Strawberry Black Forest Cake

Chocolate Cake

2 cups sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup soured milk (just add a table spoon of lemon juice or vinegar to the milk)
1 cup cold black coffee
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat with electric mixer for 2 minutes.Pour into 2 greased and floured 9 inch cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely. Split cake into 4 layers.

Strawberry Filling

4 cups fresh or frozen strawberries
¾ cup sugar

Combine in a saucepan and bring to a gentle boil. Thicken with 2 tbsp corn starch dissolved in ¼ cup cold water, which is added to the strawberries while stirring gently. Boil gently for 1 additional minute, stirring constantly. Divide in 2 portions and cool completely.

Vanilla Whipped Cream

4 cups whipping cream
6  rounded tbsp icing sugar (ie powdered sugar, confectioners sugar)
2 tsp vanilla extractCombine and whip until stiff mounds form.

Method:4 to 6 ounces Newfoundland Screech (or other good quality dark rum.)

Split individual layers of cake into two layers making four layers in total. Sprinkle each layer of cake with about an ounce of Screech. Spread a layer of vanilla whipped cream on the first cake layer, followed alternately with a layer of cake, a layer of strawberry filling, cake,then cream again finishing with the final layer of cake . Frost sides of cake with vanilla whipped cream and using a piping bag pipe a border of whipped cream around the top of the cake. Fill the middle of the border with the remaining strawberry filling. Decorate the cake as desired with chocolate ganache dipped strawberries and drizzle of chocolate ganache.Chocolate Ganache1 cup chocolate chips¼ cup whipping creamHeat whipping cream to scalding but do not boil. Stir in chocolate chips and stir over low heat until smooth. You can dip strawberries in this glaze to garnish your cake as well as drizzling it over the cake for the final presentation. I use a piping bag with a number 3 writing tip to drizzle the ganache over the cake but a zip-loc bag with the corner snipped off works just as well.


Source: http://www.nlrockrecipes.com/2007/09/strawberry-screech-black-forest-cake.html