Eggless Black Forest Cake

Eggless Chocolate cake layered with whipped cream and Homemade cherry compote.I have adapted the chocolate cake recipe from here.

Ingredients:

For the cake:

All Purpose flour	¾ cup
Fine granulated sugar	½ cup
Baking soda	½ tsp
Salt	a pinch
Cocoa powder(Natural unsweetened)	2 table spoon
Milk	½ cup
Oil(I used sunflower oil)	¼ cup
White vinegar	1 tsp
Vanilla essence	1 tsp

For the Frosting:

Dairy whipping cream	400 ml
Icing sugar	4 tablespoon
Vanilla essence	1 tsp
Cherry compote or chopped cherries *
Chocolate curls ,cherries for garnishing

Method:

•  Preheat oven to 170 ºC.
• Sift the flour,baking soda,salt and cocoa powder in a mixing bowl.
• Add the fine granulated sugar to it and mix with a whisk.If the sugar granules are big you can pulse once in a mixie.No need to make to a fine powder.
• Take room temperature milk in another bowl and add the vinegar.set aside for 5 minutes. Add the oil,vanilla essence to it and mix well.
• Now add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix with a whisk till the sugar is dissolved and there are no lumps.Don't overmix.If you find the batter is thick add few tablespoons of water. I added 2 tablespoons of water to get the desired consistency.
• Pour the batter to a greased and floured cake pan( I have used a 6 inch pan and lined with parchment paper) .Bake in preheated oven for around 25 to 30 mins till a toothpick inserted in the center comes clean. keep checking after 22 mins as each oven behaves differently.
• Once done take the pan out .After 5  to 10 minutes carefully turn it over a cooling rack and let it cool completely.

Assembling the cake:

* Homemade cherry compote:

  Wash and  Pit the cherries(around 200 gms) .Take the cherries in a saucepan.Add 4 tablespoons sugar(adjust according to the sweetness of cherry used).Add 1/2 tsp lemon juice and let it simmer till the cherries release the juices and becomes thick to coat a spoon. Mash it well.You can use a hand blender to blend it if you want. Let it cool before using for the cake.

Make a simple sugar syrup by taking 1/2 cup water and 2 tablespoon sugar Heat it till sugar is dissolved completely and cool completely before use.

Whip the dairy cream to soft peaks,add the icing sugar and vanilla and whip to stiff peaks.

• Slice the cake horizontally to two layers. I made two batches(two cakes) and got 4 layers.
• Place a layer of cake and sprinkle little sugar syrup.Let the syrup absorb.
• Take some whipping cream in a piping bag fitted with a big nozzle and pipe a ring around the cake.Spread some cherry compote and add  some whipping cream. Repeat for the other layers.
• Crumb coat the cake and refrigerate for some time and finish with the whipped cream.
• Garnish with chocolate curls.Pipe some borders and arrange the cherries on top.
• Refrigerate for 2 hrs before cutting the cake so that the layers set well.