken
- Spread the melted chocolate into a thin layer on a parchment paper. Top this with another parchment paper. Roll it from the shorter edge and place it in the fridge for 2 hours or until you are about to decorate the cake.
- Unroll to create barks and decorate on the cake as desired.
To prepare Sugar Cherry Syrup
- Place sugar and water in pan on medium heat. Bring to boil. Simmer for a minute and remove from heat.¼ cup Sugar, ½ cup Water
- Add the chopped cherries to the syrup and keep it aside till you are ready to decorate the cake.½ cup Cherries chopped
Assembling the Cake
- First cut the cake into 6 inch diameter round. Then, cut each cake round horizontally so that you have a total of four cake rounds.
- Place one layer of cake on the serving plate or cake stand and brush it with sugar cherry syrup.
- Top it with buttercream frosting and spread evenly. Repeat with remaining layers and frost the outside of the cake (crumb coating) and keep it in the fridge for 20 minutes.
- To create fault line : Add a thick layer of buttercream frosting outside the cake leaving a gap of 4 inch thick to create a fault line. Then using a bench scraper or an offset spatula scrape to give it a nice and smooth look or keep it as it is for a rustic finish.
- Press cherries and chopped chocolates within the 4 inch gap that you have reserved. Top with some more cherries and chocolates.20 Fresh Cherries, 150 g Good quality chocolate
- Remove chocolate barks from the refrigerator and place them along the edges to give the cake a "forest" look. Finally, paint the edges with edible gold paint as desired.Edible gold paint
- Black Forest fault Line Cake With Buttercream Frosting is now ready. Serve and enjoy.
Notes
Nutrition
If you like this best & easy black forest fault line cake with vanilla buttercream frosting recipe,
Don't miss to check out some of my delicious Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas desserts, Fall and Winter desserts, or best, easy desserts for entertaining your family or a large crowd this Holiday season.
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Ronak Mehta
The cake looks perfect and fabulous to bake for a special day. Yes, it's definitely the best black forest cake. Lovely!!
Ruth-Ann
Wow - that is stunning! The fault line and gold edging puts it over the edge (ha ha). I am making a cake for an auction next weekend but I don't think fresh cherries will be available yet. Do you think that frozen cherries would work for the deco if defrosted and patted dry? I have had o use jarred cherries in the past but that won't be nice with this cake.
Kushi
I am sorry but frozen cherries may not look good because of wrinkly skin.
Rebecca
Are the egg whites heated at any point in time? I didn’t know it was safe to consume them just whipped. I really want to make this!
Kushi
I have used pasteurized egg whites. You can also use the double boiler method to bring the egg whites to lukewarm temperature thereby pasteurizing them. Let me know if you need any help.